January 20, 2017
Charles Lloyd & The Marvels have released “Masters of War,” a cover of Bob Dylan’s searing anthem that features a powerful vocal by Lucinda Williams. The track was recorded live with guitarist Bill Frisell, pedal steel guitarist Greg Leisz, bassist Reuben Rogers and drummer Eric Harland at the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara, California on November 28, 2016, and is available today to download or stream. Click HERE to listen.
The release of “Masters of War” is an extension of the concern for the climate of aggression and destruction of our world that Lloyd expressed in his recent album I Long to See You, which opened with an instrumental version of the song. The timing of the release to coincide with Inauguration Day is a call to protest against past, present, and future such actions and agenda.
STATEMENT FROM CHARLES LLOYD:
Nations have been throwing rocks at each other for 1000s of years. We go through spells of light and darkness. In my lifetime I have witnessed periods of peace, protest, and uprising, only to be repeated by peace, protest and more uprising. The fact that Bob Dylan’s “Masters of War” was written in the early 1960s and not during the last decade, makes it timeless and timely. It breaks my heart to think that there are current generations of young people all over the world who are growing up without knowing of Peace in their lives. The words Dylan wrote are a laser beam on humanity. This line, in particular, has stuck with me for over 5 decades:
“Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul”
The world is a dog’s curly tail – no matter how many times we straighten it out, it keeps curling back. As artists we aspire to console, uplift and inspire. To unite us through sound across boundaries and borders and dissolve lines of demarcation that separate. The beautiful thing is that as human beings, even under the most adverse conditions, we are capable of kindness, compassion and love. Vision and hope. All life is one. Who knows, maybe one day we’ll succeed. We go forward.
