From an interview with Clash magazine:
“It’s about the start of self-conflict; inner conflict. It sums up the record and the start of the journey of ‘Ultra Mono’ perfectly”, he considers. “You’re unthinking, letting yourself go, it might sound silly and non-sensical, but it has the most purpose to...
[Intro]
Wa-ching
That's the sound of the sword goin' in
Clack-clack, clack-a-clang clang
That's the sound of the gun goin' bang-bang
Tukka-tuk, tuk, tuk, tuk-tukka
That's the sound of the drone button pusher
Shh, shh, shh
That's the sound of the children tooker
Ahh (Ahh), ahh (Ahh)
Ahhh (Ahh), ahh (Ahh)
[Chorus]
This means war, anti-war
War
This means war, anti-war
Anti-war
[Outro]
Send Sally to the sandbox, baby
Send Johnny into open fire
Send Sally to the sandbox, baby
We're gunnin' for the stone-faced liars
Send Johnny to the sandbox, baby
Send Sally into open fire
Send Johnny to the sandbox, baby
We're dyin' for the stone-faced liars
And we're all going straight to hell
War was written by Jon Beavis & Adam Devonshire & Lee Kiernan & Mark Bowen & Joe Talbot.
War was produced by Nick Launay & Adam “Atom” Greenspan.
It was the quickest thing we ever wrote. We got in a room together, I explained the concept, and we just wrote it. We played it—it wasn’t even a writing thing. And that is about as ultra mono as it gets. It had to be the first track because it is the explosion of not overthinking anything and being....