End of War

The idea for this song came about after reading Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax to my son and wishing the story offered a more hopeful lesson than the “if only” written on the rock at the end. Around the same time, I was watching Ken Burns and Lynn Novick’s seven-part PBS documentary, “The War.” The film’s personal narratives moved me deeply and left me astonished at the senseless destruction of so many lives. I imagined how wonderful it would be if I could respond to my son’s questions about war by explaining that it was a terrible thing of the past rather than something my own country was waging in a growing number of places. With all this fresh in my consciousness, I somehow arrived at three chords that were hopeful and uplifting, and I found myself singing “the end of war” as I played them.

In writing the song, I couldn’t help but be influenced by John Lennon, to whom I pay tribute in the second verse. The superb arranger I worked with, Doug Emery embraced the song’s 1960s folk anthem tendencies and I am pleased with the George Martin-esque orchestration he brought in. The truth is, I’ve been known to say I was raised by the Beatles, because their songs had such a positive influence on my childhood. The final chorus of my song, of course, invokes John Lennon and Yoko Ono’s inspired WAR IS OVER (If You Want It) campaign directly. The way I see it, if there was ever a time for all of us to wake up to what John and Yoko realized over 40 years ago, it is now.


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