| Eagles – Do Something Lyrics | 7 years ago |
| To me this song is written from the perspective of a person who reflecting all of the bigger issues in the world today. S/he is becoming depressed because everything in the world is falling apart (the news is bad), but in reality we can’t control these things. There will always be evil in the world. The only way we can solve problems and be happy is to change the way we interpret these things, and find happiness from within. Stop complaining about problems and start fixing them. | |
| Don Henley – The Boys of Summer Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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For me, this song is about how people and situations give physical objects they meaning and importance they have today. The girl in the song is depicted as someone who everyone dreams of having, and every single day (during the season of summer), and she knows it. The men flirt with her every single day, and she keeps going back to the same place because of the response she gets. The main character is telling the girl that he sees far beyond her looks and wants her for life. Furthermore, when there is a void of people or demand, objects lose their significance. Starting with the most literal, imagine a pool in the summertime. It is filled with people, smiles, and laughter. It is the go-to place that everyone wants to be. Once the warm weather ceases and winter sets in, the pool is useless. We give meaning so many physical objects that can be the “pool” in this song. Money could perhaps be the pool in some situations. If cash stopped having the power to buy luxurious items, it would just be paper with objects printed on it. Think of the largest outdoor concert you have ever been to. Mine was Summerfest in Milwaukee a few years ago. The place was filled with people, and that’s what gave it the warm vibe that it had. If you take away every single person, it suddenly becomes a haunting place. Look up a photo of an abandoned amusement park, and you’ll see what I mean. The Deadhead sticker verse involves the main character reflecting on an item that was once of value, but in the new situation, is now useless. He’s in a new city, a new season, and with new friends. Again, items that were once assigned value by people have changed. |
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| Don Henley – The End of the Innocence Lyrics | 7 years ago |
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I see this song almost as a film about different phases of life and how we interpret the world around us at those different phases. As a child, our parents shielded us from the harsh things that exist around us, and did their best to make us happy. Birthdays were some of the happiest days as children. As we grow older and slowly surrender our youth, a birthday transitions from a celebration to an addition to our odometer, or even worse, another year closer to death. “Offer up your best defense” reminds me of a line from a poem known as Desiderata, which Henley has referenced a time or two in interviews: “Take kindly the counsel of the years, gracefully surrendering the things of youth. The truth is, we cannot stop ourselves from aging, but we can change our attitudes about it. "Poisoned by these fairy tales" is a line that was used to describe how a child is raised to believe s/he can be anything s/he wants when s/he grows up, as long as you can believe it will happen. As most of us know now, we simply cannot be anything we want to be. Life happens, people get married, have children, and suddenly their life changes, most times for the good, but sometimes for the bad. The multiple reference to lawyers and details makes me think of the song “Hole in the World,” as while there is so much evil happening in the world, and all we want to do it sit here and point fingers at who is responsible. We need to take a step back and look and look at humans in general and learn to love one another. There may be a divorce going on where a once happily married couple was sharing a life together, and then suddenly everything turns into a financial battle between the two. This doesn’t have to involve just divorces. It can refer to businesses, maybe even healthcare, as someone needing a costly operation to save their life but all that the hospital wants to talk about is money. The refrain "But I know a place where we can go" is symbolic of a human need for an escape that never really changes as we grow older. The place may change, by the need does not. This could be a physical place we visit, a person we talk to, or a hobby that we partake in that seems to make all of the troubles of life go away. As a child, I remember going in my room and playing with Legos for hours and it seemed as if the outside world didn't exist. As an adult, going for a run, listening to a good song, or playing guitar accomplishes the same goal that playing with Legos once did. The truth is, there will always be nasty headlines in the world, and we must not let them define us as humans. The final verse: Now we've come so far, so fast But, somewhere back there in the dust That same small town in each of us I need to remember this So baby give me just one kiss And let me take a long last look Before we say goodbye is about graciously parting ways with the experiences we share when we are younger. The main character has accepted that from this day on, things will never be the same, so he wants to take the time to say a proper goodbye. I find this symbolic of losing a loved one. |
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