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Thread: Celebration of "Long Road Out of Eden"!

  1. #91
    Stuck on the Border Maleah's Avatar
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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    Quote Originally Posted by sodascouts View Post
    I think what bothers me about this song is the way Henley seems to look down on regular people. The way he mocks working class guys whom he considers to be unenlightened... the way he sneers at people who pray for things that he considers trivial... It's so freaking arrogant and condescending. "I'm so much better than the ignorant masses."

    The Capitol Gold interview actually made me like the song even less because he reveals that the people he's mocking, the ones that pray at football games, are just regular folks hoping the game goes well.

    "[In Texas] football is right up there next to God and Mom and the flag and apple pie. And there's always a prayer before the games. And sometimes the prayer asks... I mean, they used to come out and just ask outright for victory, but now they just sort of pray that nobody gets hurt, which is fine, but... you know, they ask the Lord to watch over this football game, as if the Lord has nothing else to do. As if the universe is so small that the Lord has time to watch football games."

    Obviously Henley believes that HE knows what the Lord cares about, unlike those stupid suckers, eh? I love how he begrudgingly admits that nowadays the prayers are for kids not to get hurt!

    That kind of thing leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
    YES! Those are the words I couldn't find! LOL That is exactly how I feel after listening to that song! It comes across as very arrogant and condescending to me! And asking the Lord to watch over this football game.....to me that implies to keep everyone safe that's playing the game. So that's silly? Do people not pray for protection for their loved ones? I know I do and I consider it far from silly. To me it makes me wonder how Don would feel if someone wrote a song about the enironment and his stance on everything and implied how pathetic and ridiculous it was to believe what he believes or support what he supports. Love the guy....but wholeheartedly disagree with his song and his opinion on the matter.

  2. #92
    Stuck on the Border EagleLady's Avatar
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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    I still don't get all the controversy surrounding FG, Don is entitled to his opinions and convinctions no matter how strong they are.

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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    You're right EL, he is......however I'm also entitled to have mine which do not agree with him

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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    I just had a chance to read through this very interesting discussion, and not once did I see where anyone said Don doesn't have a right to express his opinion. And all of us have the right to agree or disagree with him. While some of us may believe that we will all face our final judgment day, that doesn't mean that we aren't supposed to make judgments and decisions during our time here on this earth.

    In FGOTBP, I think what it ultimately boils down to for me is whether the intent was to mock or belittle individual people or make a criticism about society as a whole. I will take Don at his word that this was intended as just good-natured social commentary. In fact, I really chuckle at the humor throughout the song. For some unexplained reason, my favorite line is "you keep on rubbing that, you're gonna get a blister".

    One other thing that I'll throw out here that I have mentioned before. The writing credits on this song are Don Henley, Glenn Frey, and Steuart Smith. I have never read or seen anything that says that Don wrote all of the lyrics, so I am reluctant to make that assumption. So depending on your view of the song, I don't think we should place all the blame or give all the credit to Don here. No matter what, whoever's named is attached to song bears responsibility and/or credit for it's entire content.

    "People don't run out of dreams: People just run out of time ..."
    Glenn Frey 11/06/1948 - 01/18/2016

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    Stuck on the Border EagleLady's Avatar
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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    I certainly didn't mean to offend with my comment

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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    I like Frail Grasp because it raises some of the things that I wonder about myself. I take most of the comments in the song more as questions and observations, rather than accusations coming from someone on a 'higher' moral ground. I was raised in a quietly Christian family, although I can probably best be described as 'sceptical' now! I have never heard Don state explicitly that he is an atheist, so if it's not too presumptuous, I take it that, like myself, he just "doesn't know". That doesn't mean there's a lack of desire to believe in a higher power, it just means that there are a lot of issues with the way religion is used that muddy the waters. Along with a lot of questions that are left unanswered. For example, I take your point, Soda, about the football game lyrics, and I hadn't really thought about it in quite that way, so I can absolutely see why you think those comments might be harsh or condescending. The way I have always thought about it though, is: "If God exists while there is so much going on in the world - so many wars, natural disasters, etc - why would He 'preside' over a football game?" That itself can be seen as a bit of an arrogant assumption, in some senses. Similarly, how does anybody know what God would want, or which 'side' He is on? Surely He cannot take the side of any country or race of people? There is just so much about religion that baffles me. So the lyrics speak to me. That doesn't mean I look down on anyone who has firm religious beliefs - infact, a part of me envies and admires them! - but there are just so many questions and things that don't make sense to me about it. This song addresses some of those and gives me food for thought. At the very least, I think lyrics like "We pray to our Lord, who we know is American" are pretty brave. It's less about criticising God, and more about criticising the way that some human beings and organisations use faith to exploit and control others.

    I admire the way song drifts between dealing with these big, universal issues, and the everyday, mundane things that we all face. I don't think that Don (or Steuart, or Glenn) is solely criticising those 'good old boys' down at the bar in the 'peanuts and politics' lines. I think it's more a criticism of journalism, the media, and the things that are kept hidden by the government, the churches, the news channels... It's less about the ignorance of the everyday man because of any fault of his own, and more about the lack of any real resources for the truth. It's just not included in a newspaper! All they will find is fabrication and glamour and exploitation and bias, even if they look for what's 'really going on'.

    Obviously there are some lyrics that do seem to criticise the 'everyday' man, when Don sings about the young people living in a 'hormone dream'. Apart from finding that section of the song quite amusing (and oh so true!) I don't take it as particularly cruel or arrogant, because I think Don is probably referring heavily to himself and his friends as young guys. I think he's aware of this... he's not being hypocritical. He's just hitting on the idea that these days can't, and don't, last forever. You reach a point in life where you realise those 'soulful conversations' don't really mean too much, and that these brief romantic liaisons aren't particularly satisfying anymore. To me, the narrator is looking for more. Looking for answers - for things that are real - and urging others to do the same. Questioning things.

    Finally, another element of the song that I really like, and identify with, is the idea of doing things for yourself. Taking action, not just moving fluidly, idly with the crowd. It's easier said than done, but that's one thing that I admire Don for - encouraging people to find their own path and do something. The line 'All waiting for that miracle elixir' is crucial, to me. It kind of reminds me of 'They're Not Here, They're Not Coming'. The idea of 'turning your hopes back homeward' and making things better for yourself, rather than waiting for something or someone to come and save you. Again, this is probably a fault of the media. The 'fairytales' we've been poisoned with. (Apologies for the lyrical Don fest!) The 'everyday man' is more a victim than someone to be accused. That's primarily the way I take this song, although as usual, I enjoy reading everyone else's thoughts.

    PS. Did I mention it's quite funky?


    you better put it all behind you, baby, 'cause life goes on
    you keep carrying that anger, it'll eat you up inside--



  7. #97
    Stuck on the Border GlennLover's Avatar
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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    LOL, Dreamer, that's my favourite line too! I'm not quite sure what they mean by it but, as with all their lyrics, they leave it open to personal interpretation.

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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    Thanks to Dreamer & Troub for those comments, which I basically endorse.

    But as to who wrote the lyrics - frankly, to me this song has DON HENLEY written all over it. I think he wrote the lyrics and Glenn and Steuart wrote the music. I don't know about Steuart and lyrics, but in this one I can't see much 'Glenn' in it, which I think I can in LROOE.

    I think it's a funny song too - give me Henley humour any day, no matter how acerbic, than the occasions when he tends to 'sermonise'(I already mentioned a couple of solo tracks that fall into this category, and I regret to say so does The Last Resort, much as I admire it). I would like to see it played live - but he would have to play drums on it. I have no idea which tracks he plays on and that is a shame.

  9. #99
    Moderator Ive always been a dreamer's Avatar
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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    Quote Originally Posted by Freypower View Post
    But as to who wrote the lyrics - frankly, to me this song has DON HENLEY written all over it. I think he wrote the lyrics and Glenn and Steuart wrote the music. I don't know about Steuart and lyrics, but in this one I can't see much 'Glenn' in it, which I think I can in LROOE.
    Well FP, you may be right. However, I can totally see Glenn writing some of those lyrics. As far as Steuart, I have no idea if he contributed to the lyrics or not. But, the point I was trying to make is that none of us knows for sure given the scarce amount of details available regarding the credits on this album. While I think we can speculate about it, I also think we have be careful not to draw any conclusions. It can be misleading, especially to those who are not as familiar with the band or the album as we hardcores are. That's the reason I brought it up - I would hate for someone reading this thread to be misled and/or jump to any wrong conclusions. As I said before, in cases where the credits are sketchy and lack detailed information, I just think it is better to assume equal credit for all writers until we learn differently. JMHO

    "People don't run out of dreams: People just run out of time ..."
    Glenn Frey 11/06/1948 - 01/18/2016

  10. #100
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    Default Re: Happy Anniversary Long Road Out of Eden!

    You are right. But people assume this lyric is by Don Henley because it completely aligns with positions he has taken on the past on similar issues, and I believe he, not Glenn, talked about the song in interviews. Perhaps Glenn may have contributed to the 'my love drunk friend' part but again, that's so similar to songs like You Can't Make Love and You're Not Drinking Enough, whereas Glenn has never written anything like that. (When, apart from Living In Darkness, All Those Lies and He Took Advantage, does Glenn address another person in angry or negative terms? (He didn't write Already Gone). I could learn a lot from him ).

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