I came across this story on CNN.com last week regarding one of my favorite musical artists, Don Henley. You can click on that link for the original article or I have included it below to make it easier

Don Henley sues Senate candidate over song use
Don Henley, a founding member of "The Eagles," is suing a Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, claiming the candidate is misusing two of his popular songs.

The suit filed Friday in federal court in California claims Charles DeVore is using Henley's hit songs "The Boys of Summer" and "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" without authorization.

The suit comes from two campaign videos that DeVore posted on YouTube that used Henley's music, according to the lawsuit.

In one of the videos, DeVore's campaign changed the words of "All She Wants to Do Is Dance" to lyrics that attacked Sen. Barbara Boxer, the lawsuit alleges.

Mike Campbell, who co-wrote "Boys of Summer," is also named as a plaintiff in the lawsuit.

"Don Henley and Mike Campbell brought this action to protect their song, 'The Boys of Summer,' which was taken and used without their permission," Henley's spokesman said. "The infringers have vowed to continue exploiting this and other copyrighted works, as it suits them, to further their own ambitions and agenda. It was necessary to file a lawsuit to stop them."

DeVore, a member of the California State Assembly, is running against Boxer, a Democrat, in the 2010 election, according to his Web site. DeVore mentions Henley's legal actions on the Web site.

"We're responding with a counter-claim, asserting our First Amendment right to political free speech," the site said. "While the legal issues play out, it's time to up the ante on Mr. Henley's liberal goon tactics. By popular request, I have penned the words to our new parody song." DeVore then posted the lyrics of a song he called "All She Wants to Do Is Tax."

Both of those songs were included on Henley's 1984 triple-platinum solo album titled Building the Perfect Beast. He followed that up with 1989's The End of the Innocence which went six-times platinum and which included two more of my favorites in "The Heart of the Matter" and "The End of the Innocence." Both are outstanding albums and two of my favorites from the entire 80s decade.

I decided to feature the two songs named in the lawsuit this week. So the first of this week's Flashback Videos is "Boys of Summer" by Don Henley...

and the second is "All She Wants to Do is Dance" by Don Henley...

Now that I really watch that outstanding "Boys of Summer" video again, that song could have possibly been included on my recent Most Heartbreaking Songs of the 80s list with its tone and subject matter. I hope Henley wins his lawsuit because these songs are too good to be parodied for political mudslinging purposes. I am all for a great Weird Al parody song, but those are for entertainment purposes. Anyways, this was just a good excuse to revisit some of Henley's outstanding solo work from the 80s.

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