Bob Dylan - With God on Our Side

[canikickit]

From the album, The Times They are a Changin', 1964
Bob Dylan

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 then 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.

With God on Our Side (http://www.che-lives.net/users/cani/With_God_on_Our_Side.mp3)

[Hampton]

Check and mate.

Well played.

[Rastafari]

I think I posted this song in one of those "lyric" threads on my first day here.


good call, once again

[canikickit]

All the songs from this album are great.

Great lyrics and great messages.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

Then he became a born again Christian.

[Exploited Class]

Originally posted by [email protected] 13 2004, 05:10 PM
All the songs from this album are great.

Great lyrics and great messages.


Then he became a born again Christian.
Bod Dylan became a born again christian?

If so, that hits me as strange as when I found out that Cat Stevens became Muslim and denounced all his prior works.

I liked the song, the lyrics were essential I am afraid; I just can't decipher the Dylan very well. Even after about 3 listens I had trouble understanding him.

I liked this
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.

It reminds me of when I told my grandpa that we were the bad guys to the russians just like they were the bad guys to us, I had to of been like 5 or 6. Of course, whenever a song envokes a memory immediatly I give it a big plus.

Great pick for song of the month.

If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.
Nice...

[Fidelbrand]

If God's on our side
He'll stop the next war.

We have our freewill, we have our leaders of our nations, we have our say / vote under a given regime, we have our feet and hands to protest against injustice.

God will watch upon us, but we should not depend on HIM solely for the stopping of the next war.

nice song though.....

[canikickit]

Originally posted by [email protected] 15 2004, 11:38 AM
God will watch upon us, but we should not depend on HIM solely for the stopping of the next war.
In my opinion, the song is ironic. I think Bob Dylan is making a case for God not existing.
First he talks about how God is around throughout all these wars and effectively helping out. He's on the side of "the winners" everytime.

Dylan says, if God exists, he would stop a war, not "be on a side".

You'll have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot
Had God on his side.

I think that in those lines he is demonstrating one of the paradoxes of God. If Judas was meant to betray Jesus, to save mankind (for our sins), was God "with him" when he acted to betray Jesus?

The confusion I'm feelin'

Religion is the opium of the people, but Bob sees through it and notices the paradoxes and lies which cause confusion to the conscious.

That's how I see it at least. Do you believe in God?

[Fidelbrand]

Comrade canikickit,

I believe that God has His own intentions for what is to be happened (whether He was/wasn't with Judas at the time of Jesus' betrayal), but we still have our own free will to deter mis-happenings. Mankind does not believe in unity, just like they don't believe in communism/socialism, as they assumed "greed" is something natural and invincible.

I am a Catholic, but I have read a bit of Nietzsche in my past time and now i m sort of a converted non-believer. I m at my cross-roads in terms of religious belief, but I still believe that there is a Creator.

[SgtPepper369]

Bob Dylan is one of my favorite people... ever!!!

[celtopunk]

Nice choice.

How does one go about posting a song on here?

[FatFreeMilk]

I'm feelin it.
seriously :)