The Gonzo Daily: Eric Burdon, A Conversation With Rock and Roll’s Original Animal

Friday 30 May 2014

Eric Burdon, A Conversation With Rock and Roll’s Original Animal

Eric Burdon, the lead singer of The Animals, and truly one of the all-time great Rock and Roll vocalists, was kind enough to take a few moments of his time during his European tour to promote his outstanding new CD ‘Til Your River Runs Dry, to answer some questions from BloggeroverMiami.com.

It was reported last March 2013 that the new Eric Burdon biography “Breathless” would be released later in 2013. As of May 2014, it has not seen the light of day. When can we expect it to be released to the public.

I’m always working on it, when I’m not on stage, which takes a lot of my time. I’m less worried about when I get it finished than I am with presenting something I’m really happy with. There are a lot of stories I want to tell that have not been told before and others I look forward to putting to rest.

In the previous two books, there were reflections on the other members of the band. Since Chas Chandler is no longer with us, can you talk about your relationship with him and how was it towards the end of his life before he passed away.

Chas was my friend since we were very young but hadn’t seen much of each other in the last ten years or so of his life. He was back to performing and had played just a few days before he died, in our hometown of Newcastle. He had a heavy heart from an early age and he always questioned whether he did the right thing quitting as Jimi’s manager during “Electric Ladyland.”

For fans who don’t know, can you discuss your friendship with Jimi Hendrix and talk about the details of his passing. The morning of Sept. 18th 1970, your recollections.

That is one of the stories I have written about for my new book, which I hope to finally lay to rest. I hope he’s finally at rest, nearly 45 years later, considering how much speculation about him still exists.

As a follow-up Ray Manzarek and Danny Sugarman said in an interview in 1995 that you were the only one that could “control” Jim Morrison. Can you briefly discuss that relationship and can you recall the last time you saw Jim.

I wouldn’t say I could control Jim. Nobody could do that. But being a few years his senior and having been ahead of him by a few years, career-wise, with basically the same influences and many of the same weaknesses, it could be said that he looked up to me slightly, so to speak. We finished off more than a few bottles together and somehow, I was able to survive it where he was not. It’s a pity because he would have made a lovely elder bluesman and poet.