Songfacts®:

• All we will ever know
  Is bitter ends
  For we are born to war
  
  On "Warsong" Robert Smith explores the bitterness of human conflict and the cycle of pain and regret. He originally wrote the song about a specific person, someone he repeatedly clashed with and reconciled with over the years.
  
  The song didn't stay tethered to personal grievances for long. In a video interview Smith said that as he expanded its scope, "Warsong" became a commentary on the perpetual state of conflict that seems to define the human condition.
  
  "Sadly, as I've grown older, I've started to believe it more," he admitted, referring to the lyrics' bleak outlook.
  
  He spoke about how he was raised to believe in humanity's innate goodness, but has found that perspective increasingly hard to maintain. "People are just fighting each other for absolutely nothing," he said, almost as if he were simultaneously baffled and exhausted.
• "Warsong" is included on The Cure's 2024 album Songs of a Lost World. It's the band's first album since 1985's The Head on the Door in which every single track was composed solely by Smith.
• The song's brooding tone and atmospheric soundscape was praised by reviewers, but it almost didn't make the cut. Smith said the album was originally intended to be even darker. It was only after his wife, Mary Poole, gave it a listen and pronounced, "People won't listen to this," that some adjustments were made, adding "Warsong" and "Drone:Nodrone" to the record.
• At 4 minutes and 17 seconds, "Warsong" clocks in as the shortest track on the album - a minor anomaly in a collection of epics marked by lengthy intros and emotional crescendos. For perspective, it would have been the longest track on the band's 1979 debut, Three Imaginary Boys, an album filled with short post-punk vignettes. The difference highlights just how far The Cure has traveled stylistically.
• The inclusion of "Warsong" and "Endsong" on Songs of a Lost World invites comparisons to the pairing of "Plainsong" and "Lovesong" on Disintegration.
• Deftones frontman Chino Moreno did a remix of "Warsong" for The Cure's project Remixes Of A Lost World, which features reinterpretations of tracks from their 2024 album. Moreno's version reimagines the original with his signature atmospheric and moody style.
  
  "I chose 'Warsong' to remix as it's one of those slow-building, brooding musical pieces that have always drawn me into The Cure's music," Moreno said. "My idea with this remix was to strip it back slightly of its organic instrumentation and bring in ridged, mechanical percussion and some down-pitched vocals aimed to bring forth the cold/dystopic feel of the song while maintaining the core beauty of what existed."
  
  Moreno has long admired The Cure. He and Deftones have previously covered their work, and Robert Smith has collaborated with Moreno's side project Crosses.