After the break-up of his band Sector 27, Robinson was "massively in debt, particularly with the British tax authorities",[1] was "technically bankrupt",[2] and depressed, so in 1982 he went to stay with a friend in Hamburg, Germany.

[3] Robinson describes writing the song, whilst stoned, after a bad experience at a gay sauna, he "...wrote straight down 'only the very young and the very beautiful can be so aloof.'

'"[4] He returned to the UK, recorded and released the song, promoted it in a series of late night cabaret performances at the Edinburgh Fringe[2] and, once it had charted, appeared on Top of the Pops.

[5] "War Baby" was released as a single (Cat No Panic Records 2) on 4 June 1983, peaking at No.

6 spot was just short of the achievement of his 1977 single "2-4-6-8 Motorway" with the Tom Robinson Band, which reached No.

"[1] Robert Christgau described it as "a wrenching triumph",[8] whilst Adam Smith said "War Baby, with its cryptic, elliptical lyrics, could have been written in 1974, 1984, 1994, or just about any time.