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What's the message in this song? In your own words, not Wiki's. In a nutshell, or not! I love Don Henley...the music, and the interesting messages (lyrics) in his songs. This is a cool song. This verse reminds me of the goings-on in the media, on the net, etc.
"I am an expert witness, because I say I am
And I said, Gentleman....and I use that word loosely...I will testify for you
I'm a gun for hire, I'm a saint, I'm a liar
Because there are no facts,there is no truth,just data to be manipulated
I can get you any result you like....what's it worth to ya?"
Great song; I'm also a huge Henley fan. (Hey! He's a drummer!)
I think the speaker in the song is Satan. He refers to L.A. as "Gomorrah By the Sea." He appears to Henley in the song "in a cloud of smoke." He talks about LA being so hot he can't stand it, like where he comes from. (Hell.) He talks about once being a part of the royal court before being tossed out for dissenting. (Satan was a fallen honcho angel.) He talks about "stoking' up the fires and oiling the machinery." He's a saint & a liar. And he says he can get anything you want--what's it worth to ya? (Hmm..maybe just your soul.)
But the clincher on this song being about Satan is the fact it was released right after the O.J. trial. Satan tells Henley he just came from downtown where he was a witness. I think this is alluding to how Satan must have been surely involved in getting an obviously-guilty OJ off.
Too, Henley once did the voice of Faust for this rock opera Randy Newman did--and he used the same deep voice he did in Garden of Allah when Satan is talking.
We could've followed up your post with Henley's "The End of the Innocence!" LOL.
A drummer! Thanks for your post, DrummerBoy. Do you think he was dissing the band Collective Soul? They were pretty big at the time.
No, I think Henley was referring to the sad state of affairs that the Simpson verdict portended--which was that it probably undid any progress this country had made in black/white relation in the 20 years or so prior to the verdict. Henley has always been an astute and cynical social commentator, like with "Dirty Laundry" and "All She Wants to Do is Dance." ("Wild-eyed pistol wavers who ain't afraid to die.")
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In a nutshell, or not! I love Don Henley...the music, and the interesting messages (lyrics) in his songs. This is a cool song. This verse reminds me of the goings-on in the media, on the net, etc.
