Original 1984 Mixes
The track featured actor Patrick Allen, who recreated his narration from the Protect and Survive public information films for certain 12-inch mixes (the original Protect and Survive soundtracks were sampled for the 7-inch mixes).
The 12-inch A- and B-sides also ostensibly featured voice parts by Reagan, as played by actor Chris Barrie, who also voiced the character on Spitting Image. Barrie would return for the band's next single, "The Power of Love", imitating Mike Read in a parody of the DJ's banning of their previous single, "Relax".
The standard 7-inch mix (by the name of "Cowboys & Indians") featured a pop/radio-oriented production that dispensed with a section of the song's middle eight altogether.
A significantly different guitar-driven "We Don't Want To Die" mix appeared, with complete middle eight, on the limited edition 7-inch picture disc.
The first 12-inch mix ("Annihilation") started with an air-raid siren, and unfolded as a ground-breaking extended deconstruction and reinvention of the basic track, including Allen's starkest advice about how to tag and dispose of family members should they die in the fallout shelter (taken from the public information film Casualties).
The "Carnage" mix was, by comparison, altogether more conventional, featuring enhanced string treatments, a percussive midpoint flurry of vocal samples (from Allen and the group's B-side interview), but broadly following the prevailing instrumental-vocal 12-inch structural paradigm. The eventual album version ("For The Victims Of Ravishment") would derive from the "Carnage" mix.
The "Hibakusha" mix was originally released in a very limited edition, and appears on the Japanese-only Bang! album from 1985. This mix was musically based on the "Annihilation" mix, but with a unique middle section comprising orchestral samples and percussive breaks that have much in common with the work of fellow ZTT act Art of Noise.
Apart from these five original single mixes ("Cowboys & Indians", "We Don't Want To Die", "Annihilation", "Carnage", "Hibakusha"), there was also the version which appeared on the LP and cassette editions of the album Welcome To The Pleasuredome. This version was shorter than any of the other versions at only 3 minutes, 27 seconds and went by the name "For The Victims Of Ravishment". CD editions of the album contained the "Annihilation" version.
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