“Victim of this victim of that”: The Eagles song that quotes William Shakespeare to channel frustrations
It takes a great deal of resilience for musicians to face everything that comes with fame and still switch off to it long enough to create art. While many factor these struggles into their work, the Eagles often did so with the kind of subtlety that enabled multiple interpretations, like the layered messaging within ‘Hotel California’. However, sometimes, they felt inspired to point fingers and call things what they really were.
The 14 years that followed their breakup were likely enough to instil a deep-seated reflection within each member and an attitude that understood the value of time, graciousness, and patience when certain things didn’t go exactly as planned. Don Henley once uttered the standoffish remark about the band reuniting “when hell freezes over,” setting the stage for a long and indefinite hiatus.
However, Hell Freezes Over emerged following a lunch with Henley and Glenn Frey, who decided now was the time, though the irony of a decision was not lost on them. They injected this self-aware hypocrisy into the album title, with subtle sprinklings of satire throughout the album. At the start of the concert, for instance, Henley jokes: “For the record, we never broke up; we just took a 14-year vacation.”
A lot can change in 14 years, and it’s clear that it had—not only did the band suddenly appear to have adopted a newfound appreciation for being together one more time, but there was also a lot to say within the album, even if it mainly included pre-existing songs with only four new tracks. One of these was the sardonic ‘Get Over It’, which was inspired by the countless people who appear on talk shows to discuss the tragedies in their lives for attention.
This is clear from the outset with lines like: “Lot of people cryin’ don’t blame me / They point their crooked little fingers at everyone else / Spend all their time feelin’ sorry for themselves / Victim of this victim of that.” Henley also refers to William Shakespeare to take his sentiment a step further, saying: “The more I think about it, old Billy was right, let’s kill all the lawyers, kill ’em tonight.”
Of course, beyond being one of Shakespeare’s most famous lines taken from Henry VI, Henley mirrors the same cynicism of seeing lawyers as preservers of privilege and structure, even if it’s unjust. As he criticises the platforming of those who seek the spotlight by using their own ‘sad’ stories as bait, Henley jokingly points an accusatory finger at a society that evades personal accountability, injecting the song with dark humour to get across his frustrations.
Considering this was one of the first new Eagles songs in 14 years, it proved that their inherent tensions were still heavily engrained, even after a long break. Though not directly aimed at each other, ‘Get Over It’ captured their collective angst at certain aspects of modern celebrity culture, channelling almost the same type of industry-critical lens at the centre of earlier hits like ‘Hotel California’.
