Songfacts®:

• This Cass County cut offers a farmer's perspective on changing weather patterns. "I had to be very careful with that song, and I did it deliberately because I live in Texas," Henley told USA Today. "I'm aware of the politics, and I'm aware of all the controversy surrounding climate change. I worked hard on that song so it might reach people who would otherwise not listen to what it has to say. We'll see how that goes."
• Don Henley is angry about the subject of climate change and was concerned he would come across "getting all preachy," so he decided to approach the song from the viewpoint of a farmer who's not sure what the answers are, but just knew from personal observation that "the weather patterns are not the way they used to be."
• Don Henley sings here:
  
  I ain't no wise man, but I ain't no fool
  And I believe that Mother Nature is taking us to school
  
  He explained the lyric to Ultimate Classic Rock: "'Taking us to school' is a colloquialism that we say in the South," he said. "It used to be used in terms of punishment; when somebody was about to get their butt whooped, or maybe when a football team just got creamed by somebody else, the term was, 'Well, we're gonna take you to school.' So I do believe that Mother Nature is taking us to school."
  
  "I wanted to address that subject, which is still a very controversial subject, because there's still a lot of denial in the face of trainloads of science. [Laughs]. Overwhelming science," Henley continued. "A consensus in the world scientific community among scientists who are legitimate and respected. And yet, the seeds of doubt have been sown by certain corporations and their allies in Congress. There have been millions of dollars poured into sowing the seeds of doubt. There's a book about it."
  
  "It's a shame, really. We have such a beautiful planet we've been given to live on — you can call it the Creation if you want to — that we are treating it the way we are, because we're really only doing ourselves in.," he concluded. "We're hurting ourselves, really. My friend Ed Begley likes to say, "Everybody's going around saying, 'Save the planet.' The planet will be fine." [Laughs]. It's we who are leaving."
• Henley told Ultimate Classic Rock the most important lines in that song are, "It isn't knowledge, it's humility we lack." He explained: "It seems that we have so much hubris, that we're just so arrogant and insecure, that certain people not only in this country, but all over the world just can't say the words, 'We made a mistake.' Or a series of mistakes. It's just like the politicians; 'Well, I didn't make a mistake. I've just been misunderstood.'"