Spotify

This song is an anti-war piece that highlights the brutality, moral dilemmas, and human cost of war. It tells multiple perspectives. First there is the soldier who is forced into combat, commits an atrocity, and then meets his own violent end. Then there is a civilian family which is suffering from the war’s consequences, with a young man drafted to fight. Thirdly it's a broader commentary on how war is glorified by propaganda ("Defend your country!") while the reality is tragic, with soldiers from opposing sides ultimately dying side by side. The song emphasizes how war dehumanizes individuals and leads to suffering for both combatants and civilians alike. The song aims to provoke thought about the senselessness of war and its devastating impact on people from all walks of life.

I've also written a short story to this song.

Here comes the man! Here comes the man!

Fighting in a war, he doesn’t understand

He sees a girl about twelve years old

So he shoots her head, she dies in the cold

He starts to cry: what has he done?

And he sees enemy troops, he starts to run

They fire their shots, they fire their guns

He falls to the floor and cries for his mum

This is war

This is

An old woman hides. An old woman hides

In a blacked out shelter, her grandsons by her side

Their parents had fought in the war and died

An eighteen-year-old brother, he had to conscribe

This is war

This is

Defend your country! Defend your country!

Loud messages of camaraderie

Heroes born out of blood

Yet they’ll feel misunderstood

Then two soldiers lie side by side

By two borders once divide’

This is war

This is

This is war

Is this?