“Masters of war” by Nobel Prize winner Bob Dylan

 

Thinking about protest songs there is one name that comes immediately to my mind. It is the man who talked Jesus with hitchhikers, sang to bewildered kindergartners, who boxed, but just wasn’t supposed to be punched and who once tried to get an HBO show. It is the man who won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, Bob Dylan. He is one of the main characters when it comes to influential protest songs of the second half of the 20^th century. With “Masters of war”, released in 1963 as part of his second studio album “The freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” Dylan wrote something that is more forthright and straight forward than everything he wrote before.

 

In a protest song like “Blowin’ in the wind” Dylan addresses open questions; he makes it look like he doesn’t know where the answers are or who’s to blame for all the suffering in the world. While in “Masters of war” he is very direct, he knows exactly who’s to blame.

 

The arrangement is “borrowed” from Jean Ritchie’s song “Nottamun Town”, something that was not uncommon at the time and Bob Dylan has done this more often, especially with his earlier songs. While the musical part might not be written by Bob Dylan himself, the words he put over it speak louder than ever.

 

The narrative text, that doesn’t have a clearly present refrain, is a protest against the cold war. It is a protest against the nuclear arms build-up, which happened in the early 1960’s. Bob Dylan wrote “Masters of war” late 1962 and early 1963 with it being released only a couple of months later. The cold war was a war that wasn’t really tangible or visible in the everyday life, but the “normal” people still suffered greatly during those years. However, Dylan took a different road while writing this song. He doesn’t talk about the obvious suffering, but directly addresses the ruling powers and the way in which they are the ones manufacturing international conflict and he doesn’t mince words while doing so. The first sentences make this very clear, he starts with the title of the song in singing “Come you masters of war”, after which he states all the awful things the ruling powers have built and are doing. Building the guns, the death planes, the big bombs all while hiding behind walls and desks.

 

Religion and faith have found a place in the song as well, and it opens a completely new dimension, it makes it even more powerful to me. “Like Judas of old you lie and deceive”, in gospel Judas is the apostle who betrayed Jesus just as these ruling powers are betraying the world. “That even Jesus would never forgive what you do” and “All the money you made will never buy back your soul” once again are religious reference. Faith can be a reassuring factor; people find strength and trust in believing in difficult times such as when there is war.

 

At first glance the song might seem an anti-war song through and through, but it is actually supposed to be a pacifistic song against war. This is also very fitting for the hippie movement that came up in the 1960s and 1970s, Bob Dylan himself was actually one of the definers of Hippiedom. Obviously, not everyone should be tarred with the same brush, however many hippies were also pacifists.

 

Ultimately “Masters of war” was written during and about the Vietnam war, but until this day it is seen as political relevant in many different situations. I would almost say that this is, unfortunately, a very timeless song. In this world we live in, there will always be ruling powers who will stop at nothing to make their vision into reality, who try to become better and better at all these cruel actions that are the reason behind the suffering and the deaths of so many innocent people.