{"id":9324,"date":"2013-04-01T14:48:26","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T21:48:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=9324"},"modified":"2013-04-01T14:48:52","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T21:48:52","slug":"eric-burdon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2013\/04\/eric-burdon\/","title":{"rendered":"ERIC BURDON"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Eric-Burdon-Issue-No25\"<\/h1>\n

ERIC BURDON<\/h1>\n

One of rock\u2019s most distinctive voices gets personal with a new album\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n
\n

\u00a0<\/b>Ask Eric Burdon what\u2019s on his mind and he says, \u201cBeing successful at my next gig.\u201d After a half-century of lending his voice to hits, including \u201cThe House of the Rising Sun,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s My Life,\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Be Misunderstood\u201d for British Invasion band the Animals, and offering funk icons War their first taste of stardom in 1970 with \u201cSpill the Wine,\u201d Burdon has little to worry about.<\/p>\n

In fact, the 71-year-old singer is enjoying a career renaissance\u2014and credits Bruce Springsteen for spotlighting him during last year\u2019s SXSW music festival keynote speech. The Boss declared that the Animals\u2019 1965 hit \u201cWe Gotta Get Out of This Place\u201d was \u201cevery song I\u2019ve ever written. That\u2019s all of them. I\u2019m not kidding.\u201d<\/p>\n

While grateful for the high praise, Burdon\u2019s focused on his new album \u2019Til Your River Runs Dry<\/i>. Tackling topics from politics and religion to old friends and old habits, it may be his most personal recording yet. In one song, \u201cInvitation to the White House,\u201d the Newcastle, England, native dreams that the president has summoned him for advice\u2014and he offers the commander in chief a mouthful. But the real-life Burdon, who has lived in the U.S. for years, is more cynical. \u201cIn the space of four years are you expected to change the world?\u201d he asks. \u201cAnd then someone else is going to take your place?\u201d<\/p>\n

We posed a few questions of our own to Burdon about his new album, colorful career and warning to young artists like Justin Bieber.<\/p>\n

Why are the songs so reflective?<\/b><\/p>\n

When you get to my age, we\u2019re all looking at mortality. You\u2019re missing so many people who aren\u2019t there anymore, you have to think about yourself. And strange things start happening to your body, like, \u201cWhy won\u2019t my leg work this morning? It worked yesterday.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story behind \u201c27 Forever\u201d?<\/b><\/p>\n

It started when I realized quite some time ago that people who were close to me had passed on\u2014sometimes under questionable circumstances\u2014at the age of 27. If you look into it, the list is as long as your arm.<\/p>\n

You were with Jimi Hendrix shortly before he died at 27.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

It was a dark time. I couldn\u2019t reach him. When he was in London he was a stranger in a strange land, and the people who wanted to \u201chelp\u201d him were just helping him find more coke or the latest hot acid. Having said that, in all the time I knew Jimi, he never was into heroin, but I could be wrong. He was a very psychedelic person.<\/p>\n

How did you escape that fate?<\/b><\/p>\n

Having both parents in my life helped. I went home stoned once to see my father, a working guy from Newcastle who had no idea what drugs were. I told him I was going to be picked up by flying saucers that were going to fly me all over the world, and we were going to save the planet. And he said, \u201cIf you really believe that, why should I doubt what you\u2019re saying, even though I don\u2019t know where it\u2019s coming from? Now, how about going to the bar and having a pint?\u201d<\/p>\n

The record has a Bo Diddley cover, and you wrote another song about him. What did he mean to you?<\/b><\/p>\n

He was underrated, very pleasing and accommodating. He was funny and rough-and-ready, and I loved the guy. But I actually never met him. First time I saw him face to face was at his funeral, when he was in his coffin. That was pretty weird in itself, so it warranted a song.<\/p>\n

What was it like to meet your heroes?<\/b><\/p>\n

It was surprising to be in the same world they were. When I was part of the Animals, we went on after<\/i> Chuck Berry in a New York show. What do you mean, I have to follow Chuck Berry?! But that\u2019s the way it was at the time, and it taught me a lot about the energy I have to put out in order to captivate people.<\/p>\n

Was \u201cRiver Is Rising\u201d inspired by Fats Domino during Katrina?<\/b><\/p>\n

I saw this incredible photo of him being pulled out of the slime and sludge. They had put a cross on his door, which meant that everybody inside is dead. But Fats Domino was just taking his afternoon nap. I wanted to write about Katrina, but I needed a catalyst, and I\u2019ve always thought of him as one of the kings of New Orleans\u2014he\u2019s the real thing, and I\u2019ve always loved his music.<\/p>\n

Is the younger generation part of your audience today?<\/b><\/p>\n

Most certainly\u2014especially in Europe, but in the U.S. too, now that I\u2019m getting more exposure, thanks to Mr. Bruce Springsteen. I\u2019m doing a lot of onstage Q&As, and some of those asking questions are young kids wondering what they should do to move forward in the music world. And I tell them, \u201cGet a better job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Why the discouragement?<\/b><\/p>\n

When I wrote \u201c27 Forever\u201d I was thinking of it as a warning to young kids like Justin Bieber. One minute they\u2019re normal kids and the next minute they\u2019re thrust into this madness. How are they going to deal with it? You\u2019re idolized, and then it goes away and you\u2019re back tending bar.<\/p>\n

What attracted you to the blues?<\/b><\/p>\n

It became my religion. It elevated an awareness of the strength of the human spirit. We were fascinated by the exotic, erotic feel that could be gotten out of three chords and a backbeat and learning to sing in that style.<\/p>\n

How did \u201cHouse of the Rising Sun\u201d become the Animals\u2019 first hit?<\/b><\/p>\n

I had been listening to \u201cRising Sun\u201d in folk clubs in Newcastle for quite some time. Then I found it on Dylan\u2019s first album and realized there were more lyrics than I ever knew existed. When we did a Chuck Berry tour, everybody was trying to out-rock Chuck Berry, and I thought, \u201cLet\u2019s take this song, \u2018House of the Rising Sun,\u2019 and stick it in the middle of the show.\u201d It worked great because the audience remembered us.<\/p>\n

Why did you reform the Animals in 1966 to embrace psychedelia?<\/b><\/p>\n

I got high! My first visit to San Francisco was with Chuck Berry back in 1964, and when we arrived I went straight downtown to the hungry i nightclub to see Lenny Bruce. Everybody was in black\u2014the beatnik look. Then I came back and it was like somebody had taken paint and splashed it all over the walls. The change had arrived.<\/p>\n

How did you connect with War in 1969?<\/b><\/p>\n

I took some time to drive to Mexico, and when I got back I signed up for the Actors Studio in Hollywood for about a year. I met these guys who said to me, \u201cWhat are you doing in the Actors Studio? You\u2019ll never make it here. You have to do what you\u2019re best at, and that\u2019s sing. We\u2019ll find a band for you.\u201d They scouted around and found War. I chopped them down to size, and then we went on the road.<\/p>\n

What do you think of today\u2019s music?<\/b><\/p>\n

There\u2019s some really great stuff out there. There wasn\u2019t much a few years ago, but it\u2019s picked up. I like the Black Keys and Bruno Mars.<\/p>\n

\u2013Jeff Tamarkin<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ERIC BURDON One of rock\u2019s most distinctive voices gets personal with a new album\u00a0 \u00a0Ask Eric Burdon what\u2019s on his mind and he says, \u201cBeing successful at my next gig.\u201d After a half-century of lending his voice to hits, including \u201cThe House of the Rising Sun,\u201d \u201cIt\u2019s My Life,\u201d and \u201cDon\u2019t Let Me Be Misunderstood\u201d […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[6213,6210,6164,6212,970,6214,6211,6216,6215],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9327,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9324\/revisions\/9327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}