Lyrics for The End Of The Innocence as interpreted by Demau Senae

The End Of The Innocence Lyrics
Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standing by
When "happily ever after" fails
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
That's still untouched by man
We'll 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 we elected king
Armchair warriors often fail
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
The lawyers clean up all details
Since daddy had to lie
But I know a place where we can go
And was 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
And let me take a long last look
Before we say good bye
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

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zacster
03-20-2003

Rated 0 
OMG...I love this song. It's about how things aren't always going to be the same forever...and you just have to live with it, however it turns out to be. Great song. "Offer up your best defense, but this is the end, this is the end of the innocence."

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Katherine7486
04-29-2003

Rated 0 
Bruce Hornsby plays the piano on this song-think he cowrote it too but dont hold me to that. If you havn't heard of him (as i seem to be the only one who has) you should get hold of a copy of his cds or something becausehe's very talented and his musics all similar to this song.

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carabiner86
06-08-2003

Rated 0 
I too love this song so much! One of my friends heard it was an allegory about Ronald Reagan ("daddy") and his scandals. It uses a love story to describe that there comes a time when you realize the perfection you have seen as an innocent child is an illusion, that things are not always what they seem.

Has anyone else heard that? Or is my friend crazy?

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1 Reply
mib3fan
11-02-2004

Rated 0 
I really don't think this song means anything politically. I don't really see any places in the song that would point to that. It's just that some people can politicize dang near anything, and I figure that's the case here.

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joe123321
11-20-2004

Rated 0 
I really love this song. This song is really sad, or at least it is to me, because I can relate to it so much. I remember when "the days were long and rolled beneath a deep blue sky", but then as you get older you realize that "happily ever after fails" and life isn't as great as you used to think it was.

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MayorMenley
12-02-2004

Rated 0 
While I am not trying to over-sexualize everything, I have always taken this song to be about a lady loosing her virginity, as he says "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" but that may be waaaaaaaaaaay off base and, yes Bruce Hornsby is awesome! But then again I am a piano geek!

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starbucksbabe73
12-29-2004

Rated 0 
I love this song as well. It's so beautiful, i remember listening to it while I was about 7 and it meant so much to me then, and still today it's so great. I also agree with mayor menley, about a girl losing her virginity, but also with divorce possibly, with lawyers "The lawyers clean up all details", I could be off, but never the less, I love this song.

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jtfan
01-04-2005

Rated 0 
One of those songs that you can feel what he is trying to say but you cant really describe it.

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kupo75
01-22-2005

Rated 0 
I'm not sure about the virginity thing.. it can't be about lost childhood and virginity because then we're talking about a child character losing his virginity. I don't think it's about divorce either. I mean it could be, but it seems more apt to be a political statement. In that case, "daddy" and "the lawyers" would represent our president and the lawyers our government, which is made mostly of lawyers. The video for this song showed a picture of Ronald Reagen when "... for this tired old man that we elected king" played, so I really think it's a political statement about the world losing the innocence that it once had. "The lawyers clean up all details, cause daddy had to lie." The Reagen/Bush/Bush administrations kept going forward with dishonest and misleading policies, and their aides or political friends would hide their mistakes. When I hear the above line now, I think that "daddy" refers to George W. Bush who has lied to our country about reasons of going to war, but the conservative media and his political cronies (the lawyers) "clean it up" by misleading us into believing it's about moral values that they themselves don't even believe.

However that said, the early line, "with mommy and daddy standing by", that COULD be an actual mom & dad, representing our parents and teachers and friends who sheltered us from the hardships and lies of real life, but now the end of innocence is here and they can't protect us anymore ("since daddy had to fly").

But that's just my two cents.

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Zepfreak
03-03-2005

Rated 0 
I agree with it being about a girl losing her virginity. I think the talk about lawyers and "poisoned by these fairy tales" is saying the world isn't the wonderful place you think it is when you are a child. The guy in the song takes the girl to a secluded meadow where they sit and watch the clouds roll by (a moment of pure innocence) before he makes love to her (the end of the innocence).

I agree with Katherine about Hornsby. The song "Fields of Grey" is very similar to this song.

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touchthestarsforme
03-09-2005

Rated 0 
Ok guys.. this is what this song is about.
A guy loves a girl.. and writes a song about her and her life. The end of the innocence is when you realize life isn't a fairy tale anymore.. you grow up! Her parents got divorced, and the people who weren't supposed to let her down ended up hurting her. So this guy's like "well i know a place where we can go that's still untouched by men" a place untainted by hurt or sadness. She can just give up her worries and lay with him... just being still. The end of the innocence is growing up.. learning that life isn't what you thought it was going to be... He's being her comfort... being a constant.

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sthampi
03-31-2005

Rated 0 
Well, of course you can all have your theories about virginity and stuff, but oh man, I'm pretty sure that's not what Don Henley had in mind when he wrote it...if you haven't noticed, Mr. Henley is a very very politically and socially conscious activist.

The song is about the Reagan era and the Iran-Contra Affair (Even the video for the song shows pictures of Reagan and Oliver North).

The first verse is about the Innocence of America - the fairy tale America that we all live in, where things are perfect and picturesque, small town goodness and sweetness, the innocence of the American childhood, the American Dream.

But that innocent picture is an illusion, shattered by the lies and misdealings of the leaders of our country. The lawyers had to "clean up all the details" of Oliver North and Reagan's misdealings, which smeared and tarnished America...

"Oh beautiful, for spacious skies" (America the Beautiful)
But now those skies are threatning - (This has nothing nothing to do with a woman's virginity)

"They're beating plowshares into swords, for this Tired Old Man that we elected King" - Who makes up our soldiers? People from innocent small town America, the farmers, the mid-westerners...the Tired Old Man is Reagan

And the last verse is a beautiful homage to regret, how we have to leave behind our Innocence and say goodbye to it, but that American Dream, that Innocence will always be in our hearts...

Please trust me on this analysis - I first heard this song as a 9 year old girl visiting Texas - this song is my most favourite song in the whole wide world - I've spent the past 17 years thinking about this beautiful song...when I die, they'll be playing it at my funeral ;)

I get a kick out of it too, because now I'm a lawyer ;)

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thumbelina
04-09-2005

Rated 0 
i agree with the political ideas actually,and the virginity thing has crossed my mind more than once.
however, the FIRST timei heard this song, it seemed to me like it could have been a father (the daddy) singing to his daughter-and speaking of himself in third person-trying to explain to her why he was leaving her mother and their life in their small, unblemished town. he knows that his doing this will be the end of his daughers innocence, so he takes her out somewhere beautiful and pure to savor that moment with her

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slytherinblack
04-29-2005

Rated 0 
I thought the "tired old man" sounded like Reagan even before I read this page, so I have to agree with the political interpretation.

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scarlet08
12-06-2005

Rated 0 
This song is the best, and i agree with what most everybody has to say,it's about taking life with stride because nothing is perfect, and nothing stays the same, this song reminds me of my parents and when they got divorced because it was the end of my innocent little world. But it is a great song

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David6.net
02-03-2006

Rated 0 
I Agree With touchthestarsforme This Song Is About Life and Growing Up When Your Young Everything Seems So Innocent but as you get older you start to see more of the world and how life outside your little world is. Also When Your Younger You May Not See How Your Parents Fight (Not With Each Other) But With other Things In Life. It Might Be Over A Money Issue and It Went To Court. "The lawyers clean up all details Since daddy had to lie" He Was Lying About The Car Accident He Was In To The Court. It May Be About Anything. "The lawyers dwell on small details Since daddy had to fly" For The People Who Think They May Have Separated The Dad Left and It Went To Court. Like I Sed This Song Is About Finding Out Life Is Not As Simple and Innocent As You Thought When You Where Younger.

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ebowtheletter
03-04-2006

Rated 0 
THERE IS SIMPLE PROOF THAT THIS IS ABOUT REAGAN: Bruce Hornsby changed the lyrics when he sang the song after Janauary 20, 1989 to "to the tired old man that is no longer king".

That said, I've never seen the video so it being about Iran Contra is different than my interpretation. I've always seen it and figured it out to be about the plight of the farmer under the policies of Reaganomics.

Remember when the days were long
And rolled beneath a deep blue sky
---farmers working their long days out in the fields

Didn't have a care in the world
With mommy and daddy standin' by
---family farms

But "happily ever after" fails
And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
---failure of the American dream

The lawyers dwell on small details
---eviction, etc.

Since daddy had to fly
---leave the farm for work

But I know a place where we can go
That's still untouched by men
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
---wanting to go back to the way things were before Reagan

You can lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair fall all around me
---this is really not sexual; it is just lying down on the farm thinking about
how things used to be


Offer up your best defense
---talking to Reagan about what happened on the farms

But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
---loss of American innocence, especially on the farms

O' beautiful, for spacious skies
---Well, this one is hard. Just kidding. The U.S.

But now those skies are threatening
---Threatening the American dream.

They're beating plowshares into swords
---No funding to farms but high defense spending

For this tired old man that we elected king
---Um, Reagan

Armchair warriors often fail
---Reagan and Reaganomics

And we've been poisoned by these fairy tales
---The American Dream

The lawyers clean up all details
---Coverups like Iran-Contra (FYI, I’m taking this from an email I sent, so I guess I lied when I said that I never thought about Iran-Contra in this song)

Since daddy had to lie
---Um, Reagan

But I know a place where we can go
And wash away this sin
---Reagan's policy
We'll sit and watch the clouds roll by
And the tall grass wave in the wind
---Back to how it was

Just lay your head back on the ground
And let your hair spill all around me
---Remembering about what had happened; I think spill has to do with
Exxon-Valdez, but I don't remember whether this was released before or after
the accident (both were in 1989).

Offer up your best defense
---Talking to Reagan

But this is the end
This is the end of the innocence
---Farmer's innocence

Who knows how long this will last
---depression/recession for farmers, etc.

Now we've come so far, so fast
---moving away and starting life elsewhere

But, somewhere back there in the dust
That same small town in each of us
---where they had their farm

I need to remember this
So baby give me just one kiss
---he is not talking about his wife; he is talking about his past; nothing is as
memorable as a kiss (except a funeral, maybe).

And let me take a long last look
Before we say goodbye
---wanting to be back farming, wanting to look back and see his life again

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
---need I explain this again

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transit
03-13-2006

Rated 0 
this song is about a couple going through a divorce seen through the eyes of a child and that not everything has a fairytale ending. and that if you can find somewhere 'still untouched by man' you should savour it and remember when you were a child and everything seemed so innocent

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Ultimate Panopticon
03-22-2006

Rated 0 
Hey, ebowtheletter, nice response. I really like how you defined this song verse by verse. Now if only we could see MORE efforts like that on this site.

So, this song deals heavily with Ronald Reagan's presidential term. And I too believe there's also the slight hint of a divorce. Basically, you can apply it to that and any situation in which families and their descendents are helpless victims to political actions. I get it now.

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foster2435
03-25-2006

Rated 0 
hey i have to write an essay about what this essay means and compare and contrast it to another song or poem. any auggestions?

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foster2435
03-25-2006

Rated 0 
song means*

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SaiyaJedi
03-26-2006

Rated 0 
This song is made up of three major parts, connected by the theme of a place that's still pure and untainted by the harsh realities of the world (more likely than not, it's less of a real place than a theme used to underline the childlike innocence that disappears as we get older). The narrator can take the person he's singing to there, and they can lie there together in happiness... but it's just an illusion, and no matter what they do, they'll eventually have to accept that they'll have to deal with the real world.

The first verse symbolizes the happy dream of a family, with a loving childhood and parents who stay together forever -- but "happily ever after fails" and the family falls apart, since "daddy had to fly." The narrator reflects that they've been "poisoned by these fairy tales" because it led them to believe that things would always be perfect, and the "lawyers dwell on small details" coldly, without regard for the happiness that should have been.

In the second verse, the theme of innocence is shifted to the USA -- "O Beautiful, for spacious skies" evoking "America the Beautiful" -- but in the course of the Reagan Administration ("The tired old man we elected King") that goes wrong, and suddenly there are scandals, and harsh stances against the Soviets that seem to invite conflict. Once again, the illusion of America as the bastion of righteousness evaporates, and the "lawyers clean up all details" in the aftermath of the scandals, since "Daddy" (Reagan again) acted un-Presidential and "had to lie."

The third and final verse takes the loss of innocence to a more personal level, as the narrator reflects back on his time with the girl he loves. They are both on the cusp of adulthood, having "come so far so fast." Though they share the "same small town in each of us" from their past, he realizes that their lives will take them along separate paths, so he wants to share one last pure, innocent moment with her ("I need to remember this"), "before we say goodbye."

And so, childhood ideals, sincere patriotism, and pure first love give way to the harsh realities of the adult world.

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Hatz
09-19-2006

Rated 0 
Actually I too see that it's obvious that the "Tired old King" as Reagan. This was written around 1988/9 and the Reagan era was closing as was "Iran-Contra." Oliver North lies to Congress and is convicted but his freed on a technicality. The America Henley knew from childhood was gone from Nixon to Reagan.

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joe walsh rules
06-18-2007

Rated 0 
this song is about how life is different as a child then as a adult when youre a kid your worries are simple a few examples does the girl i like like me back, will i get the video game i wanted for christmas but as a adult it becomes how many hours do i got to work today how will i explain this to my kids and since daddy had to lie means your parents have to lie to you to cover things up and as adult nothing can be covered up

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MeanLookstheIII
12-26-2007

Rated 0 
it's all about realizing the real world around you. things get more complicated as you grow older. I really think that part of this has to do with virginity. "Still untouched by man"?
but the real message is losing your virginity to the world, as well as to someone.

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