Joe Walsh – The Confessor

This Joe Walsh song is a little different from his other songs but I like it. It was released in 1985 the year I graduated so I remember it well. The song was over 7 minutes long but still got airplay where I was during those years.

The Confessor made it to #8 in the Billboard Mainstream Rock Charts. His album of the same name peaked at #65 in the Billboard Album Charts.

Joe was dating Stevie Nicks at the time and Walsh used some of the same musicians that Stevie used on her albums…they included Waddy Wachtel, members of Toto, and Randy Newman. The song production is very eighties with the synths and drums.

The Confessor

If you look at your reflection in the bottom of a well,
What you see is only on the surface.
When you try to see the meaning, hidden underneath,
The measure of the depth can be deceiving.
The bottom has a rocky reputation

You can feel it in the distance the deeper down you stare.
From up above it’s hard to see, but you know when you’re there.
On the bottom words are shallow.
On the surface talk is cheap.
You can only judge the distance by the company you keep
In the eyes of the Confessor.

In the eyes of the Confessor,
There’s no place you can hide.
You can’t hide from the eyes (of the Confessor)
Don’t you even try.
In the eyes of the Confessor
You can’t tell a lie,
You cannot tell a lie (to the Confessor)
Strip you down to size,
Naked as the day that you were born,
Naked as the day that you were born.

Take all the trauma, drama, comments,
The guilt and doubt and shame
The “what ifs” and “if onlys”
The shackles and the chains
The violence and aggression,
The pettiness and scorn,
The jealousy and hatred,
The tempest and discord,
AND GIVE IT UP!

Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player.

22 thoughts on “Joe Walsh – The Confessor”

  1. I had to watch the video. It’s so 80s man lol. You can really hear the influence Walsh brought to the Eagles when that solo ramps up. Not a bad track at all. But man how much dope was taken during this video shoot out in a desert lol

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    1. I know…it’s about as 80s as you can get. There was hardly any info on this song out there…but I remember it well. Yea that video is a trip.

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    1. I remember this one on WKDF constantly at that time. It has great memories for me. Joe did try something different with this and it worked.

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  3. It’s not exactly “Rocky Mountain Way” or “Funk #49”, but not all Beatles tunes sound like “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds” either. Plus, we still get rockin’ Joe at around 4:50 minutes into the tune.

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    1. I don’t get that at all out of this one…heck I don’t think it sounds like other Joe Walsh songs. He experimented a bit…but it does beat the hell out of…”The Heat Is On” from Frey around the same time.

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      2. Yea… Don and Glenn told the rest of the Eagles at the reunion on why they got a bigger chunk and Walsh and company was getting much lower… “But we kept the Eagles name alive during our solo careers”… uh Don did…but so did Walsh with many songs…Frey…not as much to me….that was wrong anyway.

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      4. Yep…you should see the Eagles doc…I ended up liking Bernie Leadon, Don Felder, Timothy, and of course Joe…but the two ringleaders…no I dont’ think so. They are so arrogant in the film.

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      6. That is just wrong…so wrong. Like I said before…I try to separate the art and the artists but with them a little creeps in.

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