The End Of The Innocence

[eagleshenleyfan]

A fantastic track. One of Don's best, it's a song that I can really relate to along with 'Heart Of The Matter' after splitting up with my fiancee of 5 years back in the summer.

[DonFan]

Bob Lefsetz's latest column is titled "The End of the Innocence."
He is feeling the pain of the economy, the gas crisis, and the world in general (as am I), and wrote this week's column about it. Here is an excerpt:
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"They said life would never be the same after 9/11. But somehow it was.

Sure, the government kept telling us to be aware of terrorist attacks, but despite some anthrax being mailed around in the weeks after the Twin Towers fell, nothing ever happened. Sure, we ultimately had to take off our shoes as we went through airport security, but life was surprisingly just like it had always been. Citizens shopped as our President urged them to. Kids went to school, parents bought SUVs and life wasn't much different than it was in the nineties.

Until a couple of months ago. When gasoline suddenly spiked. When suddenly a jaunt to buy a quart of milk, to rent a DVD, was no longer a mindless decision, but something to be debated. Was it worth the cost of the gas?

Drink that beer, eat that hot dog, enjoy that parade. Have a good Fourth. But know that finally, everything truly is different. Whether it be natural disasters caused by global warming or the inability to afford a cross-country trip. The American way of life has taken a hit.

How do we change for the better? I don't know. But it's time we started speaking the truth. I'd hope the politicians could achieve this. But the politicians always follow the artists. The artist, unencumbered, speaking from his heart, leads the way.

There's no easy solution. Gas is not going back down to three dollars a gallon, never mind two. There's a cloud over our everyday activities. And we've got no confidence positive change is in the wind, never mind achievable. They tell us to party like it's 1999, but those days are long gone.

Driving home from the doctor in the fading heat of a long summer day I heard Don Henley's "The End Of The Innocence" on the radio. I remembered 1989, when the record was ubiquitous. When MTV still played videos and everybody with an established career sold millions of albums. When my wife left our home behind. In the shock of that event, the only thing that soothed me was music. I drove around pushing the button, longing to hear "The End Of The Innocence", longing to feel rooted, connected to something.

I don't need a bigger house. I don't need two dollar a gallon gas. I jus need to feel connected, to feel that I'm not crazy, that other people are freaked out too, are shocked at what's happened to our country. I need the musicians to speak the collective truth. To put words and sounds to what we feel. To point us in the proper direction. Because I'm lost."

[Mrs Henley]

Thnx for posting DF!

Yeah EOI is one of my favorites solo songs of Donnie.

[DonFan]

Love the pic in your new sig line, Mrs H!

[Brooke]

Me, too, Mrs H!

And TEOTI is one of my faves, too.

[Mrs Henley]

Thanks DF & Brooke!

this is the photo:
Rotterdam, NL, April 1st.

[sodascouts]

Bob Lefsetz's latest column is titled "The End of the Innocence."
He is feeling the pain of the economy, the gas crisis, and the world in general (as am I), and wrote this week's column about it. Here is an excerpt:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

"They said life would never be the same after 9/11. But somehow it was.

Sure, the government kept telling us to be aware of terrorist attacks, but despite some anthrax being mailed around in the weeks after the Twin Towers fell, nothing ever happened. Sure, we ultimately had to take off our shoes as we went through airport security, but life was surprisingly just like it had always been. Citizens shopped as our President urged them to. Kids went to school, parents bought SUVs and life wasn't much different than it was in the nineties.

Until a couple of months ago. When gasoline suddenly spiked. When suddenly a jaunt to buy a quart of milk, to rent a DVD, was no longer a mindless decision, but something to be debated. Was it worth the cost of the gas?

Drink that beer, eat that hot dog, enjoy that parade. Have a good Fourth. But know that finally, everything truly is different. Whether it be natural disasters caused by global warming or the inability to afford a cross-country trip. The American way of life has taken a hit.

Sometimes Lefsetz annoys me, and I have wondered in the past if he's a bit overrated. In this case, however, he has written a thoughtful piece and puts the gas prices in a perspective I hadn't thought of before.

As most of you guys know, I drove all over the south and the midwest this past June, just before gas prices went over $4.00 per gallon. My biggest expense was not the ticket prices or the hotels. It was the gas. I spent approximately $500 in gas costs, all told, for those trips to South Carolina, Mississippi (including a day trip to New Orleans), and Minnesota. When I told Dreamer this, she remarked that in the past gas was almost an incidental. Now, it's reached the point where it can be prohibitive, as Lefsetz says. I don't think I'll be driving further than Chicago for a long time, unless I've got someone with whom I can split gas.

The cost of gas underlies everything, because it is a cost that can't be avoided. You can't transport product without it, so every product's price must be raised to compensate for it. Using less gas here in America won't help bring prices down because China continues to guzzle it. Even if someone were to find a workable alternative fuel today, it would take decades to implement it worldwide.

Yet, those overseas have little sympathy, citing their own high gas prices - prices that have been high for decades. For Americans, perhaps it is not so much the end of the innocence as the end of the insulation - no more are we buffered against the factors that have driven up prices elsewhere. Their lack of sympathy is understandable, but the fact is, when gas prices go up in, say, Germany, there isn't much consequence around the world. Not so when gas prices go up in the USA and China. The world economy suffers.

The only encouraging news is that human beings always seem to find a way to adapt, even in catastrophic circumstances. Things change, but life goes on. We can't go back, but we can adjust to a new reality and move forward.

I advise Lefsetz to stop relying upon his favorite artists to give him a way to connect with himself and with the world around him. Yes, they can help, but don't wait idly by for them to "point us in the right direction." Find a way to achieve your own happiness, Bob. Listen to the music while you do so, but don't make it your only way to find identity, to find solutions. We all may not all have Henley's gifts and eloquence, but we can all find a way to make this world - and our own lives - better.

Just my rambling thoughts on the matter.

[Mrs Henley]

As most of you guys know, I drove all over the south and the midwest this past June, just before gas prices went over $4.00 per gallon. My biggest expense was not the ticket prices or the hotels. It was the gas. I spent approximately $500 in gas costs, all told, for those trips to South Carolina, Mississippi (including a day trip to New Orleans), and Minnesota. When I told Dreamer this, she remarked that in the past gas was almost an incidental. Now, it's reached the point where it can be prohibitive, as Lefsetz says. I don't think I'll be driving further than Chicago for a long time, unless I've got someone with whom I can split gas.)

OMG $500 only for gas, that's too!
Here is the same problem, it's so expensive!
And why? Hell knows..:S

[Fan_For_Life]

Driving home from the doctor in the fading heat of a long summer day I heard Don Henley's "The End Of The Innocence" on the radio. I remembered 1989, when the record was ubiquitous. When MTV still played videos and everybody with an established career sold millions of albums. When my wife left our home behind. In the shock of that event, the only thing that soothed me was music. I drove around pushing the button, longing to hear "The End Of The Innocence", longing to feel rooted, connected to something.

I don't need a bigger house. I don't need two dollar a gallon gas. I jus need to feel connected, to feel that I'm not crazy, that other people are freaked out too, are shocked at what's happened to our country. I need the musicians to speak the collective truth. To put words and sounds to what we feel. To point us in the proper direction. Because I'm lost."

I really enjoyed reading this.

This song came at a time when my heart was feeling heavy and dark. Sorta helped put things in perspective. Even now this song moves me in a way no other song of his does.

Luckily I was blessed with a home with a mother and father for the time it lasted, which is more than what alot of children can say. My dad had one last military tour, and they decided for us to stay behind so we could finally begin to have some stability in a home and school. I slowly watched a marriage of 16yrs go down the tubes within a year of my father being gone. Of course things began to get tricky for me and I remember hearing this song and the only thing I could do was cry.

[sodascouts]

Thanks for sharing that, FFL. It's amazing how much music can mean to a person. Sounds like things were pretty rough; it's great that the song could help you work through it.