War Baby (song)

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War Baby is a song by Tom Robinson, released as a single on June 4, 1983, from the album Hope and Glory. The B-side is Hell Yes. The track runs 3:59 and was issued by Panic Records. It was written by Tom Robinson and produced by Robinson and Dennis Weinreich. The single reached number 6 on the UK singles chart in June 1983 and stayed in the Top 40 for nine weeks; it also hit number 1 on the UK Indie chart for three weeks.

Robinson had been in debt after his band Sector 27 split up. He spent time in Hamburg, learned German, and played in East Berlin with NO 55. He wrote War Baby after a difficult experience at a gay sauna, drafting much of it in a stream-of-consciousness style. The lyrics are often read as about the divisions between East and West Germany, though Robinson says he can’t fully explain the meaning, only that it sounded right.

After returning to the UK, he promoted the song with late-night cabaret performances at the Edinburgh Fringe and later performed it on Top of the Pops when it charted. A video was released in 1983, directed by John Pearse. The song later appeared on the 1984 album Hope and Glory and helped revive Robinson’s career. He has called War Baby one of his proudest songs because of its honesty.

Critics praised the song; Robert Christgau described it as a wrenching triumph, and Adam Smith highlighted its timeless quality. The BBC briefly blacklisted the track during the first Gulf War, but it later featured on the Ashes to Ashes soundtrack. A 12" version exists, slower and stripped back, and both versions were included on the CD re-release War Baby: Hope and Glory (1984).

It was issued as a CD single in 1992 by Cooking Vinyl with extra tracks, including a live version of War Baby. The song has been covered by Big Wreck in 2014, and Robinson continued performing it into 2023.