Henley Song Blog

Welcome to the Henley SongBlog!

What is a SongBlog? Rather than simply post lyrics on the website, we want to do something different. We know that people want lyrics and we're happy to provide them, but Don's songwriting seems to merit something a little more. When we post a song on the songblog, we'll provide background on the song as well as our thoughts on what the song and individual lines "mean". There's so much going on in a Henley song, it's hard to catch it all. If we've got quotes or insights from Don himself, we'll post those as well. Finally, because Don's songs mean so many things to so many people, we'll ask you to rate the song and to provide your thoughts on the song and to tell what the song means to you.

We're also going to arrange the songs a little differently. Rather than grouping them by album, we're going to group them by mood. Don's songs evoke so many feelings that this seems appropriate.

How You Can Help If you want to type up the lyrics to a song or write up a commentary we'd love it! To help facilitate this, all we ask is that you copy this list of headings into an e-mail and just fill it out and e-mail it to us. It's okay if you don't fill it all out, we'll take what you want to give...even if you just want to type up a set of lyrics. Check our entry for Boys of Summer to get ideas.

Song Title:
Credits:
Album:
Lyrics:
Commentary:
What does it mean: (Symbols & Allusions)
What Don Says:
Your Thoughts:

Boys of Summer

CREDITS: Words and Music by Don Henley and Mike Campbell

ALBUM:  Building the Perfect Beast

MOODS:   

LYRICS

Nobody on the road
Nobody on the beach
I feel it in the air
The summer's out of reach
Empty lake, empty streets
The sun goes down alone
I'm driving by your house
Though I know you're not home

But I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I never will forget those nights
I wonder if it was a dream
Remember how you made me crazy?
Remember how I made you scream
Now I don't understand what happened to our love
But babe, I'm gonna get you back
I'm gonna show you what I'm made of

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
I see you walking real slow and you're smilin' at everyone
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

Out on the road today, I saw a DEADHEAD sticker on a Cadillac
A little voice inside my head said, "Don't look back. You can never look back"
I thought I knew what love was
What did I know?
Those days are gone forever
I should just let them go but-

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that top pulled down and that radio on, baby
And I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

I can see you-
Your brown skin shinin' in the sun
You got that hair slicked back and those Wayfarers on, baby
I can tell you my love for you will still be strong
After the boys of summer have gone

COMMENTARY

I have to admit that I knew this song's video before I really knew about Don and his music. This song evokes memories of babysitting late at night for Stephanie and T.J. Keller and waiting for their dad to come home while watching hours and hours of MTV. The video always seemed to me to be something unusual...something arty and beautiful and very unlike other MTV fodder.

It's interesting that I equate this song with a sense of personal nostaliga because the song itself is nostalgia personfied. The narrator of the song reminices about a love that got away. Despite the fact that she made him crazy and he made her scream he wants to get her back and prove something to her. Even the setting of the song seems hazy and nostagic. When he sings about the empty streets and empty lake, one can picture a small town at the end of tourist season. The locals are left to carry on with their lives while the "exotic" boys of summer have left.

Don has talked about how he would drive his car to Zuma Beach outside of L.A. and sit on the swings and let his Irish melancholy get the better of him. You can feel that deserted, winter beach hauntedness throughout the song.

On another level, though, this song is about more than just a lost love. It's a pining for a lost way of life...lost idealism...lost hopes. The DeadHead sticker on the Cadillac is meant with a sense of irony. The youthful idealism has had to grow up and get a job...and a well paying one at that. Don has said that he actually did see this sticker and it got him to thinking about the goals of the youth movement in the sixties. Don is of the age that he saw these young people, fighting so hard for change (Civil Rights, Women's Rights, Vietnam) grow up and become the "man". Heck...everyone grows up, but that doesn't mean that there can't be some reflection about where you came from.

While this song was a mega-hit for Don, it's become an Eagles classic as well. It really is a show-stopper during Eagles shows when the entire band lines up for the rhythmic guitar piece in the middle. If you are lucky, you'll be there one night when they hop up and down.

What Does it Mean?

There really are no hidden meanings in this song. Some have speculated that "Boys of Summer" has something do do with baseball. This phrase originated to describe the '52 Brooklyn Dodgers and has since come to refer to any baseball player or team. Don has said that the song is most definately, "...not about baseball", but one has to wonder if there really is a very sublte connection. Dodgers fans felt betrayed and abandoned when their team "sold out" and moved to Los Angeles. Is this akin to growing up and getting a job?

What Don Says

"When we did "Boys of Summer," we recorded the whole song in whatever key it was written in, and I did it, and I said, "This is not quite right. " And it was finished we'd done the whole thing and the album was late-and I said, "We've got to raise this up half a step." And they all looked at me like, "You're nuts! What's the matter with you?" And I said, "No, believe me, it'll be a lot better." So we did it all over again, and they went, "Geez, you're right!"

"Boys of Summer" was one of those great, rare moments where I got so inspired by the track that Mike Campbell had given me that it just sort of wrote itself. It came just screamin' out of me. And I was jumping up and down in the car 'cause I knew I had something there. I said, "This is good and I know it's good, it's great." I like writing that way sometimes

"Beyond that, I'm also not convinced we really accomplished that much. Kennedy was president and everybody thought it was Camelot, but look at what we did. We raised all that hell ins the sixties, and then what di we come up with in the Seventies? Nixon and Reagan. The country reverted right back into the hands it was in before. I don't think we changed a dman thing, frankly. That's what the last verse of "The Boys of Summer" was about. I think our intentions were good, but te way we wetn about it was ridiculous. We thought we could change things by proesting and making firebombs and growing our hair long and wearing funny clothes. But we didn't follow through. After all our marching and shouting and scraming didn't work, we withdrew and became yuppies and got into the Me Decade."

ARTIFACTS

Watch the video (Don says he basically rode around on the back of a truck and grimmaced a lot.)

Swings at Zuma Beach

Wayfarers

Deadhead Sticker on a Cadlillac

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YOUR THOUGHTS

We want your thoughts about this song and what it means to you. Hit the Comments button and type in whatever is on your mind. If you'd rather e-mail us your thoughts (for publication) or any additons to this entry, that's fine too.

Little Tin God

Song Title: Little Tin God
Credits: Don Henley, J.D. Souther, Danny Kortchmar
Album: The End of the Innocence
Mood: 
Lyrics

A new age is dawning
On fewer than expected
Business as usual
That’s how the headline read

Some shaky modern saviors
Have now been resurrected
In all this excitement
You may have been misled

People want a miracle
They say oh lord, can’t you see us?
We’re tryin’ to make a livin’ down here
And keep the children fed

But, from little dark motel rooms
To six flags over jesus
How are the mighty fallen
So the Bible said

You don’t have to pray to a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might fear the reaper, you might fear the rod
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god

The cowboy’s name was jingo
And he knew that there was trouble
So in a blaze of glory
He rode out of the west

No one was ever certain
What it was that he was sayin’
But they loved it when he told them
They were better than the rest

But you don’t have to pray for a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might hate to system, hate the job
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god

Throw down a rope from heaven
And lead the flock to water
The man in the middle would have you think
That you have no other choice

But to wander in the wilderness
Of all the upturned faces
If you stop and listen long enough
You will hear your own small voice

But you don’t have to pray to a little tin god
Step out of the way for a little tin god
You might fear the reaper, fear the rod
But you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
No, you never have to get down on your knees
You don’t have to holler, please, please
You never have to get down on your knees
For a little tin god

Commentary: If you were teaching a history class about the 1980s in America, Don's The End of the Innocence album would be a great study tool. The political and social commentary on this album captures the moods and attitudes of the 80s in a musical time capsule.

Little Tin God, while commenting on society, has its roots in some of Henley's core beliefs (at least the ones he's talked about in public). The overriding theme of the song is that you need to look to yourself rather than looking at leaders who are just as human and flawed as we are. The answers are inside. This is a theme that gets repeated both in Henley's Eagles work (Learn to Be Still) and more recent Henley solo recordings (They're Not Here, They're Not Coming). In the case of Little Tin God, his commentary provides some great Henley images.

What does it mean: (Symbols & Allusions)

Little Tin God -- According to several idiomatic dictionaries, a LTG is a self-important pompous person or someone or something held in excessively or unjustifiably high esteem.

Shakey Modern Saviors -- The 1980s were full of scandals involving popular televangelists (TV preachers) who got caught doing things men of god shouldn't get caught doing. There's a great list of these men and how they lost their way at the Wikipedia. Some of these guys are singled out, though in the song.

But, from little dark motel rooms...Jimmy Swaggert was caught on film taking a prostitute to a hotel.

To six flags over Jesus This is one of my favorite Henleyisms. Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker of PTL had their huge religious empire crumple in the midst of financial and sexual scandals. One of the things that got sidelined was the Bakker's religious theme park, Heritage USA. Six Flags Over...is an American chain of Amusement parks. You can see photos of Heritage USA back when it was running and now that it has been abandoned.

How are the might fallen; so the Bible says: "Your glory, O Israel, lies slain on your heights.
       How the mighty have fallen" (2 Samuel 1:19)

The cowboy’s name was Jingo: Jingoism is a term describing chauvanistic patriotism, usually with a hawkish political stance. In plain language it means bullying other countries, or, using whatever means necessary to safeguard a country's national interests. Since this is the 80s, the cowboy is none other than Ronald Reagan (take into consideration that Reagan acted in many cowboy movies and enjoyed riding horses on his ranch in California. The verse goes on to say that the cowboy  "rode out of the West".

No one was ever certain / What it was that he was sayin’ / But they loved it when he told them /
They were better than the rest. Reagan's nickname was the Great Communicator and part of his appeal was to reconvince Americans of their greatness. Reagan reintroduced patriotism and flag waving after the 70s which President Jimmy Carter refered to as an American malaise. Reagan inspired optimism in Americans which one of the reasons he continues to be popular. Don, though, is saying that all of his pretty words covered up horrible destructive policies. So..in this song, Reagan is a Little Tin God not worthy of worship as well.

If you stop and listen long enough /You will hear your own small voice This is a common theme in Henley songs..in fact its the entire point of "Learn to Be Still". The verses that come before this line paint a picture of people looking for someone to lead them.  This man in the middle...some sort of preacher acting as an intermediary between the people and God is supposed to lead them to water. Instead, Don exhorts people to look inside for leadership. To listen to their own small voice. This idea of an inner voice can be found in both the writings of Transcendentalists like Emerson (who Henley admired) and in the Bible (And after the earthquake a fire; but the LORD was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. 1 Kings 19: 11-13)

What Don Says:

'I was looking for the big questions: why are we here, where are we going, why do good people die early. The First Baptist Church wasn't working for me, so I found Emerson and Thoreau and transcendentalism. I could see God in nature rather than in the church, listening to someone yell at me about hellfire and damnation.'

"Yeah. I've got a hard-on for Jerry Falwell and those preachers. I just finished a book called God's Bullies about those guys. I grew up a Southern Baptist and I know what it is to be scared into religion ... all that hell fire and damnation."

" Believe me, these times are just as urgent, just as dangerous, as the Sixties, and there's just as much to rally behind. Especially with Reagan telling us how America is back on track. America is NOT back on track. Peopel are still homeless, peopel are still out of work, the farmers are going out of business and we're experiencing the biggest deficit in history. A large part of the nation ahs gone back to a narrow, fundamentalist way of thinking. We think God is an American"

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Your Thoughts:We want your thoughts about this song and what it means to you. Hit the Comments button and type in whatever is on your mind. If you'd rather e-mail us your thoughts (for publication) or any additons to this entry, that's fine too.

Heart of the Matter

Song Title: Heart of the Matter

Credits: Mike Campbell, Don Henley, JD Souther

Album: End of the Innocence

Lyrics:

I got the call today that I didn't wanna hear
But I knew that it would come
An old, true friend of ours was talkin' on the phone
She said you'd found someone
And I thought of all the bad luck and the struggles we went through
And how I lost me and you lost you
What are these voices outside love's open door
Make us throw off our contentment and beg for something more?

I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you sometimes
The more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I knew, I'm learning again

I've been tryin' to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me anymore

Oh, these times are so uncertain; there's a yearning undefined
And people filled with rage
We all need a little tenderness; how can love survive
In such a graceless age?
The trust and self-assurance that lead to happiness
They're the very things we kill, I guess
Oh, pride and competition cannot fill these empty arms
And the work I put between us - you know, it doesn't keep me warm

I'm learning to live without you now
But I miss you, baby
And the more I know, the less I understand
All the things I thought I'd figured out
I have to learn again

I've been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But everything changes
And my friends seem to scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if, you don't love me anymore

There are people in your life who've come and gone
They let you down; you know, they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you, baby, 'cause life goes on
You keep carryin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside, baby

I've been trying to get down
To the heart of the matter
But my will gets weak
And my thoughts seem to scatter
But I think it's about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if you don't love me...

I've been tryin' to get down
To the heart of the matter
Because the flesh will get weak
And the ashes will scatter
So I'm thinkin' about
Forgiveness, forgiveness
Even if, even if, you don't love me...

(Forgiveness)
Yeah (Forgiveness
Baby(Forgiveness)
Oh (Forgiveness)
Ah, yeah (Forgiveness)
Ooh (Forgiveness)
Even if you don't love me anymore

Commentary:
I have a different take on this than most. I know that traditionally this is
believed to be Don asking for forgiveness, and while I think that's an
underlying element, I believe this is more about a man examining himself and his
need to forgive others.  While I recognize that this was co-written, for the
purposes of my interpretation, I'm going to assume that Don was the main
lyricist.  However, I do believe this can be conceptually generalized to any man
(or woman) looking at his life and deciding he needs to let go of hurt.

The song opens with the news that his ex-lover has moved on. The disappointment
implies that he might have harbored a secret hope she would come back to him, or
more negatively, that she wouldn't be able to find happiness without him.
This call causes him to reconcile himself to the fact that she'll never love him
again and that she can be happy without him.... and that that's a good thing.
When it comes down to the heart of the matter, it wasn't that she was a bad
person or that he was; other factors played into it - trouble, bad luck. This
helps him to understand that being angry at her is not only destructive, it's
unfair.

It's a struggle for him to come to terms with these changes, but if he's willing
to step outside of his narrow perspective to the big picture - "learning again"
by viewing the world with a new lens of understanding - it helps him.  That
doesn't mean it's easy, but he can try, and perhaps learn from the struggle as well.

He goes on to talk about the other things we do to hurt ourselves that stem from
selfishness (and the unwillingness to forgive is a type of selfishness and pride
as well - someone "hurt your pride" and you want to punish them, make them feel
badly, cause trouble for them, hope others dislike them as much as you do, wish
them ill, etc.).  Again, Don admits he struggles with this, too. It's all part
of coming to terms with the fact that making this all about what's been done to
him, as he had in the past, does nothing for him but increase that pain. It
further "kills" his ability to trust himself and others.

One may ask, if this is about self-examination, why is it directed at the
ex-lover? My answer to this is that Don wants for her the same kind of peace
he's finding through forgiveness. She no doubt was hurt by their breakup, too.
It's the ultimate in forgiveness to hope that the person you used to wish would
"get what's coming to them" is now someone you want to be happy.  This is
supported by the bridge - "you better put it all behind you, baby... you keep
carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside."  I also think this is supported
by what he himself said before playing it live for Hell Freezes Over - that it
took 42 years to write. Obviously, that's not the years since the ending of a
relationship, that's a lifetime. It took a lifetime to realize that he needed to
forgive not only an ex-lover, but anyone who's let him down.  Sadly, it's a
realization some never come to.

He winds up with the thought that life is short and forgiveness vital to
happiness, even if it is a struggle. He uses two Biblical alllusions to
emphasize this (see below).

What does it mean: (Symbols & Allusions)
The two most evident allusions are the religious ones of the last verse. First
is the reference to Matthew 26:41: "Watch and pray, that ye enter not into
temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."  This is
spoken by Jesus to the disciples at the Garden of Gethsemane - they'd fallen
asleep after they'd promised to watch with him and pray. For those of you
unfamiliar with the Bible, this occurred right before Jesus was captured by the
soldiers. He knew what was coming and was under so much emotional duress that he
sweated blood. He needed support, but his friend failed him. The second is a
modification of "ashes to ashes, dust to dust" which comes from the Church of
England's Book of Prayer for burial services(the Book of Prayer used as its
basis for this Genesis 3:19: "Dust thou art, and unto dust thou shalt return.")

I realize some would argue that these allusions have become so commonplace that
most don't even know where they came from, and thus we shouldn't presume Don
meant to refer to the Garden of Gethsemane.  They would say that he was just
using some ready-made tropes to get his idea across. However, I believe Don
chose his words more carefully than that argument implies. I think one can
assume that Don has a fairly good knowledge of the Bible and Protestant theology
due to his upbringing, and even if he didn't remember specifics and discarded
the belief system, I believe he had an awareness of their contextual import in
the literary sense.  Therefore, I think we can glean from his usage of them that
he is attempting to illustrate the need for understanding why those who should
be there for you aren't always, and forgiving them that weakness; additionally,
to emphasize the need for understanding that life is short and shouldn't be
wasted on the negativity of holding grudges.  THAT is the heart of the matter,
in my humble opinion.

What Don Says: "Took 42 years to write and about 4 minutes to sing."

Your Thoughts: I find the song very moving and its message an important one. So
many times people harbor hatred and bitterness in their hearts needlessly, not
realizing that they are only compounding their hurt by refusing to let go of it.
This song communicates the idea that it's not about what someone else does to
you, it's about how you deal with it.  You can choose to waste energy hoping
that person gets what they deserve and pays for how they treated you, or you can
forgive that person and hope they are able to overcome whatever causes them to
treat people badly. As I said before, Don admits this isn't easy - we're all
human; none of us are saints. It's easy to say that it's good to forgive, but
much harder to do.  That's why I especially love the line "Even if you don't
love me anymore."  She'll never do anything to "deserve" his forgiveness, but
he's giving it to her anyway. I'm sure he hopes for the same from her, but he
realizes he can't control that or make her forgive him. He can only choose his
own path, and he's doing so by letting go of the bitterness - no matter how hard
that may be. Even if he never fully succeeds, forcing himself to try will allow
him to go forward, emotionally and spiritually.

This Entry Written By: Nancy

We want your thoughts about this song and what it means to you. Hit the Comments button and type in whatever is on your mind. If you'd rather e-mail us your thoughts (for publication) or any additons to this entry, that's fine too.

They're Not Here, They're Not Coming by Lisa W.

Song Title: They’re Not Here, They’re Not Coming
Credits: Don Henley / Stan Lynch
Album: Inside Job
Lyrics:

From the Arizona desert
To the Salisbury Plain
Lights on the horizon
Patterns on the grain
Anxious eyes turned upward
Clutching souvenirs
Carrying our highest hopes and our darkest fears

They swear there was an accident back in '47
Little man with a great big head
Splattered down from heaven
Government conspiracy; cover-ups and lies
Hidden in the desert under endless skies

Well, it's a cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold
Post, postmodern world
No time for heroes, no place for good guys
No room for Rocky The Flying Squirrel

They're not here, they're not coming
Not in a million years
Turn your weary eyes back homeward
Stop your trembling, dry your tears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my brother
They're not here, they're not coming

Would they pile into the saucer
Find Orlando's rat and hug it?
Go screaming through the universe
Just to get McNuggets?
Well, I don't think so, I don't think so
It's much too dangerous, it's much too strange
Here in a world that won't give Oprah no home on the range

Well, it's a cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold
Post, postmodern world
No authenticity, no sign of soul
The radio won't play George and Merle

They're not here, they're not coming
Not in a million years
'Til we put away our hatred
'Til we lay aside our fears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my sister
They're not here, they're not coming

To this garden we were given
And always took for granted
It's like my daddy told me, “You just bloom where you're planted.”
Now you long to be delivered
From this world of pain and strife
That's a sorry substitution for a spiritual life

(Solo)

Well, it's a cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold, cold
Post, postmodern world
No place for sentiment, no room for romance
Bring back the Duke of Earl

They're not here, they're not coming
Not in a million years
Turn your hopes back homeward
Hold your children, dry their tears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my brother
They're not here, they're not coming

They're not here, they're not coming
Not in a million years
'Til we put away our hatred
And lay aside our fears
You may see the heavens flashing
You may hear the cosmos humming
But I promise you, my brother
They're not here, they're not coming

Commentary: This song (oddly) was the very first song I heard from the Inside Job album. You’ll have to excuse us Brits we don’t get Don’s solo material overly publicised over here so this was the first song I heard through my aunt and uncle.

In it Don shows his sense of humour in a brilliant way. Without coming across as condescending he alludes to the fact that any alien would travel so far just to see America is ludicrous. I would neither agree nor disagree with the song because I haven’t seen every square of the globe but to me this song makes an excellent point whilst poking fun at the current popular view of culture in America in the 21^st Century using the argument of why would they travel all this way when there’s not much to see?!

Selecting popular icons from the past and common everyday items like McNuggets he makes the song speak to the young and old alike, a talent found in most of his material and, as you would expect from a man as thoughtful as Don, there is a political aspect too “Government conspiracy; cover-ups and lies”. Not as hard-hitting as some of the lyrics from Inside Job but his point is there.

Don himself finds his belief in the nature he sees around him and in my humble opinion some of this is reflected in the song “To this garden we were given and always took for granted…that’s a sorry substitution for a spiritual life” doubtless to encourage us to take more notice of the world around us.

What does it mean: (Symbols & Allusions)

The long and short of this song is that it is a study into the popular belief that extra-terrestrials visit the Earth frequently. Now an every day part of our culture reflected in shows like The X-Files and Doctor Who and films such as Independence Day and The War of the Worlds there remains a strong spiritual aspect that is common across the world, the belief that we will be “saved” by an alien abduction / invasion / the promise of a better life.

Through the course of the song Don covers the spirituality of extra-terrestrial life whilst dealing with the reality of the fact that the likelihood of aliens travelling so far, given the few things to entice them, is very slim and that perhaps turning your attentions back to more pressing matters like your children wouldn’t hurt.

All in all it’s a brilliant song that stems from a light-hearted perspective that belies a serious point about culture, spirituality and hope in the 21^st Century. Would you expect anything less from Don Henley?

What Don Says:

When talking about this song Don refers Carl Sagan’s belief that no organism could possibly survive the journey across space to the Earth and he agrees with that but his argument is more along the lines of “Why would they want to come?”  He describes this song as silly and a bit of fun but there is a message there it wouldn’t be a Don Henley song if there wasn’t meaning in there somewhere.

Your Thoughts:

This is one of my favourite tracks from the Inside Job album quite simply because it does something so few songs do these days, it makes you laugh. Too many songs these days dwell on lost love, lost anything and all that’s bad in the world, this song takes the mickey out of itself and it really works. Don’s raspy vocals and a strong drumbeat combine with the eerie intro to make this song stand out from an overcrowded market place. I don’t know exactly what inspired Don to write the song but it really works and the trick of hiding a serious message in a light-hearted track is the kind of clever behaviour I’ve come to expect from the master lyricist that is Don Henley. I love the whole Inside Job album because of the non formulaic make up of it but this one track sums that up in a nutshell because no one could say there is ANYTHING formulaic about They’re Not Here, They’re Not Coming.