War What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing

The first line of lyrics from War, a counterculture-era soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969.... more

by Walter Neal

Title

War What Is It Good For? Absolutely Nothing

Artist

Walter Neal

Medium

Digital Art

Description

The first line of lyrics from "War", a counterculture-era soul song written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label in 1969. Whitfield first produced the song – a blatant 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 number-one 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.

Uploaded

April 18th, 2017

Statistics

Viewed 373 Times  -  Last Visitor from Beverly Hills, CA on 03/20/2023 at 10:57 PM

Colors

Embed

Share

Tags