BRUCE HORNSBY - THE END OF THE INNOCENCE

THE END OF THE INNOCENCE

BRUCE HORNSBY

SONGWRITER: DON HENLEY

WHERE: LIVE FROM LLBEAN FREEPORT MAINE 2017

COUNTRY: U. S. A.

ALBUM: HERE COME THE NOISE MAKERS

LABEL: RCA VICTOR

GENRE: ROCK

YEAR: 2000

"The End of the Innocence" is the lead single and title track from Don Henley's third solo studio album of the same name, released in 1989. Henley co-wrote and co-produced the song with Bruce Hornsby, who also performed piano; both artists perform the song live in their respective concerts. Henley's version peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming his fifth solo top ten hit on the chart. "The End of the Innocence" also became his fourth number-one single on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and peaked at number two on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart. The song features Wayne Shorter on saxophone.

Here Come the Noise Makers was the first live album by American singer and pianist Bruce Hornsby. It is a double album comprising songs recorded between 1998 and New Year's Eve 1999/2000. It was Hornsby's first album with his touring act the Noisemakers.

The album not only captures the ambience of one of Hornsby’s concerts, but also reflects the vibrant temperament and true stylistic diversity with which he approaches his craft, treating the live performance like a journey in search of the perfect musical moment.

With this album, Hornsby is determined to create a hybrid style that encompasses rock, jazz, and classical music within a jam band mentality. The concert musical experience captured on the album embodied the gestures towards complete improvisatory musical spontaneity and towards recasting old songs as unrecognizably new that so much of Hornsby's solo work had been forecasting, this time in a full band setting. The album covers pieces by many of Hornsby's musical influences, George Gershwin, Samuel Barber, Bill Evans, Bud Powell and Bob Dylan among them. Hornsby directly acknowledges the influence of the Grateful Dead by performing their songs "Lady with a Fan" and "Black Muddy River" and by including a version of "The Valley Road" that seems to have "emerged from the Grateful Dead's "Wharf Rat."

Remember when the days were long

And rolled beneath a deep blue sky

Didn't have a care in the world

With mother and daddy standin' by

But "happily ever after" fails

And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales

The lawyer dwell on small details

Since daddy had to fly

But I know a place where we can go

That's still untouched by men

We could sit and watch the clouds roll by

And the tall grass wave in the wind

You can lay your head back on the ground

And let your hair fall all around me

Offer up your best defense

But this is the end

This is the end of the innocence

O'beautiful, for spacious skies

But now those skies are threatening

They're beating plowshares into swords

For this tired old man that's no longer king

Armchair warriors often fail

And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales

The lawyers dwell on small details

Since daddy had to fly.

But I know a place where we can go

And was a away this sin

We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by

And the tall grass wave in the wind

Just lay your head back on the ground

And let your hair spill all around me

Offer up your best defense

But this is the end

This is the end of the innocence

Who knows how long this will last

Now we've come so far, so fast

But, somewhere back there in the dust

That same small town in each of us

I need to remember this

So baby give me just one kiss

Come and take a long last look

Before we say goodbye

Just lay your head back on the ground

And let your hair fall all around me

Offer up your best defense

But this is the end

This is the end of the innocence.