Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder has released a cover of John Lennon's 1971 peace hymn "Imagine," according to Consequence of Sound.
Sales from the cover will benefit Heartbeat.fm, a Jerusalem-based organization that utilizes music in promoting and working for conciliation between Israel and Palestine. The track is now available for purchase via iTunes.
Describing it as "the most powerful song ever written," the track was recorded live during Vedder's concert in Portugal on July 18. In a speech before setting out to play "Imagine," he talked about the fraught nature of taking a stand in a time of war, a Contact Music report says.
"If you're anti-war, it doesn't mean you are pro one side or the other in a conflict. However, it does make you pro many things," he said. "It makes you pro-peace, it makes you pro-human, makes you pro-evolution, makes you pro-communication, pro-diplomacy, pro-love, pro-understanding, pro-forgiveness," he continued.
"So this next song, I always thought it was probably the most powerful song ever written. Which is why I have never played it," he said. "It seems like maybe there is a reason to play it. If you'd like to join me or use your voices or hold a lighter, there might be some people out there that need to know they're not alone," he said before he went on to play the tune.
The Portugal performance happened shortly after the singer made remarks, during a July 11 show in London, about the ongoing Israel-Palestine strife in Gaza that drew mixed reactions, according to HitFix.
"I swear to God, there are people out there who are looking for a reason to kill," he commented. "They're looking for a reason to go across borders and take over land that doesn't belong to them. They should get out and mind their own business," the singer said.
He then proceeded to play Edwin Starr's anti-conflict song "War."