A group of legendary artists including Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello, Foo Fighters’ Rami Jaffee and The Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine joined Girl with a Guitar, a group of young female guitarists from Kabul, Afghanistan to cover Eurythmics’ 1983 hit “Sweet Dreams.”
Guitarist Vicki Peterson of The Bangles, singer Cherie Currie of The Runaways, guitarist Wayne Kramer of MC5, drummer Kris Myers of Umphrey’s McGee, The Bird and the Bee’s Greg Kurstin and singer Inara George also contributed their talents to the rendition.
The new cover not only sheds light on the hardships children, particularly girls, are facing in war-torn countries, but also hopes to raise money for The Miraculous Love Kids, an organization that raises awareness, resources and funds for some of the most vulnerable children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“We wanted to do something moody — a kind of gothic hymn — and we gravitated towards the dark yet hopeful spirit of this song,” Lanny Cordola, founder of The Miraculous Love Kids, said in a statement. “The lines in the song — ’some of them want to use you, some of them want to get used by you, some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused — really resonate, reflecting these troubled times. But then a glimmer of optimism — ‘hold your head up…keep your head up’ — gently flows through the voices of these girls who have experienced the worst that humanity has to offer.”
Morello added, “These girls are so brave and so inspiring. It is an honor to make music with them.”
And Peterson said that she was “honored” to be part of the collaboration with Girl with a Guitar. “This was a singular honor for me to be a part of and I would love to be involved further,” she said in a statement.
The group previously collaborated on “Love and Mercy” with the song’s writer, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys, in 2018.
Find out more about The Miraculous Love Kids and Girl with a Guitar here.
