Don Henley Damn It, Rose
(Don Henley/Stan Lynch) Maybe just a good night's sleep Would have changed your troubled mind From that rather permanent decision So tragic, so unkind Now, pain is what you've given And sleep is what you'll get So far away from that sweet baby child Who hardly knew you yet Now he'll grow up to be a fighter Full of anger, full of shame Like all the other haunted children Who wonder why they came And he'll be in and out of trouble Until he stands up or he falls But there will always be a shadow there No matter how it goes Damn it, Rose Is this another cryptic message Or some kind of cosmic quiz If there's a lesson to be learned from this Well, I don't know what it is You could have given us the finger Much more constructively than that Now I sit here with the MTV And your bloated, Burmese cat We're being treated to the wisdom Of some puffed up little fart Doing exactly what I used to do— Pretentions to anarchy and art He speaks the language of a warrior He mounts his misinformed attack He wears the clothes of a dissenter But there's a logo on his back And it's a hollow rebellion As rebellions mostly are It's just another raging tempest in a jar And the seasons keep on changing And the wind blows hot and cold Wish that you were here with us to watch this tide As it ebbs and flows Damn it, Rose
