Long Road Out of Eden

Okay, this song has nothing to do with eden...please read a book! Eden was supposedly placed in the fertal crescent between the tigris and the euprhatis rivers....IRAQ! This song is a protest song to the war of Iraq.

The 23rd psalm excerpt: "He maketh me to lie down in green [1] pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters. 3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake".

This psalm is intrinsically related to funerals. I think the rest of the song is pretty literal and needs to explanation other than just READ IT! Listen!

Long road out of eden ~ Long road out of IRAQ. Its about pulling the troops out.

The song ends with a march cadence on the drums...repeating and repeating....

Powerful song, wonderful song.

Agree with Codereqo. Wonder if former Vice President Dick Chaney and former Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld listened to these words and caught their meaning. Sweet to be in the Petroleum Club in the good old USA. Not so good to have a dusty rifle in your hands in the former Garden of Eden, now called Iraq. This must have been written at least 4 years ago and of course no end in sight. Long road out of Eden for the US forces. Dick and Donald should have read relevant bits of the Bible, plus Seven Pillars of Wisdom by Lawrence of Arabia before attacking them Weapons of Mass Destruction they had positively identified on satellite pics. So sad, this mistake. No doubt Saddam was a bad guy, but the invasion to liberate people and await flowers from the welcoming oppressed, as did indeed happen in France 1945 was a bad plan.

This song is amazing. I didn't realize they had a new album out, but I heard it today when I was driving to school. I love the rhythm. I think that the song's talking about how society is changing, and that maybe it's not for the best. Eden clearly refers to the Garden of Eden, so my interpretation is that since Adam and Eve were said to have been banished from the Garden, we've drifted even farther away from the Garden. This is just what I think. It's an amazing song.

"Bloated with entitlement" makes me think that perhaps we treat the world that we live in like a new Garden of Eden, where we shouldn't have to work for anything and everything should be handed down to us from on high. People expect to be able to take and take without giving something back, and it's a long road out of this garden-of-eden-like way of thinking, to a place where people are ready to "toil and sweat to bring food from the ground" as Adam and Eve were made to upon expulsion from Eden in the Old Testament.

"Behold the bitten apple, the power of the tools But all the knowledge in the world is of no use to fools And it's a long road out of Eden" suggests to me that we glory in the power that we have obtained by "eating the forbidden fruit" (perhaps a metaphor for gain through morally dubious means, for example war) but that this is nothing but foolish pride in power that we do little to deserve. We've bitten the apple and created our new Eden, and it doesn't look like we'll be leaving any time soon.

coderego... There's no reason that the song can't be about Iraq on one level (the very obvious level such as "dusty rifle in his trembling hands"; undoubtedly there is an element of protest against the Iraq war, and the opening of the song also alludes to this) and the metaphorical Eden of the western world on another level. You've expressed your opinion as though it is an indisputable fact, a habit that is frowned upon here. Also, to state that "this song has nothing to do with eden" and to then use the supposed geographical location of Eden to relate it to Iraq is somewhat contradictory; if the song had nothing to do with eden, then surely the geographical location of eden would be irrelevant?

Eden is the place of innocence - and we're on the road out; we've left innocence behind. Historically, Eden is the fertile crescent, the land between the rivers - and Iraq is part of that. But I don't see the song as being specifically about leaving Iraq; that's just the latest thing we've involved ourselves in on the road to leaving our "innocence" behind; innocence being "not guilty".

I think that Eden is "the garden" full of "flowers" (socialites). I think there's a link between Eden and Hotel California -- a place you cannot leave, even if you try. However, leaving Eden seems possible, but requires a lifetime of experience. Unfortunately, leaving means you're alone: the instruments quitting one by one until t's just a marching snare, which too gives up until it's nothing but a desert wind.

True to the prevalent imagery, the song is a parable about how the road to Empire is the broad path towards destruction rather than the narrow road towards salvation, and that broad path leads directly out of Eden.

One extended metaphor is decisively comparing the American and Roman Empires, using Caesar as a warning. The Appian Way was a long road exclusively for the transportation of troops, signifying a bastion of both imperialism and military defense. Likewise, 'the road to Mandalay' is a reference to the poem Mandalay written by Rudyard Kipling, a staunch critic of British Imperialism, especially in India where he was born. The poem is about a sentimental British soldier in London longing for the feelings of freedom and love he experienced in Burma. The road to Damascus is a reference to a repentant Apostle Paul as he was miraculously confronted by Jesus Christ against his ongoing war on the Christians and his part in the imperialism against the Kingdom of God which, theologically, is meant to be a sort of return to Eden. But to return to the American/Roman parallel, there is a lot of meat to chew on in the lyrics. Part of the song, as is clear, is about the imperialism of Empire, but another part is the bread and circuses domesticated in Empire. The images drum up feelings of gluttony and greed and consumerism in citizens of Empire which are also reflected in the imperialism of Empire itself. Conquering nations becomes a little less trite than asking for more brisket or more pecan pie, indicative of limitless appetite for resources and the blood thirstiness of war, until one is bloated with entitlement.

The hubris of Empire is declares itself to be an unsinkable ship, in a way. It is loaded on the propaganda of riding towards utopia. And any red flags and feelings of guilt concerning the 'ends justify the means' cost are dismissed as growing pain. But, as we know from Genesis, those who bite that apple no longer know wrong from right, and any of the knowledge they do gain is of no use to them because they are fools. Pride goeth before destruction, and the bigger the empire, the harder it falls. This was true for Rome, this will be true for America. And America isn't just falling in destruction. It is driving there. Dazed and drunk. Weaving down its own Appian highways, weaving through its own atrophy and cultural decadence in the twilight years of Empire before it dies in weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Which is justice for anyone kicked out of Eden where they could have been ruled by God in peace and prosperity, but are now only eligible to be ruled by false gods in kingdoms of debt, darkness, destruction, and death, conquering other lost souls just to stay alive like the socialist cannibals they are.

The whole theme is reflected in another Rudyard Kipling poem by the way: The Gods of the Copybook Headings

https://abolishhumanarchism.com/2019/01/14/a-dirge-for-common-sense/

I’ve often wondered about a single line in the lyric, we all know Don Henley is brilliant at writing cryptic lyrics right? “Mercedes Bends” being a good example. There’s a line in this song when he’s talking about the excesses of modern life in the USA. He then says…”… Went down the road to Damascus, the road to Mandalay Met the ghost of Caesar on the Appian Way”
if you’re familiar with Vegas the road between the Mandalay Bay and Caesars Palace is actually called Frank Sinatra Way …( there is actually an Appian Way in Vegas but not between those two!) I just wonder if he’s making reference to Vegas in a very cryptic way. And was that his road to Damascus? Maybe an epiphany moment between the two?

LONG ROAD OUT OF EDEN RELOCATED is an allegorical interpretation of this EAGLES masterpiece. It contains references to 'the petroleum club' which is masonic decoy. It's located here: http://catsociety.nl/esa/viewtopic.php?t=39 (in Dutch) - eVa