The original War was the brainchild of veteran record producer Jerry Goldstein ("My Boyfriend's Back," "Hang on Sloopy," "I Want Candy") and rock legend Eric Burdon (ex-lead singer of the top British band The Animals). "I first saw some of the guys who would eventually become War playing at the Rag Doll in North Hollywood, backing Deacon Jones, the pro football player, and knew immediately how potent these kids were," Goldstein said of his first exposure to the group. "I was friends with Eric and he was ready to throw in the towel on the music scene and return to Newcastle. He was tired of the 'rock' thing and desperate for a fresh authentic sound. I called him the morning after I first saw the band and made him return to the club the next night with me. Eric was so blown away by what he had heard that he jumped on stage to jam with them. The guys were so sheltered, that they hadn't even heard of Eric or The Animals. I had them in the studio within a week, and the rest is history!"
The year was 1969, and the band had the nerve to carry the name War at a time when peace was the slogan in an anti-Vietnam America. "Our mission was to spread a message of brotherhood and harmony," states founder and singer/keyboardist Lonnie Jordan. "Our instruments and voices became our weapons of choice and the songs our ammunition. We spoke out against racism, hunger, gangs, crimes, and turf wars, as we embraced all people with hope and the spirit of brotherhood. It's just as apropos today."
Eric Burdon & War began playing live shows and immediately found themselves in front of sold-out audiences throughout Southern California before entering into the studio to record their debut album Eric Burdon Declares WAR. The album's key track, the erotic, spaced-out, Latin-flavored "Spill The Wine," was an immediate worldwide hit and launched the band's career.
1970s
Burdon and War toured extensively across Europe and the States, garnering rave reviews from mainstream and music press alike. England's New Musical Express called War "the best live band I ever saw" after their first UK gig in London's Hyde Park. Musicians on both sides of the ocean were buzzing about this new band. Jimi Hendrix even jammed with War at Ronnie Scott's Club the night he died.
A second Burdon and War album, a two-disc set, The Black Man's Burdon, was released in 1970, before an exhausted and volatile Burdon left the band in the middle of its European tour. Already starting to assert themselves, War finished the tour without him and returned to record an album.
The result was War's 1971 self-entitled debut album. While this album met with only modest success, it laid the groundwork for things to come. Later that year, the band released All Day Music, which included the hit singles "All Day Music" and "Slippin' into Darkness." In 1972 the band's sound was refined and deepened with the release of The World Is a Ghetto; a gritty, celebratory, and reflective album which established War at the forefront of funk and brown-eyed soul. Its first single, "The Cisco Kid," shipped gold and brought the band a following in the Hispanic community that has remained loyal to the group to this day. The thought-provoking title song fueled the album's rise to the number one spot on Billboard and was voted Billboard's Album of the Year.
The next album, the slightly less gritty Deliver The Word (1973), contained the hits "Gypsy Man," and a re-recording of "Me And Baby Brother". This album proved a real challenge for the band since the pressure of their previous hits and a lack of focus made concentration difficult. Despite these conditions, the album went on to sell nearly two million copies. It was 1975 when the Why Can't We Be Friends? album was released. It included "Low Rider", the universal lowrider anthem, and the satirical title track, a half-joking but irresistibly soulful tune that both applauded and laughed at overly-positive utopian funk songs.
Exhausted from a non-stop schedule, the band took a year long hiatus from recording, but did release a greatest hits record which contained one new song, "Summer." War became the first group to ever include a new cut on a Greatest Hits package. With its easy flowing style the single went gold and earned them even more success. However, the emerging disco craze began to threaten the popularity of War's gritty and socially aware funk rock. Disco, with its programmed beats, slick production, and superficial lyrics, dominated the music scene; the unconstructed and free form street music that defined War was clearly not in vogue. Still, the group managed to attain success with the album Galaxy and its sleek, danceable title single. "Galaxy was inspired by Star Wars and just fit into the vibe of the time," Goldstein remembers. War's next project, coincidentally, would be a soundtrack album for the movie Youngblood in 1978.
Later years
Although War would never rekindle the level of prosperity that was reached in the mid-seventies, it continued to record music, releasing the albums The Music Band (1979), The Music Band 2 (1980), and Outlaw (1982). The singles "Outlaw," "You Got The Power," and "Cinco De Mayo" were warmly embraced by War fans. During the eighties, War began to focus more on touring than recording. In the beginning it was difficult, with small crowds, bad venues and low pay, but the band persevered. "It was the spirit of survival and the belief we few remaining original members had in our music that carried us forward," reflects original member Lonnie Jordan.
The band's popularity has grown steadily ever since, as a result of increased television appearances; use of their music in film, television and advertising; and samples and covers by other recording artists. Sampling of War by hip hop artists was prevalent enough to merit the compilation album Rap Declares War in 1992, which was sanctioned by the band and intended in part to demonstrate their ongoing influence as well as introduce them to a younger audience. This rather enlightened understanding of the sampling art and its promotional potential stood in contrast to the slew of lawsuits launched by other artists over sampling at the time. In 1994 the release of Peace Sign, an album well received by critics and fans, reinvigorated War's presence in the music scene. War now tours over 150 dates a year, in venues ranging from tens of thousands to a few dozen.
The band has also twice been honored by its hometown of Los Angeles, over a span of twenty years, for the positive contributions its music has made to the community.
The only original member in War's current lineup is Lonnie Jordan (keyboards). The largest group of the remaining members formed their own group, called the Lowrider Band. It consists of four original core group members of War: Howard E. Scott, B.B. Dickerson, Lee Oskar, and Harold Brown. These members lost the right in court to use and tour under the name War. Charles Miller was murdered in 1980 and Papa Dee Allen died of a heart attack in 1988.
Mother Earth
Eric Burdon & WAR Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
She is big and she's round
And it's cold way down in the ground
You may not be happy all the time
You may never be that way
Mother Earth is waitin' for you
For that debt you?'e got to pay
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
You could be blass with life
Only make love to foreign girls
You may have a little jet, baby
And fly all around the world
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
She is waitin' for you
Yea
When it all is up
You got to go back
Way back to Mother Earth, yes
I feel so bad, oh, all I can do is sing these blues, yea
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
Oh baby you hear what I say
The song Mother Earth by Eric Burdon and Jimi Hendrix is a reminder that no matter who you are or what you do in life, at the end of the day, we all have to return to the earth. The song speaks about how no matter how big or powerful you may be in this world, you still have to pay your debt to the earth when it's all over. The first stanza talks about how Mother Earth is waiting for us and how big she is. It is a metaphorical way of implying that we all belong to the earth and we are all a part of her.
The second and third stanzas talk about how it doesn't matter how big or famous you are or what you do in life, everyone has to return to Mother Earth. The song talks about jet-setting across the world, making love to foreign girls, or even being blessed with life, but at the end of the day, we all return to Mother Earth. The fourth and last stanza talks about how the singer feels bad and all he can do is sing the blues as a final reminder that we are all a part of the earth and we have to respect her.
Line by Line Meaning
Mother Earth is waitin' for you, yes she is
Mother Earth is always waiting for us as the big round planet on which we live.
She is big and she's round
The earth is big and round in shape.
And it's cold way down in the ground
It is really cold when you go deeper into the earth's core.
You may not be happy all the time
Life may not always be happy, there are ups and downs in life.
You may never be that way
There is no guarantee that life will always be in a positive direction.
Mother Earth is waitin' for you
For that debt you?'e got to pay
Regardless of how we live our lives, we all have to pay the debt of death and return back to mother earth.
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
None of our accomplishments or statuses will matter in the end, we all have to return to the earth after our lives are over.
You could be blass with life
Only make love to foreign girls
You may have a little jet, baby
And fly all around the world
Even if we have everything we want in life like wealth, fame, and power, we cannot escape death and must return to the earth.
She is waitin' for you
Yea
Mother Earth is always waiting for us to return when our time to pass on comes.
When it all is up
You got to go back
Way back to Mother Earth, yes
When our life is over, we have to go back to Mother Earth where we came from.
I feel so bad, oh, all I can do is sing these blues, yea
The singer expresses sadness about the inevitability of death, and all he can do is sing to cope with the inevitability of dying.
Oh baby you hear what I say
The singer urges listeners to understand the message of returning to the earth when our time is over.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management
Written by: LEWIS SIMPKINS, PETER CHATMAN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@daniellevanwesten3158
Blues for Memphis Slim: Birth / Mother Earth / Mr. Charlie / Danish Pastry / Mother Earth Lyrics
[Birth]
You know when you're born
You first see light of day
Through a gap in your mother's legs
It's the truth
And from that minute on
Most of us guys
And some of you girls
Spend your life
Trying to get back into a hole, mmm-hmm
But, don't worry
Because if you make it
If you don't make it
They're gonna dig a hole for you eventually in the ground
And slot you right back to Mother Earth
Mother Earth is waitin' for you, yes she is
She is big and she's round
And it's cold way down in the ground
You may not be happy all the time
You may never be that way
Mother Earth is waitin' for you
For that debt you've got to pay
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
You could be blasé with life
Only make love to foreign girls
You may have a little jet, baby
And fly all around the world
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
Sweet Mother Earth, baby
[Mr. Charlie]
Instrumental
[Danish Pastry]
Instrumental
[Mother Earth]
You may own some racing horses
Even own a whole damn track
You may have enough money, baby
To buy anything you lack
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You got to go back to Mother Earth
She is waitin' for you, girl
When it all is up
You got to go back
Way back to Mother Earth, yes
When the acid trip is over
You, you got to come back to Mother Blues, yeah
Mother Blues
I feel so bad, oh
All I can do is sing these blues, yeah
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
Oh baby, you hear what I say?
@elisabethaxelsson4736
Wow so good ,Eric sings blues with so much emotions love him
@user-cm5xc2yx4t
Blues at its finest. I'm 75 and have always enjoyed it since 1970 , appreciating it more every time I listen to it.
@davidbutterworth877
The man was totally great with who he played with yes love his music 🎵
@garygreen2599
Simply awesome.
@ruudvanmontfoort4485
04.22 Charles Milller saxophone is just brilliant.
@sallyshipwreck4315
That horn is out of this world.
@sallyshipwreck4315
@SoftserveSodium According to the credits, yes!
@daniellevanwesten3158
Blues for Memphis Slim: Birth / Mother Earth / Mr. Charlie / Danish Pastry / Mother Earth Lyrics
[Birth]
You know when you're born
You first see light of day
Through a gap in your mother's legs
It's the truth
And from that minute on
Most of us guys
And some of you girls
Spend your life
Trying to get back into a hole, mmm-hmm
But, don't worry
Because if you make it
If you don't make it
They're gonna dig a hole for you eventually in the ground
And slot you right back to Mother Earth
Mother Earth is waitin' for you, yes she is
She is big and she's round
And it's cold way down in the ground
You may not be happy all the time
You may never be that way
Mother Earth is waitin' for you
For that debt you've got to pay
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
You could be blasé with life
Only make love to foreign girls
You may have a little jet, baby
And fly all around the world
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
Sweet Mother Earth, baby
[Mr. Charlie]
Instrumental
[Danish Pastry]
Instrumental
[Mother Earth]
You may own some racing horses
Even own a whole damn track
You may have enough money, baby
To buy anything you lack
Don't care how big you are
I don't care what you were
When it all is up
You got to go back to Mother Earth
She is waitin' for you, girl
When it all is up
You got to go back
Way back to Mother Earth, yes
When the acid trip is over
You, you got to come back to Mother Blues, yeah
Mother Blues
I feel so bad, oh
All I can do is sing these blues, yeah
When it all is up
You've got to go back to Mother Earth
Oh baby, you hear what I say?
@Retro327
Lear Jet. :)
@JS-fh5th
Apparently this and Tobacco Road were the last songs Jimi Hendrix played in front of an audience when he went on stage with War two nights before his death.