I think this album is underrated. I like it a lot... especially the ballads! In fact, it is my second favorite album of his.

I Can't Stand Still - not sure why they chose this as the title track since I think it is one of the weaker tracks - the synth sound in the verse just kind of plods along and is very dated, but the chorus is catchy, I think. I also like the couple lines that lead up to the chorus and build anticipation for it.

You Better Hang Up - this song cracks me up! I love it! Catchy melody and Don's wry vocal is great as he warns a guy from New York City that he better not fool around with the wife of a country boy because that country boy will get out the shotgun! If he answers the phone when you call that country girl... YOU BETTER HANG UP! LOL!

Long Way Home - this song starts slowly but by Don's agonized "I think there's something missing 'round here - I don't know where's it gone - but it's a long way back home" you're hooked. Holding that note for "long" (literally!) as the harmony changes brings a sense of change but still going nowhere. I love how the next verse goes from how all these ordinary things are breaking to what they symbolize: the breaking of their relationship. I've always thought "I fall asleep with colors flying over sand and foam" was a wonderful image. My only quibble is the use of the synth kind of distracts from the bridge. They loved that synth back then, lol.

Nobody's Business - not my favorite song on the album; it reminds of me the "incident." Still, I like the melody of the lines that precede the "chorus" (the chorus is essentially the title repeated twice): "And I knew I was wasting my time" or "But I knew I was doing just fine." And the sentiment - mind you own business people, don't spend all your time judging me and trying to "punish" me for what you perceive to be my sins - I totally agree with. The driving drumbeats works, too. I don't really understand who he's talking about when he says "revenge is sweet though it be once removed" - perhaps he believes there was some kind of conspiracy? Love the clever way he references the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale "The Emperor's New Clothes."

Talking to the Moon - what can you say about this one? It's magnificent. The achingly nostalgic voice, beautiful melody - but it's that melody's arrangement that really takes it up to the next level. While I like the melody shift at the "wind beneath the plains" part, I'm talking about the main bridge and everything after it - "goodbye, rodeo - it's a long, funny way for a man to go" - then the vocal energy builds - "and never change, and never change at all" - it comes to what you think is climactic moment and then there's a beat long full stop before you get taken up to the REAL climactic moment - "I. WAS. JUST. talking to the moon." Incredible - gives me chills. And then ending with that soft "Hopin' someday soon that I'd be over the memory of you..." As someone who grew up in Texas, I especially recognize just the type of town he's talking about, but you don't need to be from Texas to understand - he makes you understand no matter where you're from. I love this song so much. It's my next favorite after Heart of the Matter.... and when I'm in a certain mood, my most favorite.

Dirty Laundry - Don's biggest hit according to Billboard, getting up to #3. This is the one that gets folks at a Henley concert on their feet, clapping along to the beat and especially the "kick 'em when they're up, kick 'em when they're down." Of course many of us have heard it with the Eagles as well when they show a montage of what they perceive to be examples of yellow journalism. It's not my favorite of his songs and I've always wondered why Boys of Summer, The End of the Innocence, and Heart of the Matter never hit higher, but oh well. The synth manages not to sound dated here, maybe because we're used to it and it somehow seems right. Some of the dark humor in this song is absolutely scathing in its sardonic criticism of the callous shallowness of the news industry, his voice mocking but with an underlying anger. One line particularly has stuck with me: "It's interesting when people die." I sometimes think about it when you see those newspeople rushing to be the first on the scene in a tragedy, hoping to get there in time to film the worst of it. Recently, that helicopter crash in New York... interviewers eagerly asking witnesses to describe it in detail, encouraging anyone who might have taken some video of the accident to send it to the newsoom, hoping they might get footage of that moment where so many people died. I understand the need for reports of this type but the eagerness to present the "drama" of it disturbs me.

Johnny Can't Read - This one is a single? And this is the single they make a video for??? Maybe they thought its topic was more conducive to video, maybe they thought the kiddies would like the references to high school, I don't know - and I think the video isn't so bad - but the song itself... well, it doesn't do much for me. I get the "statement" it's trying to make - it's not exactly subtle - and I appreciate it but I don't think the song itself works. Now, looking back, we can chuckle at the datedness of the pop culture references. Never really understood the inclusion of "There's a new kid in town at the end" - why evoke the Eagles HERE? Maybe the idea was "OK, maybe this song isn't that great... but remember how I was in the Eagles and we had awesome hits like New Kid in Town and now because I'm a solo artist I'm kind of a New Kid in Town too? Get it?" lol

Them and Us - My least favorite song on the album. Again, I get it - nuclear bombs are bad! Nuclear war is bad! The song itself has a boring, plodding melody and the message is conveyed in a clumsy, simplistic way - unusual for Don. Even the use of the line from the Bible is trite. Disappointing. (JMHO)

La Eile - Pretty, although it seems kind of out of place after "Them and Us." I undestand it's leading up to Lilah, but it's jarring.

Lilah - But perhaps the inclusion of La Eile is a buffer between Them and Us and Lilah, so Lilah doesn't suffer by being after Them and Us. It worked. I love Lilah. A lilting melody, a lilting vocal, some of Don's most romantic lyrics - "the taste of your mouth, the smell of the perfume on your wrist." His longing vocal for the "simple pleasures" from a man who has spent so long pursuing temporary pleasures that are far from simple is especially effective. Another lyric I like: "we spend so much time weeping and wailing and shaking our fists / creating enemies that really don't exist." People can let themselves get SO riled up over petty crap - sometimes we gotta step back and ask ourselves, "Is this perceived 'wrong' against me really worth such anger? Is this really worth the bile, the resentment, the massive amount of time I am spending focusing on this when I could be using that time on something other than negativity and thoughts of how I can get revenge upon/humiliate/hurt my 'enemy'?" That "enemy" can never be hurt more than we are hurting ourselves with our continual fury. If you don't control it, it can go on for years... we all know (or have heard of) people like that and it's sad.

The Unclouded Day - one of my father's favorite hymns. I put out of my head the fact that Don doesn't really believe it and let myself be cheered by the lyrics that there is a Heaven where I will meet my friends and family who have passed away.