[1806] With God on our Side
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.
-- Bob Dylan
|
(from the album The Times they are a-changin')
Reading the Star Spangled Banner [Poem #1730] on Minstrels made me think of
another song - one that does more justice, IMHO, to the 'glorious' history
of the United States. It's a song that's probably more chillingly apt today
than it was in 1963, when it was first written, if only because of the
increasing frequency with which religion is being invoked to justify acts of
mindless violence against other human beings. I, personally have no use for
religion, but I see how it can be a powerful force to unite and motivate
great masses of people - that it should be used for this purpose by evil,
power hungry men is at once one of the greatest ironies and one of the
greatest tragedies of our time.
'With God on our Side' is a wonderful illustration of the way that a
lifetime of indoctrination can make otherwise decent, clear-thinking people
support the most henious crimes against humanity in the name of some
imagined God. Dylan attacks the propaganda of God with conscious irony,
exposing again and again the hypocrisy that lies at the heart of much of the
history that a nation prides itself on. Going sequentially through war after
war in US History [1], Dylan, shows us the terrible pointlessness and waste
of war, forcing you to ask the question: Was it worth it? There are some
truly memorable lines here, and the conscious caricatures of the
justifications given for war would be hilarious if they were not both
incredibly tragic and frighteningly close to the truth (if there's one point
that both sides of the Iraq conflict would agree on, it's that "You don't
count the dead / When God's on your side").
I admit this isn't by any means one of Dylan's greatest poems - without his
flat, matter of fact delivery of the lines it may barely be a poem at all -
but as we struggle to come to terms with the bombings in London and the
continuing carnage in Iraq, I feel these are lines that are useful to
remember. There may be many things that you can believe in to justify the
West's intercession in Iraq (though I'm not sure I know what these might
be), but God cannot and should not be one of them. As the democracies of the
West prepare to face a determined assault from an enemy whose key weapon is
a religious fanaticism, it would be tempting to follow the path of their
opponents and sacrifice human life in the name of God, but that temptation
is precisely what they must guard against. God, in the final analysis, is
the one thing we should not trust in, because it is the one weapon and the
one justification that both sides will always have equal access to.
Besides, as Dylan so eloquently puts it "If God's on our side / he'll stop
the next war".
Aseem
[1] The one glaring ommission is of course, the war in Vietnam, which took
place largely after this song was written. Incidentally, the Star Spangled
banner makes interesting reading in the light of that war, with some of the
lines serving as a wonderful paean ("And where is that band who so
vauntingly swore / That the havoc of war and the battle's confusion / A home
and a country should leave us no more?" "Thus be it ever, when freemen shall
stand / Between their loved homes and the war's desolation / Blest with
victory and peace") to the eventual victory of the VietCong. Another apt
reminder of why it's dangerous to believe your own propaganda.
[this poem is archived, accessible and awaiting your comments at]
http://www.cs.rice.edu/~ssiyer/minstrels/poems/1802.html
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From: MLynd@ Tue Jan 3 07:36:06 2006
Come=20all=20ye=20young=20rebels,=20and=20list=20while=20I=20sing,
For=20the=20love=20of=20one's=20country=20is=20a=20terrible=20thing.
It=20banishes=20fear=20with=20the=20speed=20of=20a=20flame,
And=20it=20makes=20us=20all=20part=20of=20the=20patriot=20game.
My=20name=20is=20O'Hanlon,=20and=20I've=20just=20turned=20sixteen.
My=20home=20is=20in=20Monaghan,=20and=20where=20I=20was=20weaned
I=20learned=20all=20my=20life=20cruel=20England's=20to=20blame,
So=20now=20I=20am=20part=20of=20the=20patriot=20game.
This=20Ireland=20of=20ours=20has=20too=20long=20been=20half=20free.
Six=20counties=20lie=20under=20John=20Bull's=20tyranny.
But=20still=20De=20Valera=20is=20greatly=20to=20blame
For=20shirking=20his=20part=20in=20the=20Patriot=20game.
They=20told=20me=20how=20Connolly=20was=20shot=20in=20his=20chair,
His=20wounds=20from=20the=20fighting=20all=20bloody=20and=20bare.
His=20fine=20body=20twisted,=20all=20battered=20and=20lame
They=20soon=20made=20me=20part=20of=20the=20patriot=20game.
It's=20nearly=20two=20years=20since=20I=20wandered=20away
With=20the=20local=20battalion=20of=20the=20bold=20IRA,
For=20I=20read=20of=20our=20heroes,=20and=20wanted=20the=20same
To=20play=20out=20my=20part=20in=20the=20patriot=20game.
And=20now=20as=20I=20lie=20here,=20my=20body=20all=20holes
I=20think=20of=20those=20traitors=20who=20bargained=20in=20souls
And=20I=20wish=20that=20my=20rifle=20had=20given=20the=20same
To=20those=20Quislings=20who=20sold=20out=20the=20patriot=20game.
More=20to=20be=20found=20at=20http://mysongbook.de/msb/songs/p/patriotg.html
best=20wishes,
Mike=20Lynd
This=20message=20is=20confidential=20and=20may=20contain=20privileged=20information.=20It=20is=20for=20the=20named=20intended=20recipient=20only.=20If=20you=20receive=20it=20in=20error=20please=20e-mail=20the=20sender=20at=20the=20address=20above=20to=20notify=20us=20and=20destroy=20the=20original=20message,=20not=20keeping=20a=20copy.=20It=20is=20possible=20for=20e-mails=20to=20be=20intercepted=20or=20affected=20by=20viruses.=20Whilst=20we=20maintain=20virus=20checks=20on=20inbound=20e-mails,=20we=20accept=20no=20liability=20for=20viruses=20or=20other=20material=20introduced=20with=20this=20message.
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From: "Pete Nancarrow" <petenancarrow@>
An apposite quotation:
"Mankind must put an end to war, or war will put an end to mankind"
[John F Kennedy]