Red Hot Chili Peppers honored fallen guitar hero Eddie Van Halen on Friday with the release of a new song, “Eddie”. The single is the second to appear from the band’s second album of 2022, Return of the Dream Canteen, out on October 14th via Warner Records.
The song begins strikingly similar to “By The Way”, but soon carves its own path with frontman Anthony Kiedis‘ wistful lyrics from the point of view of Eddie, who died in October 2020. While not necessarily a musical homage to Van Halen at first, RHCP loads the song with references to the hair metal guitarist’s history like “My brother’s a keeper, I married a TV wife / The devil’s Camaro, parked in thе high school lot /A little sombrero ’cause tеacher was way too hot” pointing to both Eddie’s 26-year marriage to Valerie Bertinelli and the song “Hot For Teacher”. The tribute to EVH becomes fully apparent in the final minute of the song as John Frusciante wails out a guitar solo loaded with allusions to Eddie’s iconic style.
“Sometimes we don’t realize how deeply affected and connected we are to artists until the day they die,” Kiedis said of the song. “Eddie Van Halen was a one of a kind. The day after his death Flea came into rehearsal with an emotional bassline. John, Chad and I started playing along and pretty soon with all our hearts, a song in his honor effortlessly unfolded. It felt good to be sad and care so much about a person who had given so much to our lives. Although the song doesn’t speak to Eddie by name, it talks about his early days on the Sunset Strip and the rock n roll tapestry that Van Halen painted on our minds. In the end, our song asks that you not remember Eddie for dying but for living his wildest dream.”
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Listen to the new Red Hot Chili Peppers single, “Eddie”, below and click here to pre-order Return of the Dream Canteen.
Red Hot Chili Peppers – “Eddie”