Songoftheday 6/13/14 - There's an old man there from the Old World To him, it's all the same calls all his customers by name...

Don Henley - "Sunset Grill"
from the album Building The Perfect Beast (1984)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #22 (two weeks)
Weeks in the Top-40: 8

Today's Song of the Day was the fourth single from former Eagle Don Henley's sophomore album Building The Perfect Beast, after the hits "Boys Of Summer", "All She Wants To Do Is Dance", and "Not Enough Love In The World". "Sunset Grill" was the dramatic climax of the album, in the spirit of his cinematic work with the Eagles like "Hotel California", is put the listener in a place and time removed from the banalities of the day. Written by Henley with his band guitarist Danny Kortchmar as well as Benmont Tench from Tom Petty's Heartbreakers, the keyboards were arranged by Randy Newman...

"Sunset Grill" became the fourth top-40 pop hit from Building The Perfect Beast in October of 1985. It did much better on rock radio (which tends towards longer, and more expansive songs), where it peaked at #7, and even made Billboard's adult contemporary radio chart at #18. Across the border in Canada, the single was a minor hit at #52.

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Here's Don singing "Sunset Grill" at Farm Aid in 1985...

Up tomorrow: suave new-wavers come back in close proximity.