Songfacts®:

• Frontman Gavin Rossdale was inspired to pen the politically charged song after seeing the violence that erupted during an August 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia:
  
  "Hatred and bigotry are the best friends of stupidity," Rossdale said. "The title isn't a call to arms, it's a call for humanity. It's actually an anti-war song - an observation of the times. The title is a reference to good versus evil. This is a time for inclusion, compassion and understanding. We need to stay strong."
• This wasn't on the original release of Black And White Rainbows. When Bush re-formed in 2010 after their 2002 breakup, they signed with Zuma Rock Records, which issued the album in March 2017. In October, the band signed with BMG in a deal that included Rossdale's publishing. They released a remastered version of the album, with "This Is War" added to the tracklist.
• Rossdale had a hard time expressing his thoughts in this song. "I found it really difficult as a songwriter because things that we can say in conversation that seem really logical and really insightful just don't sing well," he told Songfacts. "It doesn't sing well to hatred and bigotry. If I talk about that to you in regular speech, I can make perfect sense, and it sounds logical. So, that was a big challenge: how to turn it into something personal. And a plea - a call to arms and the call for peace. A call to not fight, and to say, 'Things have gotten so bad that it is a fight now. This is an untenable situation.'"