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Van Morrison has announced a triplet of anti-COVID, anti-lockdown ballads that label our global understanding of the coronavirus as “pseudoscience” in a push for the return of live music.
It is no contest that the music industry is bleeding out in front of our eyes due to the inherently dangerous nature of concerts in the era of COVID-19. A fact keeps the future of live music, for now, under lock and key. However, Morrison, like many Americans aren’t buying into the severity of the deadly and devastating coronavirus.
“As I walked out/All the streets were empty/ The government said Everyone should stay home/ And they spread fear and loathing/ And no hope for the future/ Not many did question/ This very strange move,” Morrison sings in one of his upcoming tracks.
Morrison has become increasingly vocal about his concerns of government overreach even as the U.K. native stares down a potential second lockdown among spiking cases in his country.
“No more lockdown/ No more government overreach/ No more fascist bullies/ Disturbing our peace/ No more taking of our freedom/ And our God-given rights/ Pretending it’s for our safety/ When it’s really to enslave,” Morrison sings in another song.
Though anti-government rhetoric is commonplace in the rock genre, U.K. officials warn that his message is not harmless.
“I don’t know where he gets his facts. I know where the emotions are on this, but I will say that sort of messaging is dangerous,” said Northern Ireland’s health minister Robin Swann.
“If Van Morrison has counter-scientific facts that he’s prepared to stand over, and have that debate with the chief scientific adviser, then I think that’s how he should do it,” Swann added.
Morrison’s new tracks, “Born To Be Free,” “As I Walked Out” and “No More Lockdown,” will be released incrementally over the next month, and along with his lyrics the songwriter is calling on others in the music industry to reject science in the name of jumpstarting live music again.
“I’m not telling people what to do or think, the government is doing a great job of that already,” Morrison said about his new music. “It’s about freedom of choice, I believe people should have the right to think for themselves.”
Many campaigns, fundraisers, and legislation have been proposed in an attempted to prop up the now barren industry until an effective vaccine would make large gatherings possible again. Though Morrison’s message of saving live music is completely agreeable, his message of sowing doubt in science is unacceptable.
To date 30 million people have been reported as having had the virus and global death counts are very nearly 1 million. The U.S. leads the world with almost 200,000 deaths and the U.K. ranks 5th with 42,00 deaths.
Saving live music doesn’t have to come at the cost of actual lives.