Artist: The Cranberries
Released on: To The Faithful Departed (Track #5)
Duration: 3:50
LYRICS
Who will save the war child baby
Who controls the keys
The web we weave is thick and sordid
Fine by me
At times of war we’re all the losers, there’s no victory
We shoot to kill, and kill your lover
Fine by me
War child
Victim of political pride
Plant the seed, territorial greed
Mind the war child
We should mind the war child
I spent last winter in New York
And came upon a man
He was sleeping on the streets and homeless
He said ”I fought in Vietman”
Beneath his shirt he wore the mark
He bore the mark of pride
A two-inch deep incision carved, into his side
War child
Victim of political pride
Plant to seed, territorial greed
Mind the war child
We should mind the war child
Whose the loser now, eh?
Whose the loser now
We’re all the losers now
We’re all the losers now
War child, war child
CREDIT INFORMATION
- Music and Lyrics by Dolores O’Riordan
- Produced by Bruce Fairbairn and The Cranberries
- Engineered and Mixed by Mike Plotnikoff
- Recorded in November, December 1995 at Windmill Lane Studios in Dublin, Ireland
- Orchestration written and arranged by Michael Kamen
- Strings directed by Michael Kamen
- Published by Island Music Ltd
MEANING
- Dolores, “I love children and I received a letter from Brian Eno who asked me to design something for a War Child fashion show that didn’t happen, but I was moved by Bosnia and that morning in my hotel room I wrote the song in about 10 minutes – children suffer most of all whether it’s Bosnia or the Bogside. It’s sick. They’re so vulnerable.” (from an article written by Jayne Margetts, 1996)
NOTES
- In 1996, Dolores explained, “I received a letter from Brian Eno who asked me to design something for a War Child fashion show that didn’t happen.”
