Requiem for A Private War

Album: A Private War (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) (2018)
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • Annie Lennox wrote this song for the end credits of the movie A Private War, which is based on the life of the late foreign affairs correspondent Marie Colvin. It was the first new song the Eurythmics frontwoman had written since she penned "Universal Child" for her 2010 festive album, A Christmas Cornucopia.
  • When director Matthew Heineman asked Annie Lennox to contribute a song to A Private War, she was initially hesitant as she didn't feel she could write anymore. However, Lennox decided she wanted to give it a try and she was pleased with the results.

    "Normally I'm really, really critical of my performances or my recordings," she told Entertainment Weekly. "I don't want to be in any way sentimental about any of this, but if Marie were here, I feel that she would feel that this was worthy of her."
  • Lennox only got to see A Private War after she wrote the song, but was struck by a strange coincidence. The first word in the beginning of the song is "why" and one of the last things that Marie Colvin says in the movie is "Why? Why?" "It's uncanny," she said.

    Perhaps Lennox just likes that word.
  • "Requiem for A Private War" has a lot to live up to. The previous end-credits movie song Lennox did was "Into The West" for 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the Kin. She won both a Golden Globe and an Oscar for that one.
  • The song is the last thing the cinema-goer hears after watching Marie Colvin go to hell and back multiple times throughout the film. Lennox realized that by this stage the viewer is in an emotional place, "feeling raw and gutted" and she wanted to write something to comfort them before they return to the real world. She told Billboard her intention was to "cradle and hold the emotion of the audience as they're preparing to get their coats on, stand up, gather themselves together before they step out into the street."

    Lennox added: "That's a beautiful purpose of the song - it gives [people] a moment to reflect on what they've seen."

Comments

Be the first to comment...

Editor's Picks

Gary Brooker of Procol Harum

Gary Brooker of Procol HarumSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer and pianist for Procol Harum, Gary talks about finding the musical ideas to match the words.

Don Felder

Don FelderSongwriter Interviews

Don breaks down "Hotel California" and other songs he wrote as a member of the Eagles. Now we know where the "warm smell of colitas" came from.

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"

Allen Toussaint - "Southern Nights"They're Playing My Song

A song he wrote and recorded from "sheer spiritual inspiration," Allen's didn't think "Southern Nights" had hit potential until Glen Campbell took it to #1 two years later.

Donnie Iris (Ah! Leah!, The Rapper)

Donnie Iris (Ah! Leah!, The Rapper)Songwriter Interviews

Before "Rap" was a form of music, it was something guys did to pick up girls in nightclubs. Donnie talks about "The Rapper" and reveals the identity of Leah.

Al Kooper

Al KooperSongwriter Interviews

Kooper produced Lynyrd Skynyrd, played with Dylan and the Stones, and formed BS&T.

Emilio Castillo from Tower of Power

Emilio Castillo from Tower of PowerSongwriter Interviews

Emilio talks about what it's like to write and perform with the Tower of Power horns, and why every struggling band should have a friend like Huey Lewis.