Alice Cooper‘s overall vibe may be one that revels in darkness and horror, but the shock rock master is never without a message. On the new song “Don’t Give Up,” the message Cooper tries to relay to a world reeling in the midst of a pandemic is one of strength and perseverance.
At the end of April, Alice Cooper solicited photos from fans who wished to make an appearance in the then forthcoming music video. The frontman released the lyrics to “Don’t Give Up” in advance and implored fans to send in images of themselves holding a sign bearing a word from the song.
Now, the singer has compiled dozens of the 20,000 submissions in the music video, which features him placed in the center of a computer-generated globe as fans make appearances on select panels within the globe and in the background.
“Don’t Give Up,” which was produced remotely by long-time collaborator Bob Ezrin. Musically, it’s a mid-tempo song bathed in gloomy melodies as Cooper relates with fans struggling during this time while simultaneously pushing them keep fighting onward.
Read the lyrics directly below and watch the music video further down the page.
Yeah, I know you’re struggling right now
We all are – in different ways
It’s like a new world that we don’t even know
It’s hard to sleep…even harder to dream
But look: you’ve got 7 billion brothers and sisters all in the same boat
So don’t panic. Life has a way of surviving and going on and on…
We’re not fragile – and we sure don’t break easy!You know it’s so hard to cope
When you’re just hoping there’s hope…We’re all hanging on by a thread
We’re all staring at the razor’s edge
But we’re not going to step off the ledge.
No!Our enemy is a cold, indiscriminate monster
It doesn’t care if you’re old or newborn…it exists to kill
You and I are nothing to it
It has no heart or soul or conscience.
Do we fear it? Yeah.
Do we cower before it? Hell no.
We’re the blood and guts human race…and we win!You know that it’s right
So we just gotta fight…
Yeah, we’re all hanging on by a thread
We’re all staring at the razor’s edge
But we’re not going to step off the ledge.
No!
Meanwhile, there could be more music coming from Alice Cooper in the near future. In March, the legend confirmed that he was “nearly done” working on his 28th studio album, the follow-up to 2017’s Paranormal.
Alice Cooper, “Don’t Give Up”
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