“Love Is a Battlefield” by Pat Benatar

This song is based on the singer (Pat Benatar) acknowledging that “love is a battlefield”. Or perhaps a simpler way of looking at this statement is that she understands that there is a very-strong potential for heartbreak in romance. And she drops this metaphor specifically within the context of being in love with her partner in what appears to be a troubled relationship. Or stated differently, he has given her ample reason to leave, if that was what she desired. However, she is deeply in love, indeed ‘chained to the side’ of this individual.

But that being said, the second verse reveals that she clearly has reservations about giving her heart fully to him. That is she does not want to make herself more vulnerable emotionally without first ascertaining just how committed he is to their union.

So conclusively we can say that whereas the singer is indeed “young”, she is also experienced enough to know that romantic relationship aren’t easy.  Indeed the one that she’s currently in has its fair share of issues. And she doesn’t want to put too many demands on her partner, i.e. stress on their association. But at the same time, her realization that “love is a battlefield” also makes her weary to just giving her love away freely to a partner who may not reciprocate it.

Music Video

The cinematic music video to “Love Is a Battlefield”, which featured the 30-year old singer taking on the role of a teenage runaway, was directed by Bob Giraldi. It went on to earn Pat Benatar an MTV VMA nomination in 1984 for the first ever Best Female Video award they issued.

Facts about “Love Is a Battlefield”

The writers of this song are Mike Chapman, Holly Knight and the tune’s two producers, Peter Coleman and Neil Giraldo (Pat Benatar’s husband).

At first H. Knight and M. Chapman were not impressed with what Pat Benatar and co. decided to do with the song, as they envisioned it to be more of a slow ballad. In fact according to N. Giraldo, they even tried to take “Love Is a Battlefield” back. However, as time progressed (and the song blew up) they came to appreciate Pat and the producers uptempo, “very-good rendering of it”.

This song was released on 12 September 1983 as the lead and only single from Pat’s album, “Live from Earth”. And although the album is by and large a live one, “Love Is a Battlefield” is one of two studio songs featured on the project.

This track proved to be quite successful, exceeding one-million sales and topping the charts in Australia, Belgium, the Netherlands and on Billboard’s US Mainstream Rock listing. It also managed to reach number 5 on the Hot 100 itself.

Covers of “Love Is a Battlefield”

Artists who are known to have covered this song throughout the years are numerous. Some of the really popular ones include:

• Carrie Underwood (2005)
• Cee Lo Green (2011)
• The cast of “Glee” (2014)

Meg Griffin sings “Love Is A Battlefield”

The character Meg Griffin from the famous animated TV show “Family Guy” iconically performed this song in a 2009 episode. The said episode, which is titled “Spies Reminiscent of Us”, is derived from the eighth season. At some point in that episode, Meg can be seen passionately singing “Love Is A Battlefield” in Russian while dancing.

Her performance was so phenomenal fans were left amazed. Many even expressed a desire to hear a full version of the song in Russian sung by none other than Meg!

NOTE:

Mila Kunis (who voices Meg) is actually fluent in Russian. However, she wasn’t the one who sang “Love is a Battlefield” in the episode. The real singer is American singer/voice actress, Rachael MacFarlane.