Tom Morello, members of the Foo Fighters, the Bangles cover the Eurythmics’ Sweet Dreams with Afghan group Girl With a Guitar

Tom Morello has joined up with Foo Fighters’ Rami Jaffee and the Go-Go’s Kathy Valentine to cover the Eurythmics’ 1983 smash Sweet Dreams with the Afghanistan-based outfit Miraculous Love Kids/Girl with a Guitar.

The eerie, atmospheric take also features Bangles electric guitar player Vicki Peterson, MC5 great Wayne Kramer, former Runaways singer Cherie Currie and other artists.

The new cover was conceived to help benefit the Miraculous Love Kids, an organization that raises awareness and funds for vulnerable and poverty-stricken children in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

The Miraculous Love Kids/Girl With a Guitar was founded by American musician Lanny Cordola after meeting a young Afghan girl whose two sisters had been killed by a suicide bomber.

The group provides a musical outlet for women who have been affected by violence in the region.

In 2018 they collaborated with the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson on a cover of his Love and Mercy.

For Sweet Dreams, “We wanted to do something moody – a kind of gothic hymn – and we gravitated towards the dark yet hopeful spirit of this song,” said Cordola in a statement.

“The lines in the song – ‘some of them want to use you, some of them want to get used by you, some of them want to abuse you, some of them want to be abused’ – really resonate, reflecting these troubled times. But then a glimmer of optimism – ‘hold your head up…keep your head up’ –gently flows through the voices of these girls who have experienced the worst that humanity has to offer.”

Added Morello, “These girls are so brave and so inspiring. It is an honor to make music with them.”

You can learn more about the Miraculous Love Kids and Girl with a Guitar at themiraculouslovekids.org.