"It's a symphony alright - a 2AM harmony. I don't know if it's the lull before the storm or calmness after the deluge. One lover speaks - the other is much too tired of the world outside - she will never understand - prefering to listen only to these quiet words."

"HOW COME then - so much grace in a place so brutal! Conflict outside and the wars inside ourselves. It's no requiem, although definintely something is dying - and it is true that no matter what or who survives such drama - nothing can ever be quite the same."

"Lovewars! Phantoms and shrapnel everywhere. Where can they go?"

Jim
e-mail
11th March 1998

"War Babies came from a remix that Tim Simenon did of Hypnotised from the last album. There was a seed in the remix that we felt should be enhanced, and it became War Babies." - Neapolis Press Release

The song was origianally called War Baby. It kept this title throughout the recording process, even being called War Baby on the master.

"I mean, you could say it had a very lonely melody in it, there was also something uplifting about it as well but there's something naive in the melody to me, something classical. And I suppose it's not a war in a sense of Bosnia or wherever, it's more sort of emotional warfare and yeah, I could see it as a relationship song... there was something also intimate about it and it was my job to come up with a dialogue between whatever characters would be in this particular scenario, I mean, I also felt in this record... it was less of a rock record and more, I think the music had more cinema to it and if you were to say... to work in the movies it seemed like some of the songs appear to me like that don't really begin and end, it's almost like you're seeing part of a film you see part of a scenario - you don't know how it ends up - you don't know what led the characters to be this way but you're maybe grabbing just one scene and it just seemed to emerge this way." - Jim, Interview Transcription

"War Babies is a story of a torn family say. You know, a kid in the middle of a broken relationship." - Charlie, Glitterball EPK

It was one of the songs first mixed at Olympic in May 1997. Like all the Olympic mixes, it resembled three songs being played at once, drowned in synths and noise. The structure of the chorus was still uncertain, and it was in this guise that the song first appeared live during the 1997 Festival Tour.

Q: Could War Babies be read as an anti-war statement?
Q: It's not about war between nations. Probably more the fallout, that's like a war, between people, when communication breaks down. Emotional warfare.

Jim
VOX Interview
April 1998

Considered the most commercial song on the album with most chart potential, War Babies was held back and issued as the second, follow-up single to Glitterball. Unfortunately given the luke-warm reception of both the preceeding single and album, the War Babies single flopped, and was the last Simple Minds release on Chrysalis.

The band put together their own single edit, but Dave Bascombe was asked to remix the song for radio and video in November 1997. Johnson Somerset, a longtime fan of the band, delivered several extended remixes in March 1998, which held true to the old concept of the 1980s extended remix and not a stripped down 1990s reduction - and this is held up as the best remix during the Neapolis period.

The video was shot in South Africa and featured Jim and Charlie on a walkabout.

Despite being only a minor hit, the song became a live favourite, and was featured during several tours, most notably the band's Celebrate: Greatest Hits + of 2013-2014. Feeling that the song had now found its way, it was re-recorded as a 'band' version (with Mel Gaynor, Ged Grimes and Andy Gillespie) at the Grouse Lodge sessions for Big Music. This 'new' version of the song has yet to be released.

See the white clouds roll in. Spirits lying next to me. Catch the wildflower falling. It's the wound that never bleeds. Hear the sirens calling. Spinning out their show. Hold the moment close to me. Take it down to slow. Be mine, be mine, war babies. Be mine, be mine, war babies. Can you still keep going? Shattered pieces left inside. To face the final, knowing, That there's somethings you can't hide. Be mine, be mine, war babies. Be mine, be mine, war babies. So will the force let go? Or will the phantoms stay? Let the foreteller be your sight, It feels like something's happening today. Some shame's like no other. And nothing feels the same. Nothing feels the same. War babies. Be mine, be mine, war babies. Nothing feels the same. War babies. War babies. Nothing feels the same. Be mine. Be mine. War babies.

Edit (4:24) Produced by: Charlie Burchill and Pete Walsh Engineeed by: Pete Walsh Mixed by: Simple Minds and Pete Walsh
Bascombe Mix Single Version (4:19) Produced by: Charlie Burchill and Pete Walsh Engineeed by: Pete Walsh Mixed by: Dave Bascombe
Bascombe Mix Full Length Version (4:43) Produced by: Charlie Burchill and Pete Walsh Engineeed by: Pete Walsh Mixed by: Dave Bascombe
Album Version (5:03) Produced by: Charlie Burchill and Pete Walsh Engineeed by: Pete Walsh
Johnson Somerset Extended Mix (7:51) Produced by: Charlie Burchill and Pete Walsh Remixed by: Johnson Somerset Mix engineer: Ben 'Nurofen' Jones Programming by: Rich B & Dave Holmes
Johnson Somerset Desert Dub Remix (7:17) Produced by: Charlie Burchill and Pete Walsh Remixed by: Johnson Somerset Mix engineer: Ben 'Nurofen' Jones Programming by: Rich B & Dave Holmes
Live Version (29th March 2013) (5:23) Recorded: Sands Centre, Carlisle, UK Mixed By Concert Live Remastered By Derrick Carter
Live Version (6th April 2013) (5:06) Recorded: Civic Hall, Wolverhampton, UK Mixed By Concert Live Remastered By Derrick Carter
Live Version (15th April 2013) (5:03) Recorded: O2 Academy, Bournemouth, UK Mixed By Concert Live Remastered By Derrick Carter
Live Version (26th January 2014) (5:05) Recorded: Palladium, Riga, Latvia Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (27th January 2014) (5:05) Recorded: Circus, Helsinki, Finland Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (29th January 2014) (5:10) Recorded: Circus, Stockholm, Sweden Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (30th January 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (3rd February 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Docks, Hamburg, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (16th February 2014) (5:10) Recorded: Capitol, Hannover, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (18th February 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Phönixhalle, Mainz, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (23rd February 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Stadthalle, Singen, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (25th February 2014) (5:08) Recorded: Alcatraz, Milan, Italy Mixed By Bleecker Street

Live Version (26th January 2014) (5:05) Recorded: Palladium, Riga, Latvia Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (27th January 2014) (5:05) Recorded: Circus, Helsinki, Finland Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (29th January 2014) (5:10) Recorded: Circus, Stockholm, Sweden Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (30th January 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Sentrum Scene, Oslo, Norway Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (3rd February 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Docks, Hamburg, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (16th February 2014) (5:10) Recorded: Capitol, Hannover, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (18th February 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Phönixhalle, Mainz, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (23rd February 2014) (5:06) Recorded: Stadthalle, Singen, Germany Mixed By Bleecker Street
Live Version (25th February 2014) (5:08) Recorded: Alcatraz, Milan, Italy Mixed By Bleecker Street

Bascombe Mix Single Version (4:03) Produced by: Charlie Burchill and Pete Walsh Engineeed by: Pete Walsh Mixed by: Dave Bascombe