Dirty Laundry
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "Dirty Laundry" | ||
|---|---|---|
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| Single by Don Henley | ||
| from the album I Can't Stand Still | ||
| Released | 1982 | |
| Recorded | 1982 | |
| Genre | Rock | |
| Length | 5:36 | |
| Label | Geffen | |
| Writer(s) | Don Henley, Danny Kortchmar | |
| Producer(s) | Don Henley, Greg Ladanyi | |
| Chart positions | ||
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| Don Henley singles chronology | ||
| Johnny Can't Read (1982) |
Dirty Laundry (1982) |
I Can't Stand Still (1983) |
"Dirty Laundry" is a song sung by Don Henley, written by him and Danny Kortchmar. It is the second single released from Henley's 1982 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.
The song is about the perceived loss of integrity in evening news broadcasts. Henley sings in the role of an evening news anchorman that "could have been an actor, but I wound up here", and thus is not a real journalist. The idea is that they focus way too much on negative news items, including deaths, disasters and libel. Part of the second verse is an obvious reference to the attempted assassination of President Ronald Reagan, which occurred the previous year, as it shows the newsroom of the station getting excited at the prospects of the death of a major figure, even anticipating an interview with the widow before the figure has even died.
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.
