Liars and Saints

My favorite pop song is "The Heart of the Matter," by Don Henley. There, I said it. At some point, allegedly, Joni Mitchell remarked that a song is a thought you have as you're inspecting the rear-view mirror. The point you wanted to make. The thing you remember--a bit too late--as you're driving away. Nora Ephron said, "If you slip on a banana peel, you're a punchline. If you then write a story about how you slipped on the banana peel, you're suddenly in control of the joke." Don Henley can be simple and direct, because he knows he has a compelling situation. He is addressing an ex-lover, having heard she has "moved on": I got the call today. I didn't want to hear. But I knew that it would come. An old, true friend of ours was talking on the phone: She said you found someone. Then the words do something thrilling; they go in directions uncommon for a pop song. I thought of all the bad luck, the struggles we went throu...

Don Henley's "The Heart of the Matter" is a story song. It moves from A to Z. (A) is implied. A happy relationship. Then problems intervene. The nature of the problems is kept vague: "the bad luck," "the struggles we went through," "I lost me; you lost you." "The work I put between us." Living in "a graceless age." People "filled with rage." In this hothouse of ego and insensitivity, the relationship dies. Boy loses Girl. As a final twist, Boy is at least granted the gift of self-awareness. He is shattered and newly capable of self-reflection: Like Joni Mitchell in "Both Sides Now," he now at least partly understands "there's a lot that I don't know." A humbling. Not strictly a bad thing. "The more I know, the less I understand." "My will gets weak." "I think (life) is about forgiveness--even if you don't love me anymore." I particularly love how...