"War" is a counterculture-era soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for
the Motown label in 1969. Whitfield first produced the song – an obvious anti-Vietnam War protest –
with The Temptations as the original vocalists. After Motown began receiving repeated requests to
release "War" as a single, Whitfield re-recorded the song with Edwin Starr as the vocalist, with the
label deciding to withhold the Temptations' version from single release so as not to alienate their
more conservative fans. Starr's version of "War" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in
1970, and is not only the most successful and well-known record of his career, but it is also one of
the most popular protest songs ever recorded. It was one of 161 songs on the Clear Channel no-
play list after September 11, 2001.[1]
The song's power was reasserted when Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band took their
rendition into the U.S. Top 10 in 1986. It was also covered by Frankie Goes to Hollywood in 1984
and more recently by the rock band Black Stone Cherry on its 2016 album Kentucky.
Contents
1Temptations' version and release debate
2Edwin Starr version
o 2.1Chart history
o 2.2Weekly charts
o 2.3Year-end charts
3Frankie Goes to Hollywood version
4Bruce Springsteen version
o 4.1Charts
5Personnel
o 5.1Edwin Starr version
o 5.2Temptations version
o 5.3Frankie Goes to Hollywood version
o 5.4Bruce Springsteen version
6Other versions
7In popular culture
8See also
9References
10External links
Temptations' version and release debate[edit]
The Temptations' version of "War", featuring Paul Williams and Dennis Edwards on lead vocals, was
much less intense than the Edwin Starr version. Williams and Edwards deliver the song's anti-war,
pro-peace message over a stripped-down instrumental track, with bass singer Melvin
Franklin chanting a repeated recruit training-like "hup, two, three, four" in the background during the
verses.
The song was included as a track on the March 1970 Psychedelic Shack album, which featured
the title track as its only single. The track's direct message, summarized by its chorus ("War, what is
it good for? Absolutely nothin'!"), struck a chord with the American public and resonated with growing
public opposition to the war in Vietnam. Fans from across the country, many of them college
students and other young people, sent letters to Motown requesting the release of "War" as a single.
The label did not want to risk the image of its most popular male group, and the Temptations
themselves were also apprehensive about releasing such a potentially controversial song as a
single. The label decided to withhold "War"'s release as a single, a decision that Whitfield fought until
the label came up with a compromise: "War" would be released, but it would have to be re-recorded
with a different act.
Edwin Starr version[edit]
"War"
One of side-A labels of the US vinyl single
Single by Edwin Starr
from the album War & Peace
B-side "He Who Picks a Rose"
Released June 10, 1970
Format 7-inch single
Recorded May 15, 1970
Studio Hitsville USA (Studio A), Detroit, Michigan
Genre Psychedelic soul, funk
Length 3:22
Label Gordy (Gordy 7101)
Songwriter(s) Norman Whitfield, Barrett Strong
Producer(s) Norman Whitfield
Edwin Starr singles chronology
"Time" "War" "Stop the War
(1970) (1970) Now"
(1970)
Alternative edition
Artwork for Dutch vinyl single
Edwin Starr sings War
MENU
0:00
Sample of the song
Problems playing this file? See media
help.
Edwin Starr, who had become a Motown artist in 1968 after his former label, Ric-Tic, was purchased
by Motown founder Berry Gordy, Jr., became "War's" new vocalist. Considered among Motown's
"second-string" acts, Starr had only one major hit, 1968's No. 6 hit "Twenty-Five Miles", to his name
by this time. He heard about the conflict surrounding the debate of whether or not to release "War",
and volunteered to re-record it. Whitfield re-created the song to match Starr's James Brown-
influenced soul shout: the single version of "War" was dramatic and intense, depicting the general
anger and distaste the anti-war movement felt towards the war in Vietnam. Unlike the Temptations'
original, Starr's "War" was a full-scale Whitfield production, with prominent electric
guitar lines, clavinets, a heavily syncopated rhythm accented by a horn section, and with The
Originals and Whitfield's new act The Undisputed Truth on backing vocals.
Upon its release in June 1970, Starr's "War" became a runaway hit, and held the No. 1 position on
the Billboard Pop Singles chart for three weeks, in August and September 1970. It replaced "Make It
With You" by Bread, and was itself taken out of the spot by another Motown single, "Ain't No
Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross. Billboard ranked it as the No. 5 song of 1970.
Notable as the most successful protest song to become a pop hit, earning compliments from
contemporary protester John Lennon, "War" became Edwin Starr's signature song. Rather than
hindering his career (as it might have done for the Temptations), "War" buoyed Starr's career, and he
adopted the image of an outspoken liberal orator for many of his other early-1970s releases,
including the similarly themed "Stop the War Now" from 1971. It and another 1971 single, "Funky
Music Sho' 'Nuff Turns Me On", continued Starr's string of Whitfield-produced psychedelic soul hits.
After 1971, Starr's career began to falter, and, citing Motown's reliance on formulas, he departed the
label in the mid-1970s.
Later in his career, after moving to the United Kingdom, Starr re-recorded several of his hits with
British band Utah Saints. Starr's new version of "War" in 2003 was his final piece. He died on April 2
of the same year of a heart attack.
Starr earned a Grammy nomination in 1971 for "War" for best R&B Male Vocal.[2] In 1999, Starr's
recording of the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
