Bob Dylan

Songs of protest have played a part in American life for many years. These have been songs about the concerns of farmers, miners, cowboys, union members. All have had a common purpose - to express and to relieve people's feelings on subjects that are important to them. Their writers and performers have sometimes hoped that the songs might even help to change people's attitudes.

In the 1960s a young writer and singer named Bob Dylan used protest songs to support the anti-war movement of the time. By the 1970s Dylan had become a very popular - and very rich - international entertainer. But in the 1960s he was more than this. For many young people he was the voice of the conscience of their generation. His lyrics, often set to old tunes, were ironic comments on what he saw as the deceit and hypocrisy of those who held power. These verses from his song With God on Our Side are typical:

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 First World War, boys,

It came and it went,

The reason for fighting

I never did get.

But I learned to accept it,

Accept it with pride,

For you don't count the dead

When God's on your 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.

Bryn O'Callaghan: An illustrated history of the USA; Longman, Harlow, 1990/1996, page 127