Sammy Hagar & The Circle just dipped back into the Van Halen catalog for their @Home Sessions series and this time they picked “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)” from 1995’s ‘Balance’ album.
Here’s what Hagar posted along with the video on YouTube:
When I heard that Kurt Cobain had taken his own life, the first thing I thought of was I wish I were there and could have tried to save him. The original title for these lyrics were “I want to show you what love can do,” but because it was such a dark horrible thing I just couldn’t shine a light on it. So I changed the final line to “Don’t tell me what love can do.” P.S. It was also the time of the breaking up of Van Halen, our last album and tour so it added a lot of emotion, negativity and pain in the original vocal performance which surfaced the second I started singing this song for the first time since 1995. It’s episode 9 of the Circle @Home Sessions.
Watch “Don’t Tell Me (What Love Can Do)” below:
This is the third Van Halen song the band has performed during its series of lockdown videos along with “Right Now” and “Good Enough” which you can watch below. To watch all of the songs performed by Hagar, bassist Michael Anthony, guitarist Vic Johnson and drummer Jason Bonham go to Hagar’s official YouTube page.
“Right Now” (@Home Sessions No. 8):
“Good Enough” (@Home Sessions No. 3):
Just last week it was announced that Sammy Hagar & The Circle will perform their first post-pandemic concert next month. They will be the headliner of Rockin’ Fore the Kids at Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on September 18th. All funds raised will benefit the cancer-fighting efforts of Akron’s Children’s Hospital, MusiCares and local food banks.
UPDATE: On August 13th it was reported that this concert has been cancelled “due [to] city/state regulations on public gatherings.”