Don Henley has made many timeless contributions to songwriting–both during his time with the Eagles and in his solo projects. Henley has a distinctive pen that favors visual lyrics and scene setting. Few other writers could’ve produced songs like the five on this list.
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Revisit these Henley-penned classics, below.
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1. Desperado, why don’t you come to your senses? / Come down from your fences, open the gate / It may be rainin’, but there’s a rainbow above you / You better let somebody love you (“Desperado”)
“Desperado” is one of the most affecting songs from the Eagles’ concept record of the same name. Few songs on the track list establish the Western settings of the album as well as the title track. One can nearly see a lonesome cowboy out on a range. Part of that iron-clad imagery comes from the song’s visual lyrics, which can be attributed to Henley and Glenn Frey.
2. 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 Heart of the Matter”)
The entirety of “The Heart of the Matter” is stunning. Henley lays out some time-earned wisdom about love, loss, and moving on. The lines above expand the scope of the song, commenting on the state of the world. He begs the question, “Can love survive in an age where love isn’t our first instinct?” It’s a question as relevant today as it was in 1989.
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3. You look in her eyes the music begins to play / Hopeless romantics here we go again / But after awhile you’re lookin’ the other way / It’s those restless hearts that never mend (“New Kid in Town”)
The Eagles tackled the cyclical nature of love in “New Kid in Town.” The song is an extended vignette of that fact, but the lines above boil it down to one stanza. According to Henley (and his co-writers Frey and J. D. Souther), no matter how lovestruck one can be, eventually the heads will start turning. It’s those restless hearts that never mend.
4. So you can get on with your search, baby / And I can get on with mine / Maybe someday we will find / That it wasn’t really wasted time (“Wasted Time”)
“Wasted Time” is one of Henley’s shining moments in the Eagles. The intimate ballad is a sweeping message of forgiveness and closure. Henley sums it all up with the lyrics above. In a world full of revengeful breakup songs, Henley delivers one that is markedly passive.
5. He said, “Call the doctor, I think I’m gonna crash” / “The doctor say he’s comin’, but you gotta pay him cash” / They went rushin’ down that freeway, messed around and got lost / They didn’t care, they were just dyin’ to get off (“Life in the Fast Lane”)
“Life in the Fast Lane” is one long metaphor for the sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll lifestyle. In the lines above, he uses a car crash as a metaphor for coming down from a high. Though Henley isn’t the first songwriter to use car culture as a placeholder for seedier activities, “Life in the Fast Lane” remains one of the best.
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