"War Child" is a 1982 song by the American rock band Blondie, featured on their sixth studio album '' The Hunter''. The song was released as a second single from the album in various countries, but not in the band's native US. There is no music video for this single.

Single information

"War Child" was written by

Debbie Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

and

Nigel Harrison Nigel Harrison (born 24 April 1951) is an English musician. Harrison spent several years as the bassist of the American rock band Blondie during the 1970s and 1980s. Life & career Harrison grew up in Princes Risborough, a small town in the C ...

, who had previously written the hits "

One Way or Another "One Way or Another" is a song by American new wave band Blondie from their 1978 album ''Parallel Lines''. Lyrically, the song was inspired by Blondie frontwoman Deborah Harry's experience with a stalker in the early 1970s, an incident which ...

" and "

Union City Blue "Union City Blue" is a song by the American New wave music, new wave band Blondie (band), Blondie. The song was featured on their 1979 studio album ''Eat to the Beat''. Written by Debbie Harry and Nigel Harrison, the song was inspired lyrically by ...

" together. The lyrics portray Harry as a war child (a child soldier) and reflect the violent environment of current wars, such as those of

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

and

Middle East The Middle East ( ar, الشرق الأوسط, ISO 233: ) is a geopolitical region commonly encompassing Arabian Peninsula, Arabia (including the Arabian Peninsula and Bahrain), Anatolia, Asia Minor (Asian part of Turkey except Hatay Pro ...

. It was first performed live in 1982's '' Tracks Across America Tour''. A recording was included in subsequent live albums and VHS/DVDs. In 2014, "War Child" was included in live setlists as a medley with

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath were an English rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. They are often cited as pioneers of heavy met ...

's "

War Pigs "War Pigs" is an anti-war protest song by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, released in 1970, it is the opening track from the band's second studio album ''Paranoid'' (1970). Overview The original title of "War Pigs" was "Walpurgis", ...

". The single was the second and final release from the album, and would therefore be the last new Blondie single for seventeen years, when the band reformed and released "

Maria Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial * 170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 * Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, ...

" in 1999. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to this single was "Little Caesar", also from ''The Hunter'' album. The 12" single included an extended remix of "War Child" by producer

Mike Chapman Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi ...

, which can be found as a bonus track on

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

's 1994 and 2001 CD re-issues of the album ''The Hunter''.

Track listing

UK 7" (CHS 2624, July 1982) & 7" Picture Disc (CHSP 2624, July 1982) #"War Child" (

Deborah Harry Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in ...

) - 3:49 #"Little Caesar" (Deborah Harry,

Chris Stein Christopher Stein (born January 5, 1950) is an American musician known as the co-founder and guitarist of the new wave band Blondie. He is also a producer and performer for the classic soundtrack of the hip hop film '' Wild Style'', and write ...

) - 3:00 UK 12" (12 CHS 2624, July 1982) #"War Child" (12" Mix) (Harry, Harrison) - 8:04 #"Little Caesar" (Harry, Stein) - 3:00

Chart positions

References

Blondie (band) songs 1982 singles Songs written by Debbie Harry Songs written by Nigel Harrison Song recordings produced by Mike Chapman Chrysalis Records singles 1982 songs {{1980s-rock-song-stub