Eric Burdon, the former lead singer of the Animals and War, and a longtime solo artist, is celebrating his 76th birthday, today, May 11, and as a gift to his fans Burdon is offering a streaming-only sneak preview of his newly recorded version of Buffalo Springfield’s 1966 protest anthem, “For What It’s Worth.” His recording of the song is described in a press release as “a timely—and timeless—message to his fans, in the spirit of ‘We’ve Got to Get Out of This Place’ and ‘Sky Pilot,’ in which he used music to challenge the status quo.”
Also, tonight, Burdon will appear on the CNN series, Soundtracks: Songs That Defined History. at 10 p.m. (PST/EST).
Related: The Animals’ “House of the Rising Sun” debuts, 1964
“The whole idea of recording this song came as a result of a conversation I had with a young fan backstage, when she asked me, ‘Where are the protest songs today?’ Right then and there, I wanted to write to say something about the brutality that’s going on in the world today but I couldn’t find any better way to say it than Buffalo Springfield did in ‘For What It’s Worth.’ I thought of reintroducing this classic, which is as relevant today as it was during the Vietnam war and speaks to this generation just as it spoke to mine. The message is clear. Racism is back, stronger than it ever has been. The struggle between the sexes is at a boiling point. Violence is out of control. Our very home planet is under threat. It’s time to grow up and take responsibility. We must wake up before it’s too late. Everything we believed in, everything people fought and died for, in the ’60s, is under attack today. We started out wanting to bridge divides between the races and between us all.”
Continues Burdon, “The music I love was created by the sons and daughters of slaves. My life’s work has always been about honoring those people who suffered and then created a language of peace and salvation through music. We owe it to those we have lost and to future generations. So join me, sing with me, speak out against the madness. We are Not Afraid.”
Fans can listen to “For What It’s Worth” as of today, May 11, on www.EricBurdon.com or via the link below.
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