War (formerly known as "Not The Only Way") is a formerly unidentified post-punk song by Sydney based band Altar Ego, released in 1983 as a single with another song, "Sand".
Search History[]
The song was posted by YouTube user yhren on January 4th, 2025, The OP said:
- ”Back in 2019 I really wanted to make an obscure music compilation by downloading some music from obscure YT videos, cropping the downloaded file, and editing it in KineMaster. However, I didn't finish the project, and that project has been lost way long ago due to me deleting whatever in my files for storage."
The song would then be picked up by Jcorsen who reuploaded the song onto his channel on February 10th, 4 days later on February 14th, the song would be included the "Lostwave songs with music videos #3" video by ZapperRS. The song was the first song to play, playing at the 0:04 mark.
Ten days later on February 24th, 2025, user Solaris would identify the song as "War" by the Australian band Altar Ego, after running the thumbnail through Google Lens.
Lyrics[]
[Intro]
Hey, wake up!
[Verse 1]
Don't tell me that that's just the way things are
That there's so much hate and that's the way things are
My legs are shaking, my stomach's in shock
Cause I bought a paper and another two shots
[Verse 2]
One hundred thousand in a rally in Spain
They'll still join NATO, all the same
And yet again politicians promise to be strong
As if we didn't know it all along
[Pre-chorus]
No, it's never needed
It's not the only way
No, it's never needed
It's not the only way
[Chorus]
It's not needed, it doesn't help
I've lived enough and I do get out of my head
[Verse 3]
I feel numb and helpless, I cannot fake what's going wrong
I can't sing a love song
I can't work on melodies that speak of forevermore
I'm too frightened of what tomorrow's got in store
[Pre-chorus]
No, it's never needed
It's not the only way
No, it's is never needed
It's not the only way
[Chorus]
It's not needed, it doesn't help
I've lived enough and I do get out of my head
It's not needed, it doesn't help
I've lived enough and I do get out of my head
[Bridge]
I'm sick of drugs, the dead and the fear
I wanna scream out the words I hear
I'm sick of drugs, the dead and the fear
I wanna scream, I wanna scream out the words I hear!
[Pre-chorus]
War is never needed
It's not the only way
War is never needed
It's not the only way
[Chorus]
It's not needed, it doesn't help
I've lived enough and I do get out of my head
It's not needed, it doesn't help
I've lived enough and I do get out of my head
It's not needed, it doesn't help
I've lived enough and I do get out of my head
It's not needed, it doesn't help
I've lived enough and I do get out of my head
Altar Ego[]
Altar Ego was an Australian post-punk band active between 1983 and 1987.
The band consisted of members Tony Hill (vocals, guitar), Peter Morton, David Hill (bass), Peter Adams (drums) and Roshan Arulpragasam (keyboard).
During their career the band released three singles, "War" (1983), "Big Picture" and "Vancouver / She's An American" along with the EP "Altar Ego" (1984).
Their song Maybe was featured on the compilation album The Nine O'Clock Muse, produced and released by Triple J.
Some of the members remained active after the band split up. Bassist Peter Morton produced the album Towers by John Hudson.
Today, Roshan Arulpragasam works as a director, having received awards for some of her films. Example:
- This Is for Us (2018)
- Made For This (2018)
- I Want To Do It (2019)
- SMORGASBORD (2020)
EP's tracklist[]
- Altar Ego
- War
- 1980's Civilisation
- Unfinished Business
Gallery[]
