"As I grow older, I see that people in general – not just racists – are becoming very wary of each other and separated," Henley told the New York Times in 1989. "We live in a time of great mistrust. The feeling that we are one as a nation is rapidly disappearing, and that carries over into people's private personal lives. I mention lawyers several times on the album. That's because of the pervasive sense of every man for himself and every woman for herself. These days you see more men and women suing each other. It's a very insidious thing."