Rock Legend Releasing New Music That Rails Against COVID Lockdowns
Rock legend Van Morrison is preparing to release three new songs protesting the United Kingdom’s coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
The 75-year-old musician, known for songs like “Brown Eyed Girl,” “Domino” and “Wild Night,” describes the government as “fascist bullies disturbing our peace” in one of his new songs, The Guardian reported.
“I’m not telling people what to do or think, the government is doing a great job of that already,” Morrison said in a statement.
“It’s about freedom of choice, I believe people should have the right to think for themselves.”
The three songs — “Born To Be Free,” “As I Walked Out” and “No More Lockdown” — call into question the measures the British government has put in place to counter the spread of COVID-19.
“Morrison makes it clear in his new songs how unhappy he is with the way the Government has taken away personal freedoms,” the statement on Morrison’s website reads.
The lyrics of Morrison’s new songs call out “celebrities telling us what we’re supposed to feel” as well as “Imperial College scientists making up crooked facts,” according to The Guardian.
In “Born To Be Free,” Morrison sings: “The new normal, is not normal/It’s no kind of normal at all/Everyone seems to have amnesia/Don’t need the government cramping my style/Give them an inch, they take a mile,” Variety reported.
The lyrics of “As I Walked Out” include: “Well, on the government website from the 21st March 2020/ It said COVID-19 was no longer high risk/Then two days later/They put us under lockdown.”
In “No More Lockdown,” he sings: “No more lockdown/No more government overreach” and “No more fascist bullies/Disturbing our peace.”
He also sings: “No more taking of our freedom/And our God-given rights/Pretending it’s for our safety/When it’s really to enslave.”
Morrison’s new tracks are being released as part of his campaign to reopen live venues to operate with full audiences.
“Born To Be Free” will be released on Sept. 25, “As I Walked Out” will be released on Oct. 9 and “No More Lockdown” will be released on Oct. 23.
Morrison played three socially-distanced gigs in September and has two more scheduled for the end of the month, according to Variety.
“This is not a sign of compliance or acceptance of the current state of affairs,” he said. “This is to get my band up and running and out of the doldrums.”
He added: “This is also not the answer going forward. We need to be playing to full-capacity audiences going forward.”
As of Friday morning, there had been more than 380,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the United Kingdom, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins.
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