There Is a War

There Is a War - meaning Summary

Everyday Conflicts as War

Leonard Cohen frames ordinary social and intimate tensions as a persistent "war"—between rich and poor, man and woman, left and right—using a repeated refrain that urges return and engagement. The speaker shifts between domestic details and broad binaries, mixing personal confession with a civic summons. The poem collapses political conflict and private estrangement into one ongoing struggle and asks whether listeners will join, resist, or remain indifferent.

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There is a war between the rich and poor A war between the man and the woman There is a war between the ones who say there is a war And the ones who say that there isn't Why don't you come on back to the war, that's right, get in it Why don't you come on back to the war, it's just beginning Well I live here with a woman and a child The situation makes me kind of nervous Yes, I rise up from her arms, she says "I guess you call this love I call it service" Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be a tourist Why don't you come on back to the war, before it hurts us Why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get nervous You cannot stand what I've become You much prefer the gentleman I was before I was so easy to defeat, I was so easy to control I didn't even know there was a war Why don't you come on back to the war, don't be embarrassed Why don't you come on back to the war, you can still get married There is a war between the rich and poor A war between the man and the woman There is a war between the left and right A war between the black and white A war between the odd and the even Why don't you come on back to the war, pick up your tiny burden Why don't you come on back to the war, let's all get even Why don't you come on back to the war, can't you hear me speaking?