Chords for The Animals At 40 - Local news coverage of reunion of original members (April 1984)

[Gbm] _ _ [A] This afternoon, five [G] very different men in their early 40s got together in a London recording [Bm] studio
to become, once [G] again, one of the most [Bm] distinguished groups in [G] pop music [E] history.
Which was all very [Bm] odd, because they hadn't toured together, or even seen very much of each other, for almost 18 years.
[Gm] _ _ _ _ [D] As The Animals, they roared out of Newcastle in March [Bb] 64, with their [Gbm] first [Bb] single, the Bob Dylan-influenced
[Ab] Baby Let Me Take You Home.
[Eb] Baby let me [Gb] take you home
[Gm] It _ _ _ [Eb] _ was notable [F] for the keyboard work of Alan Price, [Bb] and the singer Eric Burden, [Ab] who had absorbed black vocal styles
[Eb] to become one of the best white, [Gb] rhythm and blues singers Britain produced.
[Bb] The Animals rivaled The Stones as the best R&B band in Britain, with constant hits, though this [Eb] first line-up only held together until May [Bb] 65.
_ _ _ [D] Alan [Am] Price, the first to leave, has [D] been successful ever since, [Abm] as a soloist, [Bm] or writing for the cinema or stage musicals, like the recent Andy [A] Capp.
Eric Burden [E] has remained a grand old rock'n'roller, [Dm] with a new [D] psychedelic set of Animals until the late 60s,
then [A] playing in different bands, living in the American [E] desert, attempting various comebacks, but [A] remaining in grand voice.
_ Chas Chandler, [D] who hasn't played [A] his bass in years, and appeared to have had almost no sleep last night,
made rather more money as a [E] manager, successfully guiding Jimi Hendrix, and then [Bm] Slade.
_ [A] The final two Animals [E] must be most surprised of all to be suddenly [A] famous again.
There's [D] guitarist Hilton Valentine, once reported to have disappeared [A] after becoming a Los Angeles Buddhist, but now back in [D] Newcastle,
and drummer John Steele, a Newcastle [E] businessman.
So why [A] had they suddenly got [E] together again?
_ [A] I'm serious [N] about my chance to confront the kind of paranoia that you live with, as being a 40 year old rock'n'roller.
But _ _ keep pointing out to people that, you know, Chuck Berry's still rocking, and he's a grand old man. _
And, well, there's singers like the Straight World singers like Frank Sinatra, and those guys seem to mature and they get better as they get older.
_ Whoever wants to try and equate athletics with music in the first place?
You all know each other still?
I mean, have you seen each other a lot over the last 18 years?
No, but we're going to find out.
I mean, back in the early 60s there were stories that you, Alan, and Eric didn't get on particularly well.
It's still true.
It's still true.
Dean Martin, Jerry Love.
Yeah.
But we are rather better together than apart.
I mean, have you seen much of each other over the last 18 years?
No, no, no point.
Just through the purchase of magazines, the odd movie.
Musically, you've both gone in different ways.
Yeah, I played what was easy for me, you sang what was easy for him.
No, it's never easy. _ _ _
I've been a science fiction freak all my life, and it's a hero's thing.
I know how to take trouble.
_ _ _ Can you still play?
Yeah, I'm about to find out that.
He loved it.
[Bb] _ [Cm]
This way, guys.
[C] The new original Animals were officially launched at a lunchtime press [Dm] conference with a 60s flavour.
It was delayed for an hour because Chandler hadn't arrived, an event unthinkable for a business-orientated modern [C] pop group.
And there was a [G] genuine 60s gimmick, [Ab] animals for the animals.
[D] _ [C] The small ones are from the Battersea Dogs Home, but the others are also looking for a suitable [G] home.
No record company has signed them up yet.
I want to get out there and find out where's New York.
We sat in front of 40 photographers today, and I couldn't believe they were taking pictures of middle-aged men holding toy dogs from Battersea Dogs Home.
Because that's the only way they could really get a story out of it.
And in 1964, we were in Regent's Park Zoo, and nothing has changed.
Except we've just got older, so we'd like another final bite at the cherry.
_ _ _ [Eb] _ _
[N] _ _ _ _ [E] _ _ _ _
[Ab] During the press conference, the [Eb] muted sounds of [Gb] old Animals hits wafted over the [Bb] champagne and canopies.
[F] _ Eric Burden [Bb] has spent the [Fm] last 15 years trying to prove he's [Bb] a contemporary singer, not just [Db] a former member of the Animals.
[Eb]
So, was he [Gb] getting trapped by the past?
_ [Bb] _ _ [Db] _ _
_ [F] _ _ _ After [Bb] _ _
[Db] _ _ _ [Eb] _ _ [Gb] _ _ _
[Bb] _ all, House of [F] the Rising Sun [Bb] was recently back in the [Db] charts yet again, rediscovered [Eb] by yet another generation.
_ [Gb] _ _ [Bbm] _
_ _ [F] _ _ [Bb] _ [Bbm] _ _ [F] _
[Abm] _ What we're not going to do is tour around, trotting out the old hit songs.
We haven't even touched them.
We've never actually tried to play one yet.
We're playing a lot of new stuff, and _ it's pretty interesting, actually.
We want to forge ahead into new areas, too, and [Gb] utilize everything and anything that's gone. _
_ The faster, real triplet, new wave tempos and reggae and things like that.
We just want to explore areas that are available for a band to get into these days and have a good time doing it.
Just steal the best stuff we can find.
Absolutely.
_ [Bm] _ [A] _ [Bm] _ _ _ _
_ _ _ When _ _ _ _ the Animals go back on the road, they'll be augmented with extra drums and keyboards.
They didn't have the right instruments with them this afternoon, but they gave us a gallant, [D] exclusive demonstration that they can still play together.
_ [Bm] _ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Gb] _ _ _ _ _ [Bm] _ _ _
_ _ _ _ _ _ _
[Gb] Another _ _ _ [B] _ [Bm] _ bite _ _ _ of the cherry, another pop of the cork.
The Animals