Song of the Day 1/5: Edwin Starr, “War”

Sorry for being so obvious, but back in the days of the draft most people didn’t need so much convincing that war was a racket. Of course, back then it was more obvious that the portion of the public that supported the Vietnam War (known at the time as the Conflict Overseas) was composed mainly of old men whose asses weren’t the ones being shot full of holes, and young people got angry accordingly. This song summed up the feeling in the country at the time, and it spent three weeks topping the Billboard chart in late summer 1970, knocking Bread’s “Make It With You” from the top spot.

Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong wrote the song for the Temptations, who included it on their “Psychedelic Shack” LP in early 1970. Faced with public pressure to release that version as a single, Motown muftahs demurred, worried that the song might alienate some of the Tempations’ broad fandom. Whitfield suggested giving the song to Starr, then rolled out a show-stopping production that, along with Starr’s fiery vocals, gave the song a kick the Temps couldn’t match even if they wanted to.

The hit somewhat radicalized Starr, who began speaking out for liberal causes. By 1971, people were getting truly fed up with Nixon’s dithering — he had run on a promise of ending the war quickly — and Starr released “Stop the War Now.”

In 1973, Starr bid goodbye the U.S. He relocated to England, continued to record and produce music for others and became a hero of the country’s Northern Soul movement. He lived there until his death in 2003.