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And Finally Artist News Releases
Jon Bon Jovi and fans writing COVID-19 anthem thousands of verses long
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 31 March 2020
With COVID-19 lockdown following the virus itself as it spreads across the world, the race is on to write a new anthem to unite the planet.
Bono and Will.i.am have had a go and Lionel Richie is working on a new version of ‘We Are The World’. Jon Bon Jovi, meanwhile, is working with fans on a song called ‘Do What You Can’. The only issue is that that song now has over 6000 verses.
Earlier this month, Bon Jovi shared a video on YouTube with the first verse and the chorus of the song, asking fans to write their own stories to make up the second verse.
“Tell me what you’re going through, tell me how you’re feeling, tell me if you’re hurting”, he said. “Talk about that high school graduation that’s going to be cancelled. Talk about that prom you just might not have. Talk about that baby coming and there’s nothing you can do about that. Talk about the pay cheque that you’re losing”.
“Talk about being afraid”, he went on, “looking out your window and wondering what to make of all this. Just remember, we’re gonna get through it. So sing your song, you and me together, and remember, when you can’t do what you do, you do what you can”.
His own verse covered many of those topics and since then fans have added even more. Then last week he shared another video, performing a few of the 6000 submissions he’d received in the first two days. “Keep your thoughts coming through, everybody”, he said at the end of the video. “And I’ll be here to sing them for you”.
Speaking to ‘Good Morning America’ yesterday, he added: “It’s the nurses and the doctors and the EMT workers and the truck drivers. They’re the ones that are writing this song for me. It’s their lives that we’re writing about and my heart goes out to each and every one of them, because this is that great time in America when we all come together as one. We’re all in this together”.
Further updates are planned for the song in the coming weeks. Whether he’ll eventually consolidate it all down into a more traditional pop song format – or he’s going for a song that will take the length of a significant lockdown to sing once – isn’t entirely clear.
Elsewhere in Bon Jovi news, the band have released a new version of their song ‘Unbroken’ featuring the Invictus Game Choir. Recorded last month at Abbey Road, the song is being released in support of the Invictus Games Foundation. They’re also set to release new album, ‘Bon Jovi 2020’ – from which the original version of ‘Unbroken’ is taken – on 15 May.
