With apologies to Don Henley: Here’s Okkervil River’s outlaw cover of ‘End of the Innocence’

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Don Henley dubbed it “unimpressive,” but not before moving to keep it off the internet as a free download. That has to have you curious as to just what Okkervil River did with the grumpy Eagles drummer’s “End of the Innocence,” right? Well, here you go.

Everything came to head back in February, when Okkervil River posted their cover as part of a regular series of web-only songs meant to explore the group’s influences.

Frontman Will Scheff says Henley’s legal team demanded that the track be taken down — even though Okkervil River wasn’t selling the item. That prompted Scheff’s memorable retort: “A real dick move, man.”

Hilarious, right? Thing is, that wasn’t even the funniest quip tossed at Henley when it comes to one of these copyright infringement complaints. For that, you’ll have to check in with Frank Ocean.

Henley, meanwhile, is standing firm: “We work really really hard on our material,” he says, in a new talk with the Daily Telegraph. “We spend months writing it and years recording it. You don’t go into a museum and paint a moustache on somebody else’s painting. Nobody would think of doing that.”

Jimmy Nelson