SCORPIONS singer Klaus Meine recently discussed his decision to change some of the lyrics in the band’s anthemic song “Wind Of Change“.
The iconic band penned the song “Wind Of Change” after performing at 1989’s Moscow Music Peace Festival in Moscow and was inspired by the Russian fans’ outpouring of love for SCORPIONS, who were the first “heavy metal” group to play in Russia, despite being a German act.
Speaking with Ukraine’s TSN/TCH, Klaus discussed his decision to alter some of the song’s lyrics to reflect what’s happening in the world today.
“We were just preparing a new tour,” he said (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET). “Since the release of the [new SCORPIONS] album [‘Rock Believer‘] in February, we were preparing a new show, a new set. We were booked for a residency in Las Vegas. I thought this is not the time to romanticize Russia with lyrics like, ‘Follow the Moskva / Down to Gorky Park.’ And I wanted to make a statement that we support the Ukraine in this very difficult situation.
“When I wrote [‘Wind Of Change‘], it was about the time when the SCORPIONS went for the first time to the Soviet Union back in ’88 when we played 10 shows in Leningrad,” he continued. “After all those years living in the shadow of the Berlin Wall, living with the Iron Curtain, to see how we have the chance with music to build bridges and really come together. So it was so very inspired by this moment of hope, hoping for a more peaceful world and just joining together into a peaceful future. And so that was the expression. And so many years later now, I think the song has lost the meaning of being a peace anthem, being a song of hope. But I had to change those lyrics, like I said.”
Meine went on to say that the members of SCORPIONS were raised in the West German town of Hannover, which was “a hundred kilometers away from the first checkpoint, in Helmstedt. So that means when we had, as a young band, in the ’70s, when we played a show in West Berlin, the world when we grew up as kids in the ’60s when the Berlin Wall was built and so many people lost their lives and were shot when they tried to make it from the East to the West, just to live in a free world,” he explained. “So this is how we grew up. And it was just a very, very special moment. And a couple of months later, the Berlin Wall came down. And it was a peaceful revolution — without a shot being fired, it was a peaceful revolution.”
Klaus continued, saying “the German people support the Ukraine very much. Our generation, we grew up after World War II — we grew up after the darkest time in German history, with the Nazis, with the Holocaust and all that,” he said. “So growing up in Germany in the ’50s, ’60s, it was nothing to be proud of your own country. And with the music, being musicians, we tried to leave it all behind, leave the past behind, and go and become part of the international family of musicians. When we grew up, everything was focused on the way to leave the past behind and hopefully build together a better future for our children. And this is what we try to support with being artists, being musicians, writing songs, joining together and making this planet a better place.”
You can watch the full interview below
SCORPIONS’ latest album, “Rock Believer”, was released back in February.