Henley songs about Stevie...

[David]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Without sounding like an "Ugly American," I relate it to the way America is often viewed as a "Shangri-La"... you know, the country where the streets are paved with gold.

So Stevie had Shangri-La confused with El Dorado?

I guess it's possible.

Again, I think Stevie was just going for the phrase that sounded far-away & mythic & spine-tingling. Either that, or she had just seen that terrible Ross Hunter musical with Peter Finch.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by David

Wait. I don't get it. How does the title "Trouble in Shangri-La" prophesy what happened on 9/11? What parallel is there between Shangri-La & New York City, or the United States? Shangri-La is a utopia, a hidden paradise on Earth whose inhabitants live for hundreds of years. Actually, I never really knew what Stevie was talking about by naming the album "Trouble in Shangri-La," other than as a vague sort of metaphor for the isolated, luxurious qualities of being an extremely rich superstar, for whom so many of the problems of the world are nonexistent or at most minimal. I'm not sure that it's any more prophetic than a typical Nostradamus stanza (which is nothing more than an understanding of the repeating patterns of human experience & behavior).

I could say, "there'll be trouble in this land next year," & sure enough, there will be! Everybody knows that.

I think Stevie just chose the phrase "Shangri-La" for the same reasons she borrows words & phrases from classic authors: she likes the sound of the phrases, first of all, & secondly, these phrases & speechways & allusions resonate in her mind as mythic, romantic, far-away, untouchable but all-wise, pearls of knowledge from an ever-receding & unrecoverable past.

Now I don't mean to talk any of you out of believing that Stevie is your prophet. I don't want to do that. I have my prophets, too, & I'd get bummed out if someone shot my prophets full of holes (for example, the review of "Science: The Glorious Entertainment" that appeared in the New York Review of Books in the 1960s really landed a couple of smart ones on Barzun's Gallic chin).

It's okay. In my mind, here we were, just living our lives thinking we were all safe and secure and for the most part, compared to many other places, we've got it pretty good. Then bam! All of a sudden, our illusions are shattered on a beautiful crisp September morning. And things have never been quite right since.
The parallels between the lyrics of the title track and what was to come are prophetic to me: I run through the grass, I run over the stones, Show me the way back...
And also this verse: With honor be it spoken to understand this light that we carry* And let it light your way* Of course you know I generally take it
And finally: And it brings up the wind* And it rises around you in pillars of color* But the promise has been broken* As you walk through the shadow of death* You try to see no evil* But you are so heartbroken* you say, Dear God make it stop*Before the dawn of separation
Now I realize she didn't conciously have the events of 9/11 in her mind when she wrote the song, I just think that somehow, unconciously she wrote of things to come. I wonder if this was one of those songs that just came to her or one that she had to work on for a while?

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Without sounding like an "Ugly American," I relate it to the way America is often viewed as a "Shangri-La"... you know, the country where the streets are paved with gold.

Don't be so literal, Davey.

Yes, Johnny, that's what I'm talking about.

[QuiGonKong]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

The man knows how to live. A friend of mine worked for Concerts West many years ago and was a road manager for a bunch of different bands. His exploits with J.D. Souther nearly got him divorced. From what he told me, Souther was quite the womanizer himself.

And,ofcourse, Stevie had a brief fling with Souther too. It makes me wonder if Stevie likes...or liked....that type of guy. The bad boy womanizer who is going to do her wrong. Maybe she figures it will be good songwriting material.

[pattymarkle]

I always took Shangri-La to mean Paradise, so trouble in Paradise. Is New York City paradise? I suppose it depends on who you ask. It wouldn't be my version of paradise. Don't take it so literally. I know what you mean about prophecy can be found anywhere when you look at backwards. I also believe that prophecy is always self-fulfilling. So I don't think it is so much prophecy as what I do premonitions.

That one part of the song that was quoted earlier:

I guess we don't believe
That things could go that far
We all believe in people...
That we think believe in God
Somewhere in the night...
Someone feels the pain
The ones who walk away
Try to love again...

When I think of that and the fact that Stevie arrived in New York that morning, it just gives me a very strange feeling. Plus if you take her at her word that she wrote Rhiannon with no knowledge of the Welsh Goddess Myth, she just read the name in a book and then wrote the song with elements of the myth woven through it, it makes me believe that she is plugged in somewhere, without her even having knowledge of it.

Whatever the reason, she just makes me feel better and it has worked since I was around 10 years old. Now that I am T-361 days for 40, I'm sticking it out with her.

Patty

[equeen102289]

Thanks HenleyFan for all the information you have provided. Even though, Henley has never publicly said a certain song was inspired by Stevie...I'd still like to think she's somewhere in a few of them.

Also, to comment on TISL, I definitely think it could have been one of her premonitions, whether she realized it at the time or not. I'm not saying it's directly related to 9/11, but it sure captures the whole feeling of it. And we all know this wouldn't be the first song she has done this with...I mean, look at After the Glitter Fades...

[pattymarkle]

Originally Posted by QuiGonKong

And,ofcourse, Stevie had a brief fling with Souther too. It makes me wonder if Stevie likes...or liked....that type of guy. The bad boy womanizer who is going to do her wrong. Maybe she figures it will be good songwriting material.

Okay who is my missing Eagle? I said, Don, Joe and J.D Souther for extra points. Then somebody said she had affairs with 4 Eagles. Are we counting J.D. Souther as one of those four? Who else did she have a fling with? I know it wasn't Glenn, because didn't he not like her very much? Randy Meisner? Don Felder?? Jackson Browne wasn't an Eagle and I don't think she did him, but he did write "Take it Easy". If she did do him, I am jealous because he was my first Rock and Roll crush.

Patty

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by QuiGonKong

And,ofcourse, Stevie had a brief fling with Souther too. It makes me wonder if Stevie likes...or liked....that type of guy. The bad boy womanizer who is going to do her wrong. Maybe she figures it will be good songwriting material.

While it is a sweeping generalization, I will go ahead and say that most straight male rock stars are womanizers. It goes with the territory.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by pattymarkle

Okay who is my missing Eagle? I said, Don, Joe and J.D Souther for extra points. Then somebody said she had affairs with 4 Eagles. Are we counting J.D. Souther as one of those four? Who else did she have a fling with? I know it wasn't Glenn, because didn't he not like her very much? Randy Meisner? Don Felder?? Jackson Browne wasn't an Eagle and I don't think she did him, but he did write "Take it Easy". If she did do him, I am jealous because he was my first Rock and Roll crush.

Patty

I thought it was three. I don't think it was four.

[sparky]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

Lear 'em and leave 'em was only for the famous girls, then?

Evidently. I won't repeat the stories I have heard here. Someone's bound to have a hissy fit.

He's mentioned in a few books. I don't have to tell the stories.

[lagringader&r]

HenleyFan, any direct inspiration for Victim of Love?

[HenleyFan]

I don't think so. What they usually say about that song is that it was recorded five piece live in the studio. They're very proud of that fact. I think the song just fits in with the themes of Hotel California.

L&M

Originally Posted by lagringader&r

HenleyFan, any direct inspiration for Victim of Love?

[skcin]

OK, let's make this a "what's this Eagles song about" thread.

L&M - My absolute fave is Take It To The Limit. Any info?

[bikerchic]

Originally Posted by David

Wait. I don't get it. How does the title "Trouble in Shangri-La" prophesy what happened on 9/11? What parallel is there between Shangri-La & New York City, or the United States? Shangri-La is a utopia, a hidden paradise on Earth whose inhabitants live for hundreds of years. Actually, I never really knew what Stevie was talking about by naming the album "Trouble in Shangri-La," other than as a vague sort of metaphor for the isolated, luxurious qualities of being an extremely rich superstar, for whom so many of the problems of the world are nonexistent or at most minimal. I'm not sure that it's any more prophetic than a typical Nostradamus stanza (which is nothing more than an understanding of the repeating patterns of human experience & behavior).

I could say, "there'll be trouble in this land next year," & sure enough, there will be! Everybody knows that.

I think Stevie just chose the phrase "Shangri-La" for the same reasons she borrows words & phrases from classic authors: she likes the sound of the phrases, first of all, & secondly, these phrases & speechways & allusions resonate in her mind as mythic, romantic, far-away, untouchable but all-wise, pearls of knowledge from an ever-receding & unrecoverable past.

Now I don't mean to talk any of you out of believing that Stevie is your prophet. I don't want to do that. I have my prophets, too, & I'd get bummed out if someone shot my prophets full of holes (for example, the review of "Science: The Glorious Entertainment" that appeared in the New York Review of Books in the 1960s really landed a couple of smart ones on Barzun's Gallic chin).

Stevie said in a Jay Leno interview that when she was making "Trouble in Shangri-La", it was right around the time of the O.J. Simpson trial and the fact that someone could have soooo much (shangri-la) and then lose it all. Then stupid Jay says "so this album is about O.J. Simpson?" and Stevie say's "no, but he inspired me" Only Stevie

[HenleyFan]

One of the ways the Eagles wrote songs was to take a saying or cliche or turn of phrase and build a song around it. Which is why there are songs called

Take it to the Limit
Life in the Fastlane
Tequila Sunrise
Take it Easy
One of These Nights

and solo-ly

Heart of the Matter

There are more....the point is that the song isn't necessarily about anything.

L&M

Originally Posted by skcin

OK, let's make this a "what's this Eagles song about" thread.

L&M - My absolute fave is Take It To The Limit. Any info?