About the only thing I look forward to before moving to Boston back in May of 1988 was – MTV. For years we had to settle with music videos of cliché galore TVB had chunked out, filled with tiresome images of either strolling on the beach or breaking glasses or dry ice overloaded or all three. I was more than hungry for production with some real quality. Unbeknownst to me at the time, MTV is actually a cable network and you will have to pay for it, something not every struggling new immigrant family can afford, such as mine. By the time we are settled enough to enjoy such extravagance, I was already on my way to college and stay in the dorm. It was not until the Christmas/New Year break in year one I finally got the chance to catch the elusive entertainment. One of the very first music videos I watched was Don Henley
Don Henley made a name as a founding member and the drummer of the 70s country-rock band The Eagles. But in 1980 when the partnership ended in acrimony all the members went on to their own solo careers. As with many super-bands that have for years established themselves as a joint entity, it took Don Henley sometimes to re-invent himself. However, when he scored it big in 1985 with his second solo album Building The Perfect Beast, which featured the Top 5 hit Boy of Summer and won him a Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance Don Henley became the most commerically successful of all The Eagles. Little did we know the best from Don Henley had yet to come
When he released his third solo album, The End of the Innocence, not only did it become his best selling album in his career, but also one of the most critically acclaimed of the year and the decade. Released in the last months of 1980s, the album took on many social phenomenon of the Reagan era: from lost of the small town attitude (the title track) to the blatant Reaganomic materialism (Gimme What You Got) to the Pat Robertson/Jerry Falwell religious fanatics (Little Tin God). But for those like me who didn't live under the Reagan administration, the biggest impression is probably two VERY heartfelt ballads in the album
The Last Worthless Evening was released as the second (some sources said third) single after the title track. At 6:03 it is a rather long running song but with its earnest lyrics it hardly feels dragging at all. Though it would not be something I recommend, you can't deny there is a certain nobleness in being so enthusiastic to be the rebound guy. When going through a painful breakup, can you not be moved when someone "walk up to you and say this is the last worthless evening that you'll have to spend"? By the way, it is from this song I learned the term "sink or swim", a darn good phrase to describe a desperate situation.
The Last Worthless Evening by Don Henley
Despite the success of the album, Don Henley went into litigation with Geffen Record and its owner David Geffen over breach of contract soon afterward and The End of the Innocence remains the last original album Don Henley released under Geffen Record. Maybe because of the dispute, all the music videos from the album posted to Youtube tend to get removed. It is only through Yahoo Video that I can find the one for The Last Worthless Evening. It probably will take a bit longer to load but bear with it.
The Last Worthless Evening @ Yahoo! Video
There isn't much frill in the video but it makes good use of colour to create a very soothing ambience that is just right for the song. I particularly like the bridge "Time Time Ticking, Ticking Away" when the video juxtaposed the image of a fading flower and the heroine's shock discovery of how wasted away she had become. A side note: before she made it big with All I Wanna Do, Sheryl Crow was working as a backup singer for various artists including Don Henley. Reportedly one of the backup singers in the video is her. I will let you be the judge.
Don Henley followed this up with an even better ballad. As the very last track of The End of the Innocence, there can't be many better 'wrap up' songs than The Heart Of the Matter.
The Heart Of The Matter by Don Henley
Although The Heart Of The Matter was a big hit at the time, it never cracked into the Top 20 in Billboard Hot 100, which is the chart most in Hong Kong used to gauge popularity. So I suspect this song might not be that well known in Hong Kong. If you have never heard of it or pay attention to its lyrics, I would urge you to check it out, it has some of the best lyrics ever written out there:
They let you down, you know they hurt your pride
You better put it all behind you baby; cause' life goes on
You keep carryin' that anger, it'll eat you up inside, baby
I wish ballads in Hong Kong could have more lyrics like these instead of the endless rant of 爛泥\垃圾\壞人\好心無好報. Don't they understand clemency and redemption can be far more emotionally poignant than perennially dwelling on self-pity?
The subject matter of The Heart Of The Matter is much more abstract and thus lot harder to visualize. Though inexplicable in part, the music video for The Heart Of The Matter does manage to convey a sense of regret toward the past and emancipation in moving forward, much in the same vein as the song conceptually, if not faithfully. It also has some good fading in, fading out of lighting. Unfortunately, the video is even harder to find than Last Worthless Evening. What you can find in Youtube is usually the India Arie's cover. So you might want to catch the original before YouTube takes it down
