Released 4 September 1982 Genre Rock Writer(s) Pete Townshend | Recorded 1982 Length 5:46 | |
Label Polydor (UK)
Warner Bros. (U.S. original)
MCA (U.S. reissue) | ||
"I've Known No War" is a song by English rock band the Who, originally released on their 1982 album It's Hard. Written by Pete Townshend, the song reflects personal thoughts on the Cold War, and contains lyrics referring to the end of World War II:
Galbraith took his pen to break down the men of the German army defeated
On the nineteenth day of a spring day in May, Albert Speer was deleted
And as soon as the battle was over, I was born in victorious clover
And I've never been shot at or gassed never tortured or stabbed
And I'm sure - I'll never know war
Townshend felt confident about the song, even stating that he felt it was possibly one of the best tracks the Who ever did.
Parke Puterbaugh of Rolling Stone magazine stated that the song was the key to the album, as he wrote in his 1982 review of It's Hard:
'I've Known No War,' [is] a song that could become an anthem to our generation much the way 'Won't Get Fooled Again' did a decade ago. 'I've Known No War' is one conscientious objector's statement of defiant opposition, tempered by the realities of the present day. To wit, that a nuclear war, despite our best pacifistic inclinations, is in the hands of a few men who will simply decide to push a button, and that the ensuing annihilation will be sudden, certain and eternal.
Despite the review, it remains one of the lesser-known tracks in the band's discography.