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Certain Kind of Fool by Bob Lefsetz When did the Eagles become uncool? I think it comes with fame. Once you make it big, everybody wants to tear you down. No matter where you came from. Didn't matter that Henley and Frey had struggled as backup musicians. Living on nothing. Once they sold zillions of albums and sold out stadiums their music was considered substandard, worthless, a joke. But, like the tracks contained on the Beatles' 1, their work has a timeless quality. It doesn't sound dated when played today. It's classic. And for this, we won't forgive them. For establishing a canon of work far beyond mere mortals. My second-favorite album of 2000 was Don Henley's Inside Job. Now a lot of the rockers suck. Too many of the tracks don't quite cut it. This is not Hotel California. Hewing to a high standard throughout. But when Don hits. Nothing is more satisfying to me. You heard the lame "Taking Me Home" on the radio. You never heard "My Thanksgiving." Although it's got nothing to do with the holiday, think about that Thursday at the end of November. With a nip in the air, family surrounding you. Maybe you feel warm inside, maybe creepy. Maybe alternately both. When one listens to Christina Aguilera, the boy bands, one has neither of these feelings. The music slides right off of you. It's not real. It doesn't penetrate. It doesn't RESONATE! That's what I'm looking for. RESONANCE. UNDERSTANDING! Not only in lyrics, but in the sound. "My Thanksgiving" makes me both wistful and happy. I think of what I lost. What's behind me. What's never coming back. But I also think of how far I've come, and what I've achieved. "They're Not Here, They're Not Coming" may not have lyrics as deep. But it rocks. It's got a guitar sound - listen to the solo - that we used to hear ALL OVER the radio in the '70s, but no longer. I MISS this sound. I LOVE this sound. But really, the other great tracks are ballads. "Everything Is Different Now," "For My Wedding," and "Goodbye to a River." As an old rock star once said, it's life and life only. When you're out in the middle of the desert, alone in the mountains, attitude doesn't go very far. It's just you and the elements. Your memories. Your fears. Great music captures these feelings. You get wrapped up in the tunes. They're more than a complement, they're PART of your life. One can hike the Continental Divide and sing them. And replay the mental movie of your existence. You know, at first I thought they were lightweight, too. I mean, this record exploded in the summer of 1971. "Take It Easy." So smooth. So very much in the vein of what came before. But I couldn't push the button when I heard it on the radio. I had to hear that song about the girl in the flatbed Ford. In Winslow, Arizona. I can PICTURE it. And slowly realizing how great the track was, I bought the album. And discovered "Witchy Woman." And "Earlybird." And "Tryin'." I became a fan. And when one was a fan in the '70s, one bought the next album without hearing it. The next two actually. There had to be two pieces of crap before you swore off. And the follow-up which seems like such a legendary hit today wasn't upon release. It was a failure. Seemingly everybody can sing "Desperado" upon provocation. But it wasn't till years later that the average listener even HEARD it. But as great as the title track is, it's not my favorite from the album. That's "Certain Kind of Fool." The Friday before the holidays the Eagles' manager sent me all the remastered albums, as well as the boxed set. I immediately broke the shrink-wrap on Desperado. Put it in the Sony and pushed 6 to hear "Certain Kind of Fool." It's about a gunslinger, but really it's about a rock and roll star, really it's about me. I had a dream. Growing up in the suburbs. Going to college in Vermont. I wanted something MORE. I dreamed of BEING SOMEBODY. And maybe this sets me up for criticism, degradation, like Don Henley and Glenn Frey. That's America. Everybody's got to be self-deprecating. You can't want it too badly. But I wanted it SO badly I was willing to give up EVERYTHING. If I'd gotten a straight job maybe I could have saved my marriage. Could have had all the accouterments I don't. But there was a POWER in these records. I had to go to the SOURCE. L.A. I had to ingratiate myself. I had to be involved. I had something to SAY! And when I got here, stunningly, I found people listened. |
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