The music superstar quoted scripture, asking the crowd, ‘What good will it be for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?’
Global Latin music star Daddy Yankee recently bid farewell to his music career and announced he will be dedicating his life to evangelizing the world “for Jesus.”
During the final show of his farewell tour in Puerto Rico on Sunday, the “Gasolina” and “Despacito” star said a tearful goodbye to his fans and claimed that he would be giving the rest of his life to Christ, as he has found committing to Christianity much more meaningful.
I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day / Overtime hours for bullshit pay / So I can sit out here and waste my life away / Drag back home and drown my troubles away.
Pre-Chorus: It’s a damn shame what the world’s gotten to / For people like me and people like you / Wish I could just wake up and it not be true / But it is, oh, it is.
Chorus: Livin’ in the new world / With an old soul / These rich men north of Richmond / Lord knows they all just wanna have total control / Wanna know what you think, wanna know what you do / And they don’t think you know, but I know that you do / ‘Cause your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end / ‘Cause of rich men north of Richmond.
I wish politicians would look out for miners / And not just minors on an island somewhere / Lord, we got folks in the street, ain’t got nothin’ to eat / And the obese milkin’ welfare.
Well, God, if you’re 5-foot-3 and you’re 300 pounds / Taxes ought not to pay for your bags of fudge rounds / Young men are puttin’ themselves six feet in the ground / ‘Cause all this damn country does is keep on kickin’ them down.
Repeat Pre-Chorus
Repeat Chorus
I’ve been sellin’ my soul, workin’ all day / Overtime hours for bullshit pay.
The courage of the people of Ukraine inspired Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason to release their first new song as Pink Floyd since 1994: “We want to spread this message of peace, and we want to raise the morale of the people who are defending their homeland”
A few days after Russia invaded Ukraine, singer-turned-soldier Andriy Khlyvnyuk posted video of himself belting “The Red Viburnum in the Meadow” — a folk song about the country’s strength in the face of adversity — to Instagram. The vocalist, who fronts the Kyiv group Boombox, had hoped to be playing gigs in the U.S. last month. But when he heard Russia had invaded his homeland, he returned to defend it. At the outbreak of the war, he told Rolling Stone he felt it was his duty to stick up for Ukraine for the sake of the world. “[The West] needs us as the shield to protect it all,” he said.
In the video, he’s wearing fatigues and clinging to a submachine gun as he serenades the empty streets: “Our glorious Ukraine shall hey, hey, rise up and rejoice.”
Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour watched the clip with awe. “My daughter-in-law, who actually is Ukrainian, sent it to me and I thought, ‘Wow, that’s fantastic,’” Gilmour tells Rolling Stone. “It just struck me that here we are, with our name [Pink Floyd] and this platform, and we could use it more. That piece of singing immediately got me thinking of turning it into something.” So he sequestered himself in his studio, figured out the chords that would support Khlyvnyuk’s powerful vocals, and wrote what became “Hey, Hey, Rise Up” — the first new Pink Floyd recording in nearly 30 years.
“I thought this could be something that we use our platform for, for enormous good,” Gilmour says. So I called [Pink Floyd drummer] Nick [Mason] up and said, ‘Did you want to be a part of it?’ And he said, ‘Yes, great.’” Last week, the pair, along with bassist Guy Pratt and keyboardist Nitin Sawhney, recorded the song, which sticks to the traditional melodies of the folk song (notwithstanding a few emotive guitar solos) at Gilmour’s home studio with a projection of Khlyvnyuk’s original video. It was the first time Gilmour and Mason had recorded a new Pink Floyd song since the sessions for 1994’s The Division Bell.
Gilmour had closed the book on Pink Floyd after 2014’s The Endless River, which he and Mason had built from recordings made during the Division Bell sessions. But with “Hey, Hey, Rise Up,” he changed his mind. Pink Floyd rushed to release the song quickly to raise awareness for the civilians suffering in Ukraine and to raise money for humanitarian relief in the country.
“I hope the song does some good,” Gilmour tells Rolling Stone, explaining why he decided to resurrect Pink Floyd. “I hope we achieve something with it.”
Neil Peart was a Canadian musician, songwriter, and author, best known as the drummer and primary lyricist of the rock band Rush. Peart earned numerous awards for his musical performances, including an induction into the Modern Drummer Readers Poll Hall of Fame in 1983, making him the youngest person ever so honoured. Known to fans by the nickname ‘The Professor’, his drumming was renowned for its technical proficiency and his live performances for their exacting nature and stamina.
Benjamin Orr was an musician best known as the bassist, co-founder, and co-lead vocalist of the rock band The Cars. He sang lead vocals on several of their best known songs, including “Just What I Needed”, “Let’s Go” and “Drive”. He also had a moderate solo hit with “Stay the Night.” Orr was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Cars in 2018.
