Van Morrison has teamed up with Eric Clapton on his latest anti-lockdown song, “Stand and Deliver.”
Set to release on Dec. 4, the track’s proceeds will go toward Morrison’s Lockdown Financial Hardship Fund, which aims to assist musicians who are facing financial hardships because of the global pandemic and lockdown measures that followed.
Morrison previously released the lyrically pointed songs “Born to Be Free,” “As I Walked Out” and “No More Lockdown.”
Due to the pandemic, Clapton, who performs the Morrison-written track, worries about the fate of the live music industry.
“There are many of us who support Van and his endeavors to save live music; he is an inspiration,” Clapton said (via Variety). “We must stand up and be counted because we need to find a way out of this mess. The alternative is not worth thinking about. Live music might never recover.”
Morrison is grateful for the support and glad to have Clapton on board.
“Eric’s recording is fantastic and will clearly resonate with the many who share our frustrations,” Morrison said. “It is heartbreaking to see so many talented musicians lack any meaningful support from the government, but we want to reassure them that we are working hard every day to lobby for the return of live music, and to save our industry.”
The two musicians performed together in March of this year, prior to the U.K.’s first imposed lockdown, to raise money for The Royal Marsden Cancer Charity.