Don Henley raises $33k at auction for food bank with classic Eagles lyrics

Henley wrote down the lyrics as a ‘one-of-a-kind keepsake’ for the charity auction

Don Henley of the Eagles performs at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on 27 September 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The Eagles’ Don Henley helped raise more than $33,000 for a Texas food bank thanks to handwritten song lyrics.

Henley, who lives in Dallas, Texas, offered to get involved in a sale benefiting the North Texas Food Bank, according to Heritage Auctions, the auction house behind the event.

According to the company, Henley got in touch by email “a few hours” after the auction, which consists mainly of sports memorabilia, was posted.

“The man who wrote [the email] said he wanted to help the North Texas Food Bank, and offered to add two items to the bidding benefiting those among us who, in the midst of this moment, do not know from where their next meals are coming,” the auction house wrote.

Among those items are the handwritten lyrics to the Eagles’ 1973 classic hit “Desperado”.

Henley, the band’s drummer and vocalist, wrote down the lyrics with the auction in mind, in order to craft an additional lot.

“These, of course, are not the original lyrics – but the words Don wrote at April’s end specifically for this auction, this moment,” Heritage Auctions wrote in the online listing for the item.

“He created a special, one-of-a-kind keepsake for one lucky fan – handwritten lyrics to a song that continues to resonate with fans and seems quite appropriate in these strange times in which we find ourselves in.”

The lyrics eventually sold for $33,600.

Henley also donated a guitar signed by Eagles members Joe Walsh, Timothy B Schmit, Deacon Frey, Vince Gill and Don Henley, which sold for $12,600.