War

Song Name: War

Year of Release: 1970

Written By: Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong

Released by: The Temptations (album version), Edwin Starr (single version)

Key Lyrics: “War, huh, yeah/What is it good for?/Absolutely nothing.”

“War, I despise/Because it means destruction of innocent lives/War means tears to thousands of mothers’ eyes/When their sons go off to fight/And lose their lives.”

“It ain’t nothing but a heartbreaker/(War) Friend only to the undertaker.”

Description: The original version of the song was recorded by the Temptations and was far less intense. It was originally released on the album Psychedelic Shack and was not planned to be released as a single, but many college students resonated with the song’s anti-war message and wrote letters to Motown (the song’s record label). The Temptations and Motown were both hesitant to release such a controversial song as a single, but after songwriter Norman Whitfield pushed for it, they reached a compromise where it would be recorded with a different artist. The single version was vastly different. The vocal delivery was more dramatic and urgent, and featured electric guitars, clavinets, a horn section, and acts such as the Originals and the Undisputed Truth (Starr’s backing group) as background vocalists.

Why It Was Important: The song helped kickstart Starr’s career, became his signature song, hit the number 1 spot on the charts, and even earned him a Grammy nomination for Best R&B Male Vocal. Fellow musician and antiwar protestor John Lennon praised the song, and it helped frame Starr as a liberal antiwar activist. Starr would go on to release more antiwar songs and even rerecorded the song just before his death in 2003 (the rerecorded version was sadly never released). The song gained newfound attention when a group called Ugly Rumours (named after British Prime Minister Tony Blair’s college band) covered and released the song in 2007, with the band being fronted by a lookalike of Blair. This gained attention as Blair was a strong supporter of George W Bush and the war in Iraq.

Recordings

War (studio version, Starr version)

Edwin Starr - War (Original Video - 1969) (live performance, Starr version)

War (studio version, Temptations version)