WATERTOWN, Mass. (A.W.)—On March 10, American musician, singer, and songwriter Chris Cornell released a new original song entitled “The Promise” for the forthcoming feature film The Promise, about the Armenian Genocide. Cornell, who is best known as the lead vocalist, primary songwriter, and rhythm guitarist for U.S.-rock band Soundgarden and as lead vocalist and songwriter for the supergroup Audioslave, also unveiled a lyric video for the song, featuring images from the film The Promise.
According to a statement released by Cornell, his proceeds from the song will be donated to the International Rescue Committee. “The International Rescue Committee responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises, helping to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing, and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster,” reads a part of the statement.
“There are a couple of really amazing documentaries about the Armenian Genocide, and one of them was about the phenomenon that people who had literally minutes to grab what they could from their homes would take photos before anything else – before jewelry even,” Cornell told Rolling Stone magazine, when asked about the new song for the film. “I was really moved by that; the idea of what is most important to people in a crucial second.”
The world premiere of the late Kirk Kerkorian’s legacy project—the much anticipated Armenian Genocide epic The Promise—had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) on Sept. 11, 2016. The film had the honor of being designated as one of the gala presentations of the prestigious festival and is slated for wide release in the United States on April 21. (Read the Armenian Weekly’s coverage of The Promise‘s world premiere here)
The song is now available at all streaming services and digital retailers including iTunes, Apple Music, and Spotify. The lyric video and the song’s lyrics are available below.
“The Promise”
If I had nothing to my name
But photographs of you
Rescued from the flames
That is all I would ever need
As long as I can read
What’s written on your face
The strength that shines
Behind your eyes
The hope and light
That will never die
And one promise you made
one promise that always remains
No matter the price
A promise to survive
Persevere and thrive
As we’ve always done
And you said
“The poison in a kiss
Is the lie upon the lips”
Truer words were never shared
When I feel
Like lies are all I hear
I pull my memories near
The one thing they can’t take
And one promise you made
one promise that always remains
No matter the price
A promise to survive
Persevere and thrive
As you’ve always done
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