Comparative Study: Exploring the Protest Themes in Biko and War Songs

This essay provides a detailed comparison and contrast of two protest songs: 'Biko' by Peter Gabriel and 'War' by Edwin Starr. 'Biko' is a eulogy dedicated to the anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko, while 'War' protests the Vietnam War. The essay analyzes the songs' historical contexts, musical styles, and lyrical content, highlighting their distinct approaches to protest. It explores the use of African words in 'Biko' and the intense, soulful delivery of 'War'. The essay emphasizes the common message of urging people to reject wars and embrace peace, despite the different timings and subject matters. The conclusion summarizes the songs' shared goal of protesting the damage caused by war and promoting a peaceful attitude towards life.

Running head: COMPARISON BETWEEN “BIKO” AND “WAR”
Comparison Between “Biko” and “War”
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Author Note

1COMPARISON BETWEEN SONGS “BIKO” AND “WAR”
“ Biko” is a protest song belonging to the anti-apartheid genre, which is sung by
English musician Peter Gabriel. The song is a eulogy dedicated to the South-African anti-
apartheid leader Steve Ditko. The song was positive received by the lovers of the music
owing to the subject matter of the song. It is also known as the one of the most significant
non-South- African anti-apartheid protest song to be ever sung by the singer Peter Gabriel.
Similarly, War by Edwin Starr is a song that was sung by Edwin Starr that was a song which
was sung in protest of the war as part of the Whitfield Production, with the use of electric
guitar. The song became one of the hits of the year upon its release and attained No.1 position
in the Billboard Position Pop Singles chart for three weeks.
The purpose of this essay is to provide a detailed comparison and contrast of the
two songs “Biko” sung by Peter Gabriel and “War” sung by Edwin Starr and to find
these two songs are different from each other in various respects.
Before comparing these two songs with each other, it is important to analyse these
two songs so that the reader gets to understand what these two songs are about. The first song
is “Biko” sung by English rock musician Peter Gabriel. The song is sung as a protest to the
death of anti-apartheid protest leader Steve Ditko under police custody in the year 1977.
Musician Peter Gabriel began researching on the life and the activities of Steve Ditko, which
ultimately led him to find out more information on the life of the man. The song is also
known for having a strong political impact for protesting the anti-apartheid movement in
South Africa, where the song was banned as the Government saw it as a threat to the security
of the country. Hence, it still remains one of the most significant anti-apartheid songs of all
time (Pedelty, 160).
Similarly, War is another important song that is sung by singer Edwin Starr as a
protest the Vietnam War. Originally a song sung by the artists Norman Whittfield and

2COMPARISON BETWEEN SONGS “BIKO” AND “WAR”
Barrett Strong for the Motown Label in the year 1969, Edwin Starr was asked to re-record the
song in his voice by Whittfield after he received repeated requests to release the song as a
single. The version that was sung by Edwin Starr became the most popular version of the
song. The song is known for its electric guitar lines, clavinets as well as the song that is
accented by a horn section. After the song’s release in the year 1970, the song became one of
the biggest hits of the year and it achieved the No.1 position in the Billboard Pop Singles for
a total of three weeks.
As stated by Charles (118) similarly, both the songs also have elements that are
different from each other. Firstly, it is the timings of the songs. Edwin Starr’s “War”
predates that of Peter Gabriel’s “Biko”. Secondly is the musical style of both the songs in the
way that they are sung. Biko can be realized as the song that is defiant as it criticizes the
actions of the whites in Africa with the mention of the “Police Room 619” where Biko was
beaten by the authorities. In contrast to this, the Edwin Starr, version of War is known for its
use of electric guitar lines, clavinets as well as the heavily syncopated rhythm. Moreover, the
version of War that was sung by Edwin Starr was intense and soulful which tells the listeners
about the anger and the disagreement as well as the distaste against the killings in the
Vietnam War during those times. Moreover, the subject matter of the songs are also different
from each other. Biko’s subject matter was focused on the subject matter of the protest
against the apartheid killing of Steve Biko in Africa while War focuses on the death and the
destruction of the war in Vietnam (Pedelty, 50).
More comparisons can be found between the two songs in the use of the words used
by the singer in both the songs. This is evidenced by the English singer Peter Gabriel using
African words in the song Biko. As stated by Drewett (100), the African words have been
used in such a manner that the people of Africa relate to the song better and it feels closer to
their heart. Starr also protests against the war in the song with the help of the lyrics like “they

3COMPARISON BETWEEN SONGS “BIKO” AND “WAR”
say we must fight to keep our freedom” while also looking for a solution as an alternative to
the horrors of war. The singer had used his general dislike against the war as the basis for the
song, the same thing that singer Peter Gabriel did for Biko, as a form of protest against the
practice of apartheid in Africa. In general, both the songs have been using rhetorics which
implies to the listeners about the message that the main causes which started those two
conflicts are still present in the modern world even though the conflicts have been long over
(Charles, 119). Therefore, the main comparison between the songs is that although the
timings and the topics of the song are different from each other, they still present the same
message of urging the people to say to no to wars of any kind and to live peacefully among
each other without any forms of racisms or discrimination with each other.
From the above discussions, it can be concluded that the songs Biko by Peter Gabriel
as well as the song War by Edwin Starr are indeed two of the best songs about the protest the
subject matter of war. Through these songs, the singers have urged the listeners to say no to
the wars and instead live peacefully with each other. Therefore, it can be said that the both
the songs “Biko” by Peter Gabriel as well as “War” by Edwin Starr are songs both of which
protest the damage and the destruction caused by the war due to apartheid or any other
reasons and calls for a peaceful attitude towards life in general.

4COMPARISON BETWEEN SONGS “BIKO” AND “WAR”
Reference List
CHARLES, D. "War! What is it Good For?: Black Freedom Struggles & the US Military
from World War II to Iraq." (2013): 117-119.
Drewett, Michael. "The Eyes of the World Are Watching Now: The Political Effectiveness of
‘Biko’by Peter Gabriel 1." Peter Gabriel, From Genesis to Growing Up. Routledge,
2017. 99-112.
Martinelli, Dario. "Songs of Social Protest and Music." Give Peace a Chant. Springer, Cham,
2017. 53-67.
Pedelty, Mark. "Peter Gabriel: The masked activist." Political rock. Routledge, 2016. 49-61.