• Writers: Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong
• Producers: Bruce Springsteen, Jon Landau, and Chuck Plotkin
• Recorded: September 30th, 1985, at the Los Angeles Coliseum
• Released: November 10th, 1986
• Players:
  Bruce Springsteen — vocals
  Nils Lofgren — guitar, vocals
  Clarence Clemons — vocals, percussion
  Garry Tallent — bass
  Roy Bittan — keyboards
  Danny Federici — keyboards
  Patti Scialfa — vocals
  Max Weinberg — drums
• Albums: Live/1975-85 (Columbia, 1986)
• Bruce Springsteen‘s rendition of this Motown anti-war protest song — a Number One hit for Edwin Starr in the summer of 1970 — was the first single from the Live/1975-85 box set. It reached Number Eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and Number 18 in the U.K.
• Springsteen, who was staunchly critical of the government of then-President Ronald Reagan, added the song to some of his shows on the final North American leg of his marathon 1984-85 Born In The USA tour.
• “War” was one of four songs on a cassette that manager Jon Landau presented to Springsteen to encourage him to consider releasing on a live album, which the much-bootlegged Springsteen had long resisted.
• Overseas, the “War” single also included a 10-minute live rendition of “Incident On 57th Street,” a favorite of longtime fans that was not included on the album.
• Compiled from 21 concerts, Live/1975-85 debuted at Number One on the Billboard 200 and reached Number Four on the U.K. chart.
• It’s gone on to sell over three million copies.

FAST FORWARD:

• Springsteen dismissed the E Street Band in 1989, reunited with them briefly in 1995, and did world tours with them in 1999-2000 and 2002-2003.
• Weinberg has a steady job for the downtime between projects with Springsteen — he’s the leader of the Max Weinberg 7, the house band for NBC’s Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
• Springsteen was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999.