The biggest hit in the career of Edwin Starr (1942-2003) was his protest song “War.” -- Written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong for the Motown label, it was originally sung by The Temptations, but they declined to release it as a single. -- Starr volunteered to record the song and gave it an angrier, more intense tone. -- Released in June 1970, weeks after Kent State, it was a runaway hit and spent three weeks at the #1 spot in August and September. -- In 1986, Bruce Springsteen released a version of the song as a single, which reached #8. -- The YouTube video below juxtaposes Starr’s classic 1970 version with images from Iraq....
