Songoftheday 9/16/16 - Remember when the days were long and rolled beneath a deep blue sky, didn't have a care in the world with mommy and daddy standin' by...

"The End Of The Innocence" - Don Henley
from the album The End Of The Innocence (1989)
Billboard Hot 100 peak: #8 (one week)
Weeks in the Top-40: 12

Today's song of the day comes from singer/drummer Don Henley, whose second album after leaving the Eagles, Building The Perfect Beast, had scored him a pair of top-5 pop hits with "The Boys Of Summer" and "All She Wants To Do Is Dance" as well as worthy top-40 follow-ups in "Not Enough Love In The World" and "Sunset Grill". Another track from the album, "Drivin' With Your Eyes Closed", reached the top ten on Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart (#9), as did a contribution to the soundtrack of the Paul Newman film The Color Of Money, "Who Owns This Place" (#3). Five years from the release of Building..., Don finally finished recording his next studio album. On the title track and first single from The End Of The Innocence, Don collaborated with singer/pianist Bruce Hornsby ("The Way It Is"), and the latter's identifiable playing style dominates the musical backdrop to the tale of Reagan-era excess and accountability...


Don Henley The End of Innocence by HollieMario

"The End Of The Innocence" became Henley's fourth top-40 pop hit in America in August of 1989. The single spent a full month atop Billboard's Mainstream Rock chart, while also checking a week at #2 on their Adult Contemporary (or "easy listening") radio list. Internationally, the record made it to #3 in Canada, but missed the top-40 in the UK at #48. The song itself would be nominated for three Grammys in 1990 (as did the album), and he took home his second Rock Male Vocals award from that. The video also won at the MTV Music Video Awards for Male Rock Vocal video.

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Here's co-writer Bruce Hornsby performing the song on The Tonight Show with Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, and Jackson Browne in 1999...

Up tomorrow: Grammy-winning pop/dance singer with some company.