(Credits: Far Out / Don Henley)
Sun 9 November 2025 20:15, UK
Even while you might think that the most talented songwriters have an infinite well of inspiration that they can draw from, sometimes they have to look in the most unlikely of places, and Don Henley had one person he could always count on for this.
While his time in the Eagles would have seen him partner with Glenn Frey as his primary songwriting companion, there were plenty of other members of the band who he would have been able to bounce his ideas off. Randy Meisner was also an accomplished songwriter, as were Joe Walsh and Bernie Leadon, and so the sources of inspiration would have been plentiful during the decade the group spent together in the 1970s.
However, after the group’s demise following the release of The Long Run in 1979, Henley chose to embark on a solo career, and without his fellow Eagles members around him to help him figure out ideas for songs, he would have to find himself another person to act as this constant source of joy and inspiration. While he would have collaborated with many different session musicians during this time, it was one player in particular who he found to be the most useful person to have around, although not for the most obvious reasons.
During the latter part of the 1970s, while the Eagles were still functioning and generating immense record sales, another group of similarly-minded musicians began to make an impression in the US, with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers very rapidly proving that they were destined for great things. Although many members of the group remained as permanent fixtures, some of them also worked as session players for others, and Heartbreakers drummer Stan Lynch was one who Henley found himself working with at the start of his solo career in the 1980s.
In a 1990 interview, Petty joked that Lynch was always difficult to keep in check and that his hyperactive tendencies were often a hindrance that they had to contend with. “The secret of keeping the Heartbreakers happy is to keep Stan occupied,” Petty humorously remarked. “We want to thank Don Henley for keeping Stan busy all these years and keeping our band together. Thank you.”
However, Henley saw things differently and explained that there was an undeniable chemistry between the two of them that set off sparks when they worked together. “All you’ve gotta do with Stan is have him around,” Henley stated, “Because the stuff that comes out of his mouth is priceless. He is a bottomless pit of one-liners. Stuff like the first line of ‘How Bad Do You Want It?’ [‘You’re leavin’ tongue marks on the carpet’] just fell out of Stan’s mouth. He’s hysterical.”
He continued by telling stories of how having Lynch present during writing sessions spurred him on to write some of his best material. “Some nights we’d be so depressed and tired of recording we’d ask Stan to come down just to have him around,” Henley continued. “But he and I did sit down a couple of times and bang heads with legal pads and the tape recorder. Stan’s coming into his own, he just needs a little encouragement to be a real good songwriter.”
While he may have been something of a nuisance to Petty and co, Henley and Lynch seemed to have this inescapable bond that was beneficial for both parties.
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