‘Love Is a Battlefield’ is a song by American singer Pat Benatar, recorded and released on September 12, 1983, as a single from Benatar's live album Live from Earth (1983), though the song itself was a studio recording. It was written by Holly Knight and Mike Chapman. The song was ranked at number 30 in VH1's list of the 100 Greatest Songs of the 1980s. ‘Love Is a Battlefield’ went on to sell over a million records. The single was Benatar's second US million-seller and is tied with ‘We Belong’ as her highest-charting single in the United States. It topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart for four weeks and peaked at number five on the Billboard Hot 100 in December 1983.
The song was written by Mike Chapman and Holly Knight. Chapman was an established songwriter and producer, while Knight was a former member of the band Spider and was just starting to write songs. In an interview with Holly Knight, she told the story: "I was at his house, I was just starting to write with him, and Pat Benatar called up and said, 'Mike, I would love for you to write me a song. I'm doing an album, will you write me a hit, please?' And he goes, 'Well, I'm here with one of my writers, Holly Knight, and we were just going to sit down and write. So we'll write something for you.' So he hung up, and I started playing the chords to 'Love Is A Battlefield.' He said, 'That's so great, I love that, keep doing that.' He says, 'Now, what we really need' – and this is something I learned from him - 'This song is very catchy, very commercial, let's write something really, really weird on top of it. That'll make it special. And it'll be that much better.' I said, 'Oh, I like it.' He says, 'We're going to write something really sick, like…' and he just spit out 'Love is a battlefield,' as an example. I said, 'Well, that works for me.' And we wrote that song. It was just like free association."
The single was unlike most of Benatar's previous work, as it featured an electronic dance element, but guitars and drums were still present. In 1984, the song won Benatar her fourth consecutive Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
The Bob Giraldi-directed music video features Benatar playing a rebellious teenage girl getting kicked out of her home. Her father berates her as her mother watches helplessly. Benatar waves goodbye to her brother, who watches sadly from an upstairs window. She later becomes a dancer at a seedy club in the city. When she witnesses the club owner harassing another dancer, Benatar rounds up her fellow dancers and leads a rebellion against him. The dancers get the upper hand on the club owner and escape from the club, dancing off as the sun rises. The final scene shows Benatar sitting in the back of a bus headed for parts unknown.
Label – Chrysalis
Songwriters – Mike Chapman, Holly Knight
Producers – Neil Giraldo, Peter Coleman
SONG LYRICS
[Intro](We are young) we are young
(Heartache to heartache) heartache to heartache
(We stand) we stand
(No promises) no promises
(No demands) no demands
(Love is a battlefield) love is a battlefield
[Chorus]
We are strong
No one can tell us we're wrong
Searching our hearts for so long
Both of us knowing
Love is a battlefield
[Verse 1]
You're begging me to go
Then making me stay
Why do you hurt me so bad?
It would help me to know
Do I stand in your way
Or am I the best thing you've had?
Believe me, believe me
I can't tell you why
But I'm trapped by your love
And I'm chained to your side
[Hook]
We are young
Heartache to heartache
We stand
No promises, no demands
Love is a battlefield
[Chorus]
We are strong
No one can tell us we're wrong
Searching our hearts for so long
Both of us knowing
Love is a battlefield
[Verse 2]
When I'm losing control
Will you turn me away
Or touch me deep inside?
And when all this gets old
Will it still feel the same?
There's no way this will die
But if we get much closer
I could lose control
And if your heart surrenders
You'll need me to hold
[Hook]
We are young
Heartache to heartache
We stand
No promises, no demands
Love is a battlefield
[Chorus]
We are strong
No one can tell us we're wrong
Searching our hearts for so long
Both of us knowing
Love is a battlefield
[Guitar Solo]
[Hook]
We are young
Heartache to heartache
We stand
No promises, no demands
Love is a battlefield
[Outro]
We are strong
No one can tell us we're wrong
Searching our hearts for so long
Both of us knowing