Top 10 Don Henley Songs

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Our Top 10 Don Henley Songs list examines the solo work of the legendary singer, drummer, and co-founder of the Eagles. With one of the most recognizable voices in rock and roll, Don Henley sang lead on many of the Eagles’ defining recordings, including “Hotel California,” “The Last Resort,” “The Long Run,” “One of These Nights,” “Best of My Love,” and “Desperado.”

Henley remained with the Eagles throughout the band’s original 1971–1980 run. After the group separated, Don Henley began establishing a solo career that combined rock, pop, country, rhythm and blues, and increasingly sharp observations about politics, media, relationships, and American culture.

Henley released his first solo album, I Can’t Stand Still, in 1982. The record included “Dirty Laundry,” one of the largest hits of his solo career. One year earlier, Henley had joined Stevie Nicks for the duet “Leather and Lace.” The Stevie Nicks-written song appeared on Nicks’ debut album, Bella Donna. The blend of Stevie Nicks’ and Henley’s voices carried the single to number six on the Billboard Hot 100. For more on the album, visit our Stevie Nicks song list.

Don Henley followed his debut with Building the Perfect Beast in 1984. Five singles were released from the album. Its large cast of musicians included Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac and members of Tom Petty’s band, the Heartbreakers. Building the Perfect Beast established Henley as a major solo artist rather than simply a former member of the Eagles.

In 1989, Henley released The End of the Innocence, the commercial and artistic high point of his solo catalog. The album featured Mike Campbell, Bruce Hornsby, Wayne Shorter, Ivan Neville, Steve Jordan, Stanley Jordan, Edie Brickell, Melissa Etheridge, Axl Rose of Guns N’ Roses, Patty Smyth, and a pre-fame Sheryl Crow. It earned Grammy nominations for Album, Record, and Song of the Year, while the title track won Best Male Rock Vocal Performance. Read more about Henley’s catalog in our complete Don Henley discography.

Eleven years passed before Henley released another studio album. Inside Job arrived in 2000 with another extensive lineup of guests. The album followed The End of the Innocence and expanded Henley’s writing into marriage, fatherhood, technology, environmental responsibility, and the complications of modern life. Nearly fifty musicians contributed to Inside Job.

Henley’s fifth studio album, Cass County, arrived in 2015 and remains his most recent solo studio release. Its guests included Mick Jagger, Dolly Parton, Merle Haggard, Miranda Lambert, Lucinda Williams, Vince Gill, Alison Krauss, Ashley Monroe, and Trisha Yearwood.

Our Top 10 Don Henley Songs list focuses on recordings released outside the Eagles, including one selection from his first greatest-hits collection. It offers an introduction to the outstanding material Henley created beyond his work with the Eagles.

# 10 – All She Wants to Do Is Dance

We begin our Top 10 Don Henley Songs list with “All She Wants to Do Is Dance.” Danny Kortchmar wrote the song, which appeared on the 1984 album Building the Perfect Beast.

The irresistible synthesizer groove and danceable chorus disguise a lyric about privilege, violence, political instability, and people partying while chaos unfolds around them. That contrast gives the song much more bite than its bright production initially suggests.

Released as the album’s second single, “All She Wants to Do Is Dance” reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on Billboard’s Top Rock Tracks chart. Patty Smyth and Martha Davis contributed backing vocals.

# 9 – The Heart of the Matter

“The Heart of the Matter” appeared on The End of the Innocence. Don Henley, Mike Campbell, and J.D. Souther wrote the song.

Campbell’s guitar and keyboard foundation creates a calm surface for a lyric about betrayal, forgiveness, and the difficult work of letting go. Henley never presents forgiveness as easy or sentimental. The song acknowledges that anger can survive long after a relationship has ended.

Released as the album’s third single, “The Heart of the Matter” reached number twenty-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the Mainstream Rock chart. The collaboration also brought together central figures from the Eagles and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

# 8 – For My Wedding

Larry John McNally wrote “For My Wedding,” which Henley recorded for the 2000 album Inside Job. The album was Henley’s first solo studio release in eleven years.

The song is more thoughtful than a conventional celebration. Its narrator considers marriage with gratitude, humility, and an awareness that promises gain meaning only through the way two people live after the ceremony.

Dean Parks’ guitar work is one of the recording’s highlights. Although “For My Wedding” was not released as a major commercial single, it became a meaningful selection for weddings and first dances during the years after the album’s release.

# 7 – Dirty Laundry

“Dirty Laundry” appeared on Henley’s 1982 solo debut, I Can’t Stand Still. Don Henley and Danny Kortchmar wrote the song.

The recording attacks television news, celebrity culture, sensationalism, and the commercial rewards available to broadcasters who transform suffering into entertainment. Its subject has only become more relevant as the media environment has expanded.

Joe Walsh and Steve Lukather contributed guitar solos, while Henley delivered the lyric with controlled disgust rather than uncontrolled rage. “Dirty Laundry” reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100, making it the highest-charting solo single of Henley’s career.

# 6 – Sunset Grill

“Sunset Grill” appeared on Building the Perfect Beast. Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, and Benmont Tench wrote the song, drawing inspiration from the small Los Angeles restaurant of the same name.

The opening percussion and minor-key synthesizer figure create a cinematic atmosphere. The song observes people gathering at the edge of the Hollywood dream, surrounded by heat, traffic, ambition, loneliness, and the possibility of violence.

Henley turns one physical location into a portrait of Los Angeles itself. “Sunset Grill” reached number twenty-two on the Billboard Hot 100 and remains one of the most ambitious arrangements from Building the Perfect Beast.

# 5 – New York Minute

“New York Minute” appeared on The End of the Innocence. Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar, and Jai Winding wrote the song.

The jazz-influenced introduction immediately separates the track from conventional late-1980s rock. Jeff Porcaro of Toto played drums, David Paich contributed keyboards, Pino Palladino played bass, and Take 6 provided backing vocals.

The lyric reflects on how quickly stability can disappear. Henley moves from a specific story into a broader meditation on fear, ambition, compassion, and the value of the people waiting at home. Released as the fifth and final American single from the album, “New York Minute” reached number forty-eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and number five on the Adult Contemporary chart.

# 4 – Everybody Knows

Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson wrote “Everybody Knows.” Don Henley recorded the song for his 1995 compilation Actual Miles: Henley’s Greatest Hits.

Cohen’s lyric presents corruption, inequality, infidelity, hypocrisy, and approaching disaster as facts that everyone understands but few people confront. Henley’s voice is ideally suited to the song’s combination of moral exhaustion and dark humor.

Actual Miles was Henley’s first greatest-hits collection and included three new recordings. Another of those songs, “The Garden of Allah,” was released as a single. For more Henley performances, visit our ranking of Eagles songs sung by Don Henley.

# 3 – The Boys of Summer

“The Boys of Summer” was the first single released from Building the Perfect Beast. Don Henley and Mike Campbell wrote the song after Campbell created the synthesizer-and-drum-machine track that became its musical foundation.

The recording looks back at youth, romance, and the California summer from the distance of adulthood. Henley recognizes that places and people change, but memory continues preserving an earlier version of them.

“The Boys of Summer” reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100. Henley won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance, while the black-and-white video became one of the defining clips of the MTV era.

# 2 – The Last Worthless Evening

“The Last Worthless Evening” was written by John Corey, Don Henley, and Stan Lynch. The song appeared on The End of the Innocence and followed the title track as the album’s second single.

Henley addresses someone who has been wounded by a previous relationship and asks for the chance to end the loneliness both people have accepted. The song is romantic, but it also recognizes how fear can keep adults from risking another emotional commitment.

Mike Campbell added guitar, while Stan Lynch contributed percussion. “The Last Worthless Evening” reached number twenty-one on the Billboard Hot 100 and became one of Henley’s most enduring solo ballads.

# 1 – The End of the Innocence

Bruce Hornsby’s piano introduces “The End of the Innocence” with a melody that feels reflective before Henley sings a word. Bruce Hornsby and Don Henley wrote the song together.

The lyric connects personal memory with political disillusionment. Images of childhood safety gradually give way to broken promises, national division, environmental destruction, and the recognition that innocence cannot be recovered once experience has changed the way a person sees the world.

Wayne Shorter’s soprano saxophone adds another unforgettable voice to the recording. Released as the album’s lead single, “The End of the Innocence” reached number eight on the Billboard Hot 100. Henley won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance for the song.

The combination of Hornsby’s piano, Shorter’s saxophone, Henley’s vocal, and one of the strongest lyrics of his solo career earns “The End of the Innocence” the number-one position on this list.