War Baby

Composer: Mick Jagger
Recording date: November-December 1986 & February-May 1987
Recording locations: Wisseloord Studios, Hilversum, Netherlands & Right Track Studios, New York City, USA
Producers: Mick Jagger & Keith Diamond      Chief engineers: Bob Rosa & Ed Stasium



Probable line-up:

Drum programming: Keith Diamond
Drums: Omar Hakim
Bass: Doug Wimbish
Rhythm electric guitar: G. E. Smith
Lead electric guitar: Jeff Beck
Vocals: Mick Jagger
Whistle & Uileann pipes: Paddy Moloney
Keyboards/synthesizers: Phil Ashley & Richard Cottle
Trumpet: John Faddis
 

Hear children strong and pure
Heed not the sound of drums
Heed not the gods of war
War

I was born in a war
So they call me a war baby
I was born in a war
And it don't make me war crazy

And the guns start to roar
As the fire sweeps the streets - crazy

Why can't we walk this road together
And keep our children safe and sure?

War, war baby

And the war made us poor
Made our future unsure, hazy

Why don't we run this race together
And keep our children safe and sure?

But the arms race is on
And the tanks all roll out
All the guns are in place
We just wait for the shout
To arms - to arms

And the guns start to roar
From the ship to the shore - crazy
And the bombs start to fall
As we crouch in the hall
As they bust through the breach
Out on Omaha Beach - yeah

Why can't we run this road together?
Why can't we hope to find a cure?

But the arms race is on
And the tanks all roll out
All the guns are in place
As we wait for the shout

And the army sweeps on and on
And the navy sails out
As we rush to the edge
As we wait for the shout
To arms - to arms

War, war baby

 

 

TrackTalk

(S)ometimes I wake up in the middle of the night, like when I wrote War Baby. I woke up with the melody and my tape recorder had run out of batteries, and I was in such a state. Because I was half asleep and I don't really write music; but I remember the little bit I can do. And fortunately I remembered it in the morning.

- Mick Jagger, 1987


A lot of children, like in the United States, don't remember the real horror of (World War II), because they never had to, as they do in Europe and Russia and so on... (Y)ou didn't have the experience of the block opposite being destroyed when you got up in the morning. So War Baby is kind of a reminder.

- Mick Jagger, 1987

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