Almost all of these are mine; #2 is a new favorite, #7 is definitely my wife’s, and #10 is one of my favoritest songs ever…
1. "Streets of Love", Rolling Stones
2. "Dani California", Red Hot Chili Peppers
3. "You May Be Right", Billy Joel
4. "The Gunner’s Dream", Pink Floyd
5. "The Last Resort", The Eagles
6. "Come on Eileen", Dexy’s Midnight Runners
7. "Rock Wit’cha", Bobby Brown
8. "Diamond in the Rough", Jennifer Knapp
9. "Oh Freedom", Pete Seeger
10. "My Old Friend the Blues", Steve Earle
If memory serves me, Hugo, “The Last Resort” deals straightforwardly with issues of faith (or, better said, the lack thereof). I remember all of the fundamentalist claims (back in the 80s) of “Hotel California” as a song promoting satanism and dealing with a satanic church. Once I heard “The Last Resort,” I questioned why people would go for such strained interpretations when “The Last Resort” gave Henley et al.’s views on religion right up front!
Well, Chip — it was certainly an attack on a certain kind of fundamentalist earnestness and hypocrisy, though not necessarily an attack on Christianity itself. I’ve always thought of it more as an environmentalist critique of manifest destiny, myself. It’s just one of those soaring Seventies California Rock anthems of which I am exceedingly fond.
Hugo,
You may have misunderstood my post. I actually like the song myself, or at least appreciate the honesty and open wrestling with issues of faith. I just found it ironic that some listeners were looking for secret religious messages in one song on the album when Henley and/or other band memberss were very honest about where he/they stood in another song!
I think that Henley grew in his writing skills by ’89, when he released The End of the Innocence. That work possibly contained the most social criticism found on any of his, or the Eagles’, albums.
Peace of Christ,
Chip