I have never been able to figure this out...

[lynnzop]

Love love love "Garden of Allah"...one of my favorite *non-hit* songs of Don's.

But who does the speaking parts??? You know:

Nice car
Ah, I love those bavarians
So meticulous
Yknow I remember when things were a lot more fun around here
When good was good and evil was evil
Before things got so fuzzy
I was once a golden boy like you
And I was summoned to the halls of power in the heavenly courts
And I dined with the deities who looked upon me with favor,
For my talents, my creativity
And we sat beneath the palms
In the warm afternoons and drank the wine
With fitzgerald and huxley
And they pawned the biting phrase from the tongues hot with blood
And drained their pins of bitter ink
Vainly reaching for the bottle full of empty edens
Branded especially for the ones who had come with great expectations
To the perfumed halls of allah, for their time in the sun

And

Today I made an appearance downtown
I am an expert witness because I say I am
And I said gentlemen, and I use that world loosely
I will testify for you, Im a gun for hire,Im a saint, Im a liar
Because there are no facts, there is no truth
Just data to be manipulated
I can get you any result you like
Whats it worth to you?
Because there is no wrong, there is no right
And I sleep very well at night
No shame, no solution, no remorse, no retribution
Just people selling t-shirts
Just opportunity to participate in the pathetic little circus
And winning, winning, winning

I can't get Don's voice out of it, no matter how I try (unless there are some serious voice distortion tools being used) and can not find the answer ANYWHERE online.

I figure y'all will know the real answer to my question.

[sodascouts]

Hmm, good question! I always assumed it was Don's voice distorted.

[sodascouts]

Just listened to it again and yeah, that's Don. It's not really distorted per se, it's just Don "doing a voice" in the first part. Listen to the vowels, and to the way he does that growl during some of the words. That's Don's growl. lol

However, that second part - they've distorted the heck out of it and it doesn't sound at thing like Don. However, since he did the first one, I think it's safe to say he did the second one, too. With those kind of distortions it renders any voice unrecognizable.

ETA: Places in the first section where I can hear a hint of Don's natural accent: "You know, I remember when things"; "I was once"; "talents and my creativity" "Fitzgerald"; "and they pawned"; "specially"; "come with"; "time"....

I think I must listen to Don Henley's voice too much. lol

[Ive always been a dreamer]

I think it's Don too. I also just went back and rechecked the liner notes to be sure. The only thing they list are musicians for the song as follows:

Vinnie Colaiuta
John Corey
Sheryl Crow
Don Henley
Danny Kortchmar
Stan Lynch
Neil Stubenhaus

However, there is no additional clarification.

[sodascouts]

Yeah. I suppose it could be uncredited, but I doubt it.