From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Dirty Laundry" is a song by Don Henley, written by him and Danny Kortchmar. It is the second single released from Henley's 1980 solo debut album I Can't Stand Still, and his first hit, reaching #1 on the Billboard magazine Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the Eagles' Farewell 1 Tour-Live from Melbourne concert DVD, Henley (speaking for the band) dedicated this song "to Mr. Rupert Murdoch." The song is about the callousness (and callowness) of TV news reporting as well as the tabloidization of all news. Henley sings from the standpoint of a news anchorman who "could have been an actor, but I wound up here", and thus is not a real journalist. The song's theme is that TV news coverage focuses too much on negative and sensationalist news; in particular, deaths, disasters, and scandals, with little regard to the consequences or for what is important ("We all know that crap is king").
The song was covered by Lisa Marie Presley in 2005. It was the only single released from her album Now What, and reached #36 on the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart.
[edit] Trivia
- Joe Walsh performs first solo followed by Steve Lukather of Toto
- The song was also used in the 2004 documentary Outfoxed.
