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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1811604936_u2_war_answer_3_xlarge_2906.png]]
2[[caption-width-right:350: ''Say it's true, it's true, and we can break through\
3Though torn in two, we can be one.'']]
4->''I can't believe the news today\
5Oh, I can't close my eyes and make it go away\
6How long, how long must we sing this song?\
7How long? How long?\
8'Cause tonight we can be as one, tonight\
9\
10Broken bottles under children's feet\
11Bodies strewn across the dead end streets\
12But I won't heed the battle call\
13It puts my back up, puts my back up against the wall''
14-->--'''"Sunday Bloody Sunday"'''
15
16''War'' is the third studio album recorded by Irish rock band Music/{{U2}}. It was released through Island Records on 28 February 1983.
17
18At the time it surprised many for being a NewSoundAlbum where the band [[GrowingTheBeard grew the beard]] as songwriters. Many songs were very political, and directly referred to [[UsefulNotes/TheTroubles the civil war in Northern Ireland]].
19
20Commercially, ''War'' went double-Platinum in the United Kingdom, and quadruple-Platinum in the United States, selling 11 million copies worldwide. When it became U2's first #1 album on the Official Charts Company album chart in the UK, it toppled Music/MichaelJackson's ''Music/{{Thriller}}''. It peaked at #12 on the Billboard 200 album chart.
21
22The album spawned three singles: "New Year's Day", "Two Hearts Beat as One", and "Sunday Bloody Sunday". The first two each peaked at #2 in Ireland, their highest showing yet in their home country, and were Top 20 hits in the UK (#10 and #18, respectively).
23
24Not to be confused with [[Music/WarBand the band of the same name]], or the 1970 song of the same name by Music/TheTemptations.
25
26----
27!! Tracklist:
28
29[[AC: Side One]]
30
31# "Sunday Bloody Sunday" (4:38)
32# "Seconds" (3:09)
33# "New Year's Day" (5:38)
34# "Like a Song..." (4:48)
35# "Drowning Man" (4:12)
36
37[[AC: Side Two]]
38
39# "The Refugee" (3:40)
40# "Two Hearts Beat as One" (4:00)
41# "Red Light" (3:46)
42# "Surrender" (5:34)
43# "40" (2:36)
44
45----
46!!Principal Members:
47
48* Bono - lead vocals, guitar
49* Adam Clayton - bass
50* The Edge - guitar, backing and lead vocals, piano, bass ("40")
51* Larry Mullen Jr. - drums
52
53----
54!!"I can't believe the tropes today":
55* AlbumTitleDrop: While the album's title is fitting, the word is only mentioned in a line in "The Refugee" (the plural form, "wars," is heard in "New Year's Day").
56* ApatheticCitizens: "Sunday, Bloody Sunday"
57--> ''And it's true we are immune''
58--> ''When fact is fiction and TV reality''
59--> ''And today the millions die''
60--> ''We eat and drink while tomorrow they die!''
61* ArcWords and BookEnds: Both the anti violence/war songs "Sunday Bloody Sunday" and "40" ask the question:
62--> ''How long must we sing this song?''
63* AsTheGoodBookSays: "40" has lyrics based on Psalm 40 of the Bible.
64--> ''I waited patiently for the Lord''
65--> ''He inclined and heard my cry''
66--> ''He brought me up out of the pit''
67--> ''Out of the miry clay''
68** "Drowning Man" quotes from [[https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Isaiah+40:31 Isaiah 40:31]].
69* AtomicHate: "Seconds".
70--> ''Push the button and pull the plug''
71--> ''Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh''
72--> ''Fall, rise and...Fall, rise and...''
73--> ''And they're doing the atomic bomb''
74--> ''Do they know where the dance comes from?''
75* BlackAndWhiteMorality: "Two Hearts Beat As One" attacks this mindset.
76--> ''I don't know''
77--> ''I don't know which side I'm on''
78--> ''I don't know my right from left''
79--> ''Or my right from wrong''
80--> ''Say I'm a fool''
81--> ''You say I'm not for you''
82--> ''But if I'm a fool for you''
83--> ''Oh, that's something''
84--> ''(...) I don't know''
85--> ''How to say what's got to be said''
86--> ''I don't know if it's black or white''
87--> ''There's others see it red''
88--> ''I don't get the answers right''
89--> ''I'll leave that to you''
90** "Like A Song..." attacks this even more pointedly (see the WarIsHell quote below).
91* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: "Surrender"
92--> ''Sadie said she couldn't work out''
93--> ''What it was all about''
94--> ''And so she let go''
95--> ''Now Sadie's on the street''
96--> ''And the people she meets you know''
97--> ''She tried to be a good girl and a good wife''
98--> ''Raise a good family''
99--> ''Lead a good life''
100--> ''It's not good enough''
101--> ''She got herself up on the 48th floor''
102--> ''Gotta find out''
103--> ''Find out what she's living for''
104* HeavyMeta: "Like a Song"
105-->''Like a song I have to sing\
106I sing it for you''
107* MusicAtSportingEvents: The UsefulNotes/{{Montreal}} Alouettes of the UsefulNotes/CanadianFootballLeague play "Sunday Bloody Sunday" before all Sunday home games. The Als do this as a tribute to the band's unintended role in franchise history. A [=U2=] concert at the team's then-current home of Stade Olympique forced them to move a 1997 playoff game to the smaller Stade Percival-Molson. A sellout crowd and a more intimate atmosphere led the Als to permanently move to Molson the next year (with occasional games at Olympique).
108* NewSoundAlbum: Compared to their earlier albums, this record was way more political and confrontational; musically, the songs incorporate aggressive drumbeats and distorted guitars.
109* NonAppearingTitle: "Drowning Man" and "40" (the latter being the number of the psalm it was based on).
110* OneManSong: "Drowning Man".
111* OneWordTitle: "War", but also the songs "Seconds" and "Surrender".
112* PepTalkSong: "New Year's Day", where the arrival of a new year is seen as a way to "begin again". "Drowning Man" also has an upbeat message
113--> ''Take my hand\
114You know I'll be there\
115If you can\
116I'll cross the sky for your love\
117Give you what I hold dear''
118* ThePowerOfLove: "Two Hearts Beat As One" and "Red Light".
119** Also "Drowning Man":
120--->''The storms will pass\
121It won't be long now\
122The storms will pass\
123But my love lasts forever''
124* ProtestSong: "Sunday Bloody Sunday" aimed at UsefulNotes/TheTroubles in Northern Ireland, directly referencing the bloodbath of January 30, 1972 in Derry, Northern Ireland when 26 civil rights protesters and bystanders were shot dead by British soldiers. "New Year's Day" was inspired by the Polish solidarity movement which came into blossom in 1980 and provided a stance against the communist government.
125* RealityIsUnrealistic: "Sunday Bloody Sunday"
126--> ''And it's true we are immune''
127--> ''When fact is fiction and TV reality''
128* RippedFromTheHeadlines:
129** This album directly references the civil war and religious wars that have divided Northern Ireland for decades. This was a very mature and commercially risky subject to tackle for a rock band, but U2 actually managed to get people talking about the subject. Yet, as Bono said himself on their LiveAlbum "Under A Blood Red Sky", before playing "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
130---> ''There's been a lot of talk about this next song, [[WhamLine maybe too much talk]].''
131** "New Year's Day" was inspired by the Polish anti-Soviet trade union Solidarity, which was a major focus of international coverage of the Eastern Bloc.
132* ShoutOut: "Seconds" contains a clip from the 1982 documentary "Soldier Girls".
133* SpecialGuest: The female singers from Music/KidCreoleAndTheCoconuts, best known for "Annie I'm Not Your Daddy", performed backing vocals on three of the tracks ("Like A Song", "Surrender", and "Red Light"), with their trumpet player (Kenny Fradley) appearing on the latter.
134* StepUpToTheMicrophone: The Edge sings the first two stanzas of "Seconds".
135* SurprisinglySuddenDeath: "Seconds", which deals with the fact that terrorism can strike anywhere at any time and anyone can die.
136--> ''Takes a second to say goodbye\
137Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh\
138It takes a second to say goodbye\
139Say goodbye, oh, oh, oh, say bye bye\
140Where you going to now?''
141* ThousandYardStare: The child on the album cover, who consequently was the brother of a friend of Bono.
142* TimeMarchesOn: "Seconds" mentions the USSR, which dissolved in 1991.
143* TitleOnlyChorus: "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Surrender" and "Two Hearts Beat as One."
144* WarIsHell: A huge theme
145** "Sunday Bloody Sunday".
146---> ''And the battle's just begun\
147There's many lost, but tell me who was won?\
148The trench is dug within our hearts\
149And mothers, children, brothers, sisters torn apart!''
150** "The Refugee""
151---> ''Her papa go to war\
152He gonna fight\
153But he don't know what for?''
154** "Like A Song"
155---> ''And we love to wear a badge, a uniform\
156And we love to fly a flag\
157But I won't...let others live in hell\
158As we divide against each other\
159And we fight amongst ourselves\
160Too set in our ways to try to rearrange\
161Too right to be wrong, in this rebel song''
162
163----
164->''How long, do we sing this song...?''\
165''How long, do we sing this song...?''\
166''How long, do we sing this song...?''

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