Eagles of Death Metal performing in the Bataclan moments before the Paris Attacks on November 13; Photo: Manu Wino
Still processing the systematic “dart board” terrorism slaughter of the Paris Attacks that claimed 130 lives, the majority of which took place at the Bataclan concert hall, the Eagles of Death Metal gave their first interview to Vice since their performance on November 13, calling upon the music community to cover the EoDM Zipper Down track, “I Love You All the Time;” [LISTEN].
Equal parts moment of solidarity and fundraising effort for victims of the attacks, frontman Josh Homme wrote an open letter to bands to “Play It Forward,” donating publishing income from the song to the Sweet Stuff Foundation, Homme writing, “Whether you’re Soul or R&B; Hip Hop or Hippy; Garage, Goth, Country, Punk or Pop; Death Metal or DJ; It matters not. Whether your version is faithful to ours, instrumental, uses only lyrics or fragments thereof or is completely reimagined in every way, it matters not. Your individual musical differences become our collective strength.”
Since Homme put the call out, three bands have taken to the mic, first My Morning Jacket’s barn burner at the Beacon Theatre in NYC, followed by The Dean Ween Group’s handclap and scatting studio cut, and most recently Savages’ rousing rendition at ground zero in a Paris club last night, all of whom have stuck pretty close to the source material, lyric-wise.
The song itself is about the beautiful, fleeting, yet intoxicating, power of love, that coincidentally happens to build a back-and-forth around a couple verses in French, its protagonist wailing, “I would beg if I thought it would make you stay,” before crooning:
It will be curious to see how other artists interpret it going forward, but out of the EoDM context, it’s pliability as a source of love and catharsis lends itself as a perfect vessel for all fighting the fear that terrorists so desperately crave, a rallying cry for the victims of the attacks, and the power of music the great communicator itself, which hopefully will never be threatened like this again.
Read Josh Homme’s open letter and listen to all the covers below:
Hello talented friend, The senseless and violent terrorist attacks of Nov. 13, 2015 in Paris have left us all unsettled and we dare not give another second of precious time to those who have tried to steal our freedoms and take away our power.
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Instead, we are writing to ask for your help to Play It Forward.
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We are calling upon our friends to donate their time, talent and good will in a show of solidarity to help the victims of these atrocious acts in Paris and those affected by terrorism worldwide.
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We are asking for you to cover our song “I Love You All The Time.” For every cover sold, we pledge to donate 100% of the publishing income to The Sweet Stuff Foundation. We ask that you also donate the money generated from sales of the song to the charity.
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In the same spirit, we would encourage you to offer one of your songs up to be covered by another artist, and follow suit – donate the publishing monies to charity – The Play it Forward Initiative.
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Whether you’re Soul or R&B; Hip Hop or Hippy; Garage, Goth, Country, Punk or Pop; Death Metal or DJ; It matters not. Whether your version is faithful to ours, instrumental, uses only lyrics or fragments thereof or is completely reimagined in every way, it matters not. Your individual musical differences become our collective strength. Simultaneously, we will call upon iTunes, Tidal, Amazon, Spotify & all others who will sell these covers, to join us and donate their portions to a charity as a symbol of unity. So many wonderfully talented artists have offered their love & support or have reached out asking, “How can we help?” Our answer is simple; Unite with us. All of us. The musicians, the bands, the music companies & the fans… because we are music. We are the anthems of great nations. We are the songs of our forefathers. We are the hymns of God. The songs of the broken hearted. The unchained melodies. The songs of puppy love & of love that cannot be broken. We are the music of hope & possibility. We are the call to arms. We are the chorus of victory. We are songs in the key of life.
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We are the Champions… of the World.
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In the event our song doesn’t float your boat, we encourage you to help unite our business by any means possible. If you’re drawing a blank, donate something of yours or the proceeds from one of your songs, as Duran Duran has so graciously done. But do join us help & heal through music. They attacked us all, please hear the call.
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Thank you for your time & love to you all,
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-Eagles of Death Metal
Tags: Bataclan, Eagles of Death Metal, Manu Wino, My Morning Jacket, Paris Attacks, Savages, The Dean Ween Group