Eagles and a criminal case? That’s news. In an unusual turn of events, a criminal case involving handwritten lyrics to the famous rock hit song “Hotel California” and other favourite songs from the enormously popular rock band Eagles has gone to trial in New York. Those accused of stealing the lyrics are not your typical conmen, but well-known figures from the collectibles industry. Don Henley, co-founder of the Eagles, accused them of stealing the lyrics and scheming to sell them for a high price.
The trial which began on Wednesday (Feb 21) concerns 80 pages of drafts of the words to songs from the famous album of which “Hotel California” is a part. The album was released in 1976 and is today the third-biggest-selling disc ever in the US. The allegedly stolen documents include lyrics for songs like “Life in the Fast Lane,” “New Kid in Town” and, “Hotel California”. “Hotel California” is one of the most streamed songs from the Eagles, skyrocketing the rock band’s popularity worldwide. The Grammy-winning song is part of the playlists of every rock lover.
Three renowned people, Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski, are accused of stealing the scribbled lyrics
Three renowned people, Glenn Horowitz, Craig Inciardi, and Edward Kosinski, are accused of stealing the scribbled lyrics. When the lawsuit was filed, they pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and other accusations against them. Who are these folks, you ask? Glenn is a rare book dealer, Craig is a former Rock and Roll Hall of Fame curator, and Edward is a well-known memorabilia vendor who deals in authentic exotic and vintage items, usually from the music industry.
So, how did they become accused of stealing? The complaint was filed in 2022 when some of the documents’ pages (including lyrics) were put up for auction. Don Henley, the Eagles’ co-founder, took note. He purchased part of the material for $8,500 and also reported the paperwork stolen, according to court filings.
At the moment, Edward and Craig held the documents containing the lyrics, which they had obtained from Glenn Horowitz. Glenn had, according to court filings, purchased them in 2005 from Ed Sanders, a writer who had collaborated with the Eagles on a band biography that was shelved in the early 1980s. Ed Sanders is also known for founding the rock group the Fugs (Ed has not yet been indicted in the case).
Tracing the lyrics materials, Ed Sanders informed Glenn Horowitz that Don Henley’s aide had mailed him any documents he required for the biography. However, the writer was concerned that Henley “might conceivably be upset” if they were sold, according to emails recounted in the indictment. As the trial began, serious doubts were raised in the court on how Ed came to own these documents with the lyrics – whether he acquired them legally and had the right to sell them.
Eagles biography serves as a vital link to this trial
While the court first questioned Ed Sanders’ intentions, it became clear that Glenn, Craig, and Edward all had contradicting statements about how they came to hold these lyrics. According to the indictment, the trio provided varying accounts of how they obtained the documents from Ed Sanders. The reasons varied over the next five years, from Sanders discovering them abandoned in a backstage dressing area to the writer receiving them from Eagles co-founder Glenn Frey, who died in 2016. So it all comes down to no one remembering where the documents were purchased originally and how Ed discovered them before turning them over to Glenn, Craig, and Edward.
Ed Sanders’ unreleased Eagles biography serves as a vital link to this trial. The book would go into detail about the band’s split in 1980. Glenn Frey, co-founder of the Eagles, hired a friend in 1979 to write a band biography for $25,000 and had extensive access. The Eagles’ manager, Irving Azoff, claimed that the band’s co-founders disliked the text. The project eventually stagnated, but by then, this person had learned about the imminent split, which was not widely known at the time. Ed Sanders attempted to capitalize on this by requesting “a substantial amount of money” from Irving, as stated in a 1982 letter. The letter stated that the management should pay him this amount because he had “behaved with great reserve” by not approaching a major magazine with a story about the Eagles’ split.
This worried the band members since Glenn Frey and Don Henley were working on their solo careers amid a split, and they didn’t want the news of the split to affect their new ventures. They ultimately paid Sanders about $75,000 and agreed to let him look for a publisher, comfortable that any book still would need the band’s approval under his 1979 contract, Azoff said. The book never found a publisher. Sanders’ contract said the Eagles owned any material they furnished to him for the book.
Here’s a little snippet of the much-in-news “Hotel California” lyrics:
“On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway
I heard the mission bell\
And I was thinking to myself
“This could be Heaven or this could be Hell”
Then she lit up a candle and she showed me the way
There were voices down the corridor
I thought I heard them say
Welcome to the Hotel California”