The 1980s anthem that Don Henley turned down
It’s never easy to spot the makings of a hit out in the wild. Even though some artists may be able to spit out songs like clockwork whenever they walk into the studio, there’s a good chance that they might not see the potential in their songs until they have been unleashed on the public. Although Don Henley had made plenty of hit singles as part of the Eagles and beyond, even he didn’t see the merit when ‘All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You’ was brought across his desk.
Then again, Henley was never hurting for hits since the Eagles’ breakup. After the band splintered following the release of The Long Run, Henley was going to become the breakout star no matter what happened. Signing to Geffen Records after he left, Henley’s piercing voice would be all over the radio again with the release of his first album, I Can’t Stand Still, scoring a major hit with the track ‘Dirty Laundry’.
Once it came time to craft a follow-up, Henley knew he wanted a writing partner to help bring his songs to life. After Tom Petty rejected a song that Mike Campbell had lying around, Henley would eventually turn the chord progression into ‘The Boys of Summer’, which sent him into superstardom. Across his sophomore album Building the Perfect Beast, Henley toed the line of MTV artist and classic rocker on tracks like ‘All She Wants to Do Is Dance’.
While gathering songs, though, Henley had turned down a song from the legendary producer Mutt Lange. Having already produced albums by the likes of AC/DC and Def Leppard, Lange was quickly becoming known as one of the most in-demand producers, coupled with his natural knack for crafting vocal melodies.
One of the tracks that Henley was offered was a song called ‘All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You’, which he passed on to work on new tunes with his old writing partners like JD Souther. Instead of the golden throat behind country-rock singing it, the song would become a massive hit when Heart picked it up during their renaissance on MTV.
When talking about cutting the track, Ann Wilson recalled that she was even hesitant to record the song, saying, “Actually, we had sworn off it because it kind of stood for everything we wanted to get away from. It was a song by Mutt Lange, who we liked, and it was originally written for Don Henley – but there was a lot of pressure on us to do the song at the time”.
Even though the group would end up stripping everything down for their acoustic act, The Lovemongers, ‘All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You’ stands as one of their fond farewells to the era of big hair and glamour. While the song is fairly straightforward in its lyrical content, the arena-sized chorus turned the tune into one of the band’s most enduring hits on the charts, becoming a fixture of their setlists at the time.
The song would also open doors for where Lange would be going next. Although he had moulded songs for hard rock acts for years, his approach to country-infused material would lead to him producing music for Shania Twain years later on albums like Come On Over. Heart may have put tons of glamour into their performance, but considering their turn towards rootsy music, ‘All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You’ could have benefited from a countrified arrangement.
