Don Henley Video Survivor

[sodascouts]

Again, I know exactly what I want to vote for.

I cast my vote for The Heart of the Matter.

This is my favorite Don Henley solo song. I adore it; it can bring me to tears.

But as for the video... what the freak?! It makes very little sense - the barbed wire and barren landscape at night that Don walks through to get to his Victorian couch/carpet/candelabra set, the sweaty laborers swinging pick axes and trudging with heavy sacks against a bright yellow background, the little girl on the trapeze who is sometimes visible through the tiny window of the false wall behind Don... I'm sure they all have symbolic import, but while I theorize about what they mean, I'm not being moved by the song. Indeed, I'm actually upset at the end when the little girl leaves the old man to die. Symbolic or not, that's just depressing. I'm guessing he personifies old resentments which have to die in order for growth to occur (little girl leaving = growth beginning), but all I can see is a poor old man lying in the dirt alone! No. Just... no.

Pros: Don looks handsome and the visuals are striking. Those assets put it above Garden of Allah and EIDN, but nothing else.

[shunlvswx]

I agree, Soda. Don looked handsome in this video. I love his hair in this. Its not in a ponytail. I love when his hair is down and not in a ponytail.

Sometimes I wonder what is Don thinking when he makes his videos. Does he have a say of how he wants it or somebody else tells him. Now some of his videos do make sense with the actually song and some of his videos make you scratch your head.

[sodascouts]

I've wondered about how much input he has as well. He's made no secret of the fact that he viewed videos as a "necessary evil" and perhaps he didn't bother to spend a lot of time thinking of concepts for them, leaving that to the "experts."

I remember at the MTV Video Awards in 1985 he basically said he had nothing to do with the concept of "Boys of Summer." It surprised me, because Don Henley is not known to be "hands-off" when it comes to his music. Remember how Geffen complained that Henley would be bugging him about the most minute of details even down to his album's packaging. However, Don seems to have allowed someone else to conceive the visuals that the MTV generation is always going to associate with his song.

On the other hand, in the case of "The Garden of Allah," he paid for that video himself. There was no record company looking over his shoulder. You'd think he'd also be involved in the video's creative vision to ensure he got his money's worth... and yet the consensus is that "The Garden of Allah" video is an epic fail.

As I've said before, I have a bad memory, but can anyone think of interviews where Don has talked about having (or not having) input into his videos?

[WalshFan88]

The Heart Of The Matter

[timfan]

The Heart of the Matter

[Brooke]

I've wondered about how much input he has as well. He's made no secret of the fact that he viewed videos as a "necessary evil" and perhaps he didn't bother to spend a lot of time thinking of concepts for them, leaving that to the "experts."

I remember at the MTV Video Awards in 1985 he basically said he had nothing to do with the concept of "Boys of Summer." It surprised me, because Don Henley is not known to be "hands-off" when it comes to his music. Remember how Geffen complained that Henley would be bugging him about the most minute of details even down to his album's packaging. However, Don seems to have allowed someone else to conceive the visuals that the MTV generation is always going to associate with his song.

On the other hand, in the case of "The Garden of Allah," he paid for that video himself. There was no record company looking over his shoulder. You'd think he'd also be involved in the video's creative vision to ensure he got his money's worth... and yet the consensus is that "The Garden of Allah" video is an epic fail.

As I've said before, I have a bad memory, but can anyone think of interviews where Don has talked about having (or not having) input into his videos?

I don't know of any, but it's amazing that he didn't have. Maybe he hated the whole MTV/video thing so much that back then he thought it would never be a viable thing to do so he just didn't worry about it. If so, I bet he regrets it!

I will join in and vote for The Heart of the Matter, too! My favorite Don song, but this video is awful.

[Houston Debutante]

Joining the club and voting for THE HEART OF THE MATTER.

He is SO gorgeous in it, I love to look at him, all that passion ~ but the rest of it is full of WTF moments and so even though he's so hot, I'm voting for this one to go next.

[Zanny Kingston]

My vote = The Heart of the Matter-

One of my very favorite songs-- I would prefer to forget that video exists!

[sad-cafe]

The Heart of the Matter

Love the song, the video doesn't seem to match up

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Well - the rounds haven't been too competitive in this game so far, but I'm guessing that will change soon.

The Heart of the Matter video is a huge missed opportunity, IMHO. The song itself is so beautiful with its straight-forward eloquence, but the video does absolutely nothing to help me appreciate or understand the song better. In fact, trying to analyze the connection is just a huge distraction for me. I figure anytime that most people have to try so hard to find the meaning of something, then the creator's probably missed the boat. Sometimes they just try too hard.

So the video is definitely my choice to go this round. But since my vote isn't needed to eliminate it, I'm going to vote strategically for my next choice ...

I cast my vote for For My Wedding.