“I had to be very careful”: The song Don Henley was worried about releasing
Having a career in songwriting usually means balancing on a tightrope half the time. Even though many people can try to make some of the most earnest songs they can in the hopes that they somehow find an audience, there are also bound to be those times when one’s honesty can end up upsetting a few people when they try to approach something like politics or one’s personal lifestyle. While Don Henley never minced any of his words when working with Eagles, he knew that he would need to tone it down a little bit if he wanted to get on the common man’s level.
Then again, a lot of Eagles songs worked because they never had to worry about anything too cerebral. Most of their classics had stories that could have happened to anyone, and even if they didn’t hit nearly as well with the critics back in the days, it’s never a bad thing listening to a song like ‘Take It Easy’ or ‘Tequila Sunrise’ and singing along to verses that sound like they came straight from a barstool.
That kind of music wasn’t what Henley intended to make for the rest of his life. He had a lot of opinions on what big business was looking to do in America, and listening to his solo records, he could get nasty when he wanted to. ‘Dirty Laundry’ was already his rebuttal to the 1980s versions of TMZ, and when listening to the title track of Building the Perfect Beast, he was clearly pissed that executives were looking at the music industry like a machine rather than a creative means of expression.
After years of solo miles under his belt, though, he never stopped wanting to push himself forward. The Eagles reunion album Long Road Out of Eden had already been a roaring success, but after working on his other band’s hits like ‘Busy Being Fabulous,’ Cass County was a chance for him to go back to his roots with pure Americana music.
Let’s not forget that Henley was originally from Texas and played all kinds of music before going towards country rock, and what appears on this album is the pure distillation of what American music is supposed to be, whether that’s a great country song or getting the best from the bluegrass community. Then again, there were songs like ‘Praying for Rain’ that took a bit more time before they were truly ready.
Since the tune primarily had to do with the changing weather conditions and how it affects the average farmer, Henley remembered toeing the line between his honest feelings and getting too political, saying, “I had to be very careful with that song, and I did it deliberately because I live in Texas. I’m aware of the politics, and I’m aware of all the controversy surrounding climate change. I worked hard on that song so it might reach people who would otherwise not listen to what it has to say. We’ll see how that goes.”
Given what Henley had been doing in the background with the Walden Woods Project, though, it was no secret that the environment was always close to his heart. His work with the charity organisation was partially responsible for bringing Eagles back together, and no matter how many times he tried to downplay it, a song like ‘No More Walks In the Wood’ always did a better job of explaining his true feelings.
Even though ‘Praying For Rain’ does handle both sides of the fence properly, it doesn’t mess around when talking about the big issues either. Protecting the environment has never stopped being a growing concern, and while we’ve gone past the point of no return in lots of ways, there’s a long way to go before we start fixing the problems that afflict the farming community every day.
