It amazes me how Dylan becomes more and more relevant as time passes us by in a spell of violence, deception, grief, and pain...
I just read this poem again and again, and everytime I read it, I just wanted to up and shout, shout at the guy sitting next to me, shout at my building, shout at my city, shout at my country, but above all, and beyond all...shout at humanity.
Silence now...
With God on our Side
By Bob Dylan (1963)
Oh my name it is nothin'
My age it means less
The country I come from
Is called the Midwest
I's taught and brought up there
The laws to abide
And that land that I live in
Has God on its side.
Oh the history books tell it
They tell it so well
The cavalries charged
The Indians fell
The cavalries charged
The Indians died
Oh the country was young
With God on its side.
Oh the Spanish-American
War had its day
And the Civil War too
Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes
I's made to memorize
With guns in their hands
And God on their side.
Oh the First World War, boys
It closed out its fate
The reason for fighting
I never got straight
But I learned to accept it
Accept it with pride
For you don't count the dead
When God's on your side.
When the Second World War
Came to an end
We forgave the Germans
And we were friends
Though they murdered six million
In the ovens they fried
The Germans now too
Have God on their side.
I've learned to hate Russians
All through my whole life
If another war starts
It's them we must fight
To hate them and fear them
To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely
With God on my side.
But now we got weapons
Of the chemical dust
If fire them we're forced to
Then fire them we must
One push of the button
And a shot the world wide
And you never ask questions
When God's on your side.
In a many dark hour
I've been thinkin' about this
That Jesus Christ
Was betrayed by a kiss
But I can't think for you
You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.
So now as I'm leavin'
I'm weary as Hell
The confusion I'm feelin'
Ain't no tongue can tell
The words fill my head
And fall to the floor
If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
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2 comments:
I didn't know these lyrics, not knowing a lot about that generation of singers (I know their main songs, but often I don't know the lyrics because I was too small to know English then!), but you are right, aren't they just perfect for every single war fought in this world.
Everyone thinks God is on their side. On each side they have the arrogance to use God's name to justify their horrors. But God is the Father of all of us. Like a Father, He won't allow one child to kill the other... who among us would? And we are just human.
There are so many things that are said in the name of God that are just so absurd. That God would give a suicide bomber, a "martyr" I don't know how many virgins when he enters Heaven because of his bravery... one would like to know... is there sex in Heaven? And would that be Heaven for each one of the virgins? What kind of Heaven is this where women continue to be just a sex toy? And just one among 100?
Then, what kind of God would think that war justifies killing some civils, because it's just a side effect of a good cause? And how could God think that just because some people follow another path to reach Him, or that some of us didn't find the faith to believe in Him, maybe because we are not able to understand anything anymore, or just because we don't find the reason to, how could God be so cruel and send those to Hell. Shouldn't we be judged on our goodness, on our respect for others, on our Love for others?
I am sure that the only thing that matters to God is how good of a person we are.
J.
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