The Dawes guys told us to come over as soon as we told we told them about the project for the first time, said they’d work something out, and when we were editing this video, we wanted to leave that in. Those guys know harmony like most people know breathing and it was great to watch them them work this out. Choosing Blake was very cool too, the guy is great songwriter but also a friend who they’ll sit around talking about and just how brilliant his lyrics are. We all had a great conversation that day and later that night at the Edward Sharpe show, talking about the idea of community, the supportive act of contemporaries covering each other’s songs, the women in Uganda showing us how powerful a force that can be, but also other examples of how it can really be an act of love and support. We talked about the Pixies covering The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Head On” a few month’s after it came out, and “Such Great Heights” released with the Iron and Wine version as a b-side. Blake’s “Hey Lover” hadn’t been released yet when we recorded this. Covering a classic is pretty easy for most, but also there’s the safety in knowing it’s a song that’s popular and loved, the critics and the world have had their say, but the guys decided to do a song from an artist and a friend that hadn’t put out his debut album yet…pretty cool. — HH