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On the inside
an interview with Don Henley both read to me extensively when I was a child. My father took me on trips and introduced me to the great outdoors. My mother and my grandmothers introduced me to good home cooking. I am very appreciative of my parents. I want my children to feel the same way about me when they get older. I want them to say, “Well, the old man was a little hard on us sometimes, but I understand now what he was trying to do.” I now have three kids, two girls and a boy, and that is probably enough — I don’t want to contribute more to the already over-populated planet, but I do want someone to dote on me when I’m old! CM: You’ve said that “Children constantly rekindle hope and appreciation — and they have excellent b.s. detectors.” What worldly insights have your own children shed on your view of the world? DH: Well, there is something everyday. They are just so honest. They don’t censor themselves, and they are not worried about being politically correct. If they don’t like something, they will tell you they don’t like it. They won’t necessarily give you a coherent reason why they don’t like it. I find that they are very perceptive about other people. They are a bit like dogs in that way. They have some kind of a sixth sense about the intentions of other people and they are either drawn to or repulsed by people. They are extremely funny! CM: Where do you call “home” these days? DH: That’s a good question. I’m never quite sure where home is. We officially live in Dallas. I commute to Los Angeles quite often because I’m rehearsing with my band. The members of my band all live here. So the infrastructure, so to speak, in terms of business is in Los Angeles. But the family is in Texas. We want to bring the children up in Texas for the most part. I think it is a good nurturing environment for kids. They can discover Hollywood later on when they are older if they want to, but not right now. CM: If you hadn’t gone into music, what do you think you would be doing today? DH: You know, I don’t know. I really don’t know. I was an English major, I guess I might be teaching, but I never really had any strong aspirations to do anything except what I am doing. I decided at an early age, I think around 17, that this is what I wanted in my life. I never really considered anything else. CM: What has been your most notable accomplishment in your career? DH: Sticking around this long. I started in 1963, and I’m still here [laughs] probably to the chagrin of some people, but other people don’t seem to mind. CM: After all of the years, how do you keep your ideas and creativity flowing and new? DH: Just by living everyday and by noticing things, noticing the world around me, by remaining open and by observing. I have a great deal of curiosity still, and I have a lot of passion for life and living and for the things that go on around me. Having children has made that passion for life even stronger. It refreshes life. It helps you to see the world with new eyes.There is plenty to write about. All one needs to do is observe and to notice. I try to read as much as possible. I read newspapers, periodicals, novels — I take in a lot of information and regurgitate it in the form of songs. CM: What is the latest that you’ve read? DH: Most of the things I read now are non-fiction. I read a lot of environmental books. There is a wonderful thing that comes out each year called State of the World, a kind of summation on the shape the planet is in. I read a lot of technical stuff. I have books on city planning. One of the most interesting books in that vein, not only about city planning but about the way we’ve screwed up the American landscape, is called Home from Nowhere by Kunstler. The Trust for Public Land has put out a wonderful little book called Our Land, Ourselves which contains writings from various notable authors. I recommend anything by Bill McGibben, one of our finest Nature writers. He wrote a wonderful book several years ago called |
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