{"id":8412,"date":"2016-09-09T06:54:08","date_gmt":"2016-09-09T10:54:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=8412"},"modified":"2016-09-09T06:54:08","modified_gmt":"2016-09-09T10:54:08","slug":"was-michelle-pfeiffer-really-the-inspiration-for-don-henleys-the-last-worthless-evening","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2016\/09\/09\/was-michelle-pfeiffer-really-the-inspiration-for-don-henleys-the-last-worthless-evening\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Michelle Pfeiffer Really the Inspiration for Don Henley&#8217;s &#8220;The Last Worthless Evening&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click <a href=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/movie-legends-revealed-history\/\">here<\/a> to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">MUSIC URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/span>: Don Henley wrote &#8220;The Last Worthless Evening&#8221; about Michelle Pfeiffer.<\/p>\n<p>In 1989, Don Henley had himself one heck of a career boost with his third solo album, End of the Innocence, which contained three Top 40 singles. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/endofinnocence-375x375.jpg\" alt=\"endofinnocence\" width=\"375\" height=\"375\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8414\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/endofinnocence-375x375.jpg 375w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/endofinnocence-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/endofinnocence-768x768.jpg 768w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/endofinnocence-515x515.jpg 515w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/endofinnocence.jpg 1000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=legenrevea-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B001NYBVTG&#038;asins=B001NYBVTG&#038;linkId=372ca0f945a863477bb18ab2fe273db7&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true&#038;price_color=&#038;title_color=&#038;bg_color=FFFFFF\">    <\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The title track, &#8220;End of the Innocence,&#8221; plus &#8220;The Heart of the Matter&#8221; and &#8220;The Last Worthless Evening&#8221; (it also had a fourth single nearly make the top 40, &#8220;New York Minute&#8221;)&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"375\" height=\"211\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/-UciHJIVPhU\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=legenrevea-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B001NY9ZB2&#038;asins=B001NY9ZB2&#038;linkId=fffa38b5cb5ea1254c3e72b217aafba1&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true&#038;price_color=&#038;title_color=&#038;bg_color=FFFFFF\">    <\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The song is about Henley telling a woman that she should be with him and if she does, she will no longer spend any more &#8220;worthless evenings&#8221;. Here is the first verse:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I know you broke up with him<br \/>\nAnd your heart&#8217;s still on the shelf<br \/>\nIt&#8217;s been over two years for me<br \/>\nAnd I&#8217;m still not quite myself<\/p>\n<p>You can&#8217;t be with someone new<br \/>\nAnd you can&#8217;t go back to him<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re beginning to realize<br \/>\nThat it&#8217;s sink or swim<\/p>\n<p>I see you around sometimes<br \/>\nAnd my heart just melts<br \/>\nYou&#8217;re lookin&#8217; like if you had your wish<br \/>\nYou&#8217;d be somewhere else<\/p>\n<p>And it just breaks my heart<br \/>\nTo see you here this way<br \/>\nSomeday I&#8217;ll get the nerve<br \/>\nTo walk up to you and say<\/p>\n<p>This is the last worthless evening<br \/>\nThat you&#8217;ll have to spend<br \/>\nJust gimme a chance<br \/>\nTo show you how to love again<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The longtime rumor is that the song is about famed movie star Michelle Pfeiffer. Is that true?<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nHenley has never outright confirmed that it was about Pfeiffer, but he has said so much about the song BESIDES explicitly saying that it was about Pfeiffer that I think there&#8217;s enough there to still go with a true here. <\/p>\n<p>During concerts, Henley repeatedly tells the story of the inspiration for the song. As he tells it, he was at a Hollywood party in the late 1980s (the song says it had been two years for Henley. He broke up with his then-fiancee, actress Maren Jensen, in 1986. So that would place the party in 1988, a year before Henley released the song. <\/p>\n<p>Henley then mentions seeing the blonde Hollywood &#8220;it&#8221; girl, who had just broken up with her husband and was sitting on a couch at the party smoking a cigarette next to her friend, Jack Nicholson, with whom she had then recently co-starred in a movie together. Henley asked her for a cigarette, she just shoved one at him and he walked away, much to Nicholson&#8217;s amusement (Nicholson remarked &#8220;Well played, Henley&#8221;). <\/p>\n<p>Pfeiffer is blonde, she broke up with her husband, Peter Horton, in 1988 and she co-starred with Nicholson in 1987&#8217;s &#8220;The Witches of Eastwick&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/witchesofeastwick-375x281.jpe\" alt=\"witchesofeastwick\" width=\"375\" height=\"281\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-8413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/witchesofeastwick-375x281.jpe 375w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/witchesofeastwick-515x386.jpe 515w, https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/witchesofeastwick.jpe 650w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 375px) 100vw, 375px\" \/><iframe style=\"width:120px;height:240px;\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&#038;OneJS=1&#038;Operation=GetAdHtml&#038;MarketPlace=US&#038;source=ac&#038;ref=qf_sp_asin_til&#038;ad_type=product_link&#038;tracking_id=legenrevea-20&#038;marketplace=amazon&#038;region=US&#038;placement=B00474VCW0&#038;asins=B00474VCW0&#038;linkId=62ee186d1dfe7deddd08052bbbf272b3&#038;show_border=true&#038;link_opens_in_new_window=true&#038;price_color=&#038;title_color=&#038;bg_color=FFFFFF\">    <\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>In other versions of the story (again, Henley tells the story a LOT), he also mentions that she later got married and had kids. Pfeiffer is currently married to famed TV writer David E. Kelley and has two children with him. <\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s only so many blonde Hollywood &#8220;it&#8221; girls of the late 1980s, and Kim Basinger doesn&#8217;t fit the clues. It pretty much <strong>has<\/strong> to be Pfeiffer. So much so that even without direct confirmation, I&#8217;m willing to go with the legend as&#8230;<\/p>\n<p><u><span style=\"font-weight: bold\">STATUS<\/span><\/u>: True<\/p>\n<p>Feel free (heck, I implore you!) to write in with your suggestions for future urban legends columns! My e-mail address is &#x62;&#99;r&#x6f;&#110;i&#x6e;&#x40;l&#x65;&#x67;&#101;n&#x64;&#115;r&#x65;&#x76;e&#x61;&#x6c;&#101;d&#x2e;&#99;o&#x6d;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: Don Henley wrote &#8220;The Last Worthless Evening&#8221; about Michelle Pfeiffer. In 1989, Don Henley had himself one [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[9],"tags":[2206,2203,2205,2202,2200,1237,2201,2204],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7MjBq-2bG","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3810,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2012\/08\/08\/did-cervantes-write-don-quixote-while-in-prison\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":0},"title":"Did Cervantes Write Don Quixote While in Prison?","date":"August 8, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about novels and novelists and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the novel urban legends featured so far. NOVEL URBAN LEGEND: Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote while in prison. Don\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Grab Bag Legends&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"cervantes","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/cervantes.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5791,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2014\/01\/17\/did-paul-anka-get-the-publishers-rights-for-my-way-for-free\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":1},"title":"Did Paul Anka Get the Publisher&#8217;s Rights for &#8220;My Way&#8221; for Free?","date":"January 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: Paul Anka got the publisher's rights to \"My Way\" for free. As\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8593,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2017\/02\/02\/was-the-don-mattingly-sideburns-plot-on-the-simpsons-not-a-real-life-reference\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":2},"title":"Was The Don Mattingly Sideburns Plot on The Simpsons NOT a Real Life Reference?","date":"February 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Was the famous Don Mattingly sideburns plot on The Simpsons actually not a reference to Mattingly's benching over the length of his hair the previous year?","rel":"","context":"In &quot;TV Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"mattingly","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/mattingly-515x290.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4518,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2013\/03\/14\/did-don-ameches-name-used-to-be-slang-for-telephone\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":3},"title":"Did Don Ameche&#8217;s Name Used to be Slang for &#8220;Telephone&#8221;?","date":"March 14, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MOVIE URBAN LEGEND: Don Ameche's name used to be slang for \"telephone.\" Don Ameche was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Movie Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6472,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2009\/04\/19\/novel-urban-legends-history\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":4},"title":"Novel Urban Legends History","date":"April 19, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Here are quick descriptions of each of the previous editions of Novel Urban Legends Revealed. To see if they are true or false, you have to click on the link! 1. Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote while in prison. 2. Pamela began originally as basically a self-help book. 3.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Archives&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":7794,"url":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2016\/04\/15\/did-ascap-threaten-to-sue-the-girl-scouts-over-campfire-songs\/","url_meta":{"origin":8412,"position":5},"title":"Did ASCAP Threaten to Sue the Girl Scouts Over Campfire Songs?","date":"April 15, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about music and whether they are true or false. Click here to view an archive of the movie urban legends featured so far. MUSIC URBAN LEGEND: ASCAP tried to have the Girl Scouts pay for copyrighted songs performed\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Music Legends Revealed&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"obamagirlscouts","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/obamagirlscouts-515x343.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8412"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8415,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8412\/revisions\/8415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}