When the War Is Over

"When the War Is Over" is a rock ballad originally performed by Australian band Cold Chisel on their 1982 album Circus Animals. The song was written by drummer Steve Prestwich and issued as the third single from the album, peaking at #25 on the national singles chart. Like many of the songs from that album that were deliberately written to be as different in style as possible from those on the pop-laced East that had preceded it, "When the War is Over" has a distinctly odd structure. The chorus is repeated at the beginning and end of the song, with the verses in the middle. It also deviates from traditional songwriting by featuring the instrumental break and guitar solo between the first and second verse, instead of the more usual arrangement between the second and third. Guitarist Ian Moss sings lead vocal on the first two verses, with the band's regular lead vocalist Jimmy Barnes singing the third, which rises to a crescendo before returning to the quiet, melodic refrain from the beginning of the song, underlined by more soloing from Moss. Despite this unusual arrangement, "When the War is Over" has become one of Cold Chisel's most popular songs and the one that has been covered by more artists than any other. At least five other versions of the song have been recorded, one of which attained #1 on the Australian music chart.

1 Cosima DeVito's version
2 Other versions
3 Track listing
4 Charts

[edit] Cosima DeVito's version

Former Australian Idol contestant Cosima De Vito released a version of the song as a double A-side with the track "One Night Without You" in August 2004. She had previously performed the song on the Australian Made episode of the program.

De Vito's version presented an acoustic-guitar and string driven theme as opposed to the strong guitar and drums of the original. This was a more adult contemporary take on the song and resulted in very limited airplay on mainstream radio stations. Despite this, it managed become the first independently recorded and released single to debut at #1 on the ARIA Singles Chart and was also the best selling independent Australian single for 2004. The release stayed in the Top 5 for over a month and was certified platinum for shipments of over 70,000 units.

[edit] Other versions

"When the War is Over" appears on No Reins, the 1986 album by Little River Band, featuring Prestwich on drums and John Farnham on vocals. Farnham recorded the track a second time as a bonus for the re-release of his 1990 album Age of Reason.

British hard rock band Uriah Heep recorded a version of the song for their seventeenth studio album Raging Silence.

Something for Kate covered "When the War is Over" on the 2007 tribute album Standing on the Outside: The Songs of Cold Chisel.

[edit] Track listing

Cosima CD single

"When the War Is Over"
"One Night Without You"
"When the War Is Over" (acoustic version)
"One Night Without You" (extended mix)

[edit] Charts

Chart (1982) ¹	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	25
Chart (2004) ²	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	1

¹ Cold Chisel.
² Cosima.

Preceded by "Scar" by Missy Higgins	ARIA (Australia) number-one single August 15, 2004 — August 22, 2004	Succeeded by "My Place"/"Flap Your Wings" by Nelly

v • d • e Cold Chisel

Jimmy Barnes \| Don Walker \| Ian Moss \| Steve Prestwich \| Phil Small

Former members	Ray Arnott \| Les Kaczmarek

Albums	Cold Chisel \| Breakfast at Sweethearts \| East \| Swingshift \| Circus Animals \| Twentieth Century \| Barking Spiders Live: 1983 \| Last Stand \| Teenage Love \| The Last Wave of Summer \| Ringside

Compilations	Radio Songs: A Best of \| Razor Songs \| Chisel

EPs	You're Thirteen, You're Beautiful, and You're Mine

Songs	Khe Sanh \| My Baby \| You Got Nothing I Want \| When the War Is Over \| Saturday Night \| Flame Trees

DVDs	Last Stand \| Vision \| Ringside... The Movie \| Rockpalast

Articles	Standing on the Outside: The Songs of Cold Chisel \| Australian rock