Don Henley wrote a line of heartrending songs with Glenn Frey—from the Eagles‘ Hotel California track “Wasted Time” to “Desperado” and throughout his solo career with “The Heart of the Matter,” and “The End of the Innocence,” but there was one song outside his catalog that he admitted brought him to tears whenever he heard it.
In 2019, Henley revealed that Trisha Yearwood‘s 2007 release “The Dreaming Fields,” which was originally written by Matraca Berg and Gary Harrison, always made him cry.
“A woman [Yearwood] who has recorded a Matraca Berg song called ‘Dreaming Fields’ and this is my favorite version,” said Henley in 2019. “Matraca did this song, but I like Trisha Yearwood’s version better. I’m sorry, Matraca. I get tears in my eyes every time I hear this song.”
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On the Farm
Henley connected to the song since it was written in remembrance of someone’s grandfather. The lyrics also reference someone’s grandfather who was also a farmer.
“It just kills me because it reminds me of my father and my grandfather, who were both farmers at one point,” added Henley. “This is a story, perhaps about Matraca Bergs’ grandfather.”
Oh, the sun rolls down, big as a miracle
And fades from the Midwest sky
And the corn and the trees wave in the breeze
As if to say goodbye
Oh, my grandfather stood right here
As a younger man in 1943
And with his sweat and his tears, the rain, and the years
He grew life from a solemn seed
Oh, I’m going down to the dreaming fields
But what will be my harvest now?
Where every tear that falls on a memory feels
Like rain on a rusted plow
Rain on a rusted plow
The song was released on Yearwood’s 11th album Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love but never as a single. Along with “The Dreaming Fields,” Berg has also been a longtime collaborator of Yearwood’s. Berg has co-written a collection of songs for Yearwood since the early 1990s, including “Lying to the Moon” from Yearwood’s third album, The Song Remembers When in 1993, “XXX’s and OOO’s (An American Girl)” from her 1995 album Thinkin’ About You, “I’m Still Alive” from Real Live Woman in 2000, and more.
Earlier on, Yearwood also covered Berg’s “Wrong Side of Memphis” on her 1992 album Hearts in Armor. Yearwood and Henley also collaborated throughout the years. Henley provided backing vocals on Yearwood’s 1992 single “Walkaway Joe,” along with “Inside Out” in 2001, and “Love You Anyway,” from Every Girl from 2019.
Berg, known for her songwriting—The Chicks‘ “If I Fall You’re Going Down With Me,” Faith Hill‘s “You’re Still Here,” Patty Loveless‘ “You Can Feel Bad,” Reba McEntire‘s “The Last One to Know,” Randy Travis‘ “Mining for Coal,” and more—later released “the song “The Dreaming Fields” on her 2011 comeback album of the same name.
‘The Dreaming Fields’
In 2011, Berg returned with a new album, her first in nearly 12 years, The Dreaming Fields. Berg, who wrote her first No. 1 hit, “Faking Love,” which was performed by T.G. Sheppard and Karen Brooks, released her debut album
“I always wanted to make another record,” said Berg in 2011. “I guess the time had to feel right or the collection of songs had to feel right. After my last label, Rising Tide, went under in the middle of my second single, I had to step back and think about what I was doing — if it was what I wanted to do, if I was meant to do it. I took some time off, and after you’re not a kid anymore, you have family to take care of. You have other things that come into your life. I just chose to spend that time doing that until everything calmed down and I had some songs. And here we are.”
Photo: Robin Marchant/Getty Images for SiriusXM
