Analysis of Masters of War (Bob Dylan)

Andy Lee

Eng 101

Teddy

10/29/2011

Masters of War was written and released at 1963, by a famous singer called Bob Dylan. This song was also released with the other famous song, e.g. “Blowin’ in the Wind”. They were come from the same album called “ The Freewheelin’ ”. This was a anti-war song, it reflects the singer wanted peace at that time. Bob Dylan is a famous American singer-songwriter, musician, poet and painter. His lyrics wrote about political social, philosophical and literacy influences.

In this song, there are some lyrics talked about the weapons that solider would used to kill people and gain victory by those weapons. “Big guns”, “death planes”, “bombs”, “bullets” were the words that Bob Dylan used to described the war. All this things, can easily took away people’s life in one second, it’s was some killing weapons that use to fight in a war. Though this song “Masters of War”, Bob Dylan wanted to carry out the message and values of peace.

In the song, it talked about human freedom. “You play with my world, like it’s your little toy”. Some students get draft card random, they must become an army goes to the war. Just like you play with my world, because the student army would easily kill by the enemy in a few seconds with the destructing weapons. They were became the toy of the general. The final goal is victory. The draft of army was mandatory, once if students were drafted to war, they must go for it. Seems like they don’t have any freedom to object this drafting. As President Johnson said, “Freedom is right to share, share fully and equally, in American society—to vote, to hold a job, to enter a public place, to go to school. It is the right to be treated in every part of our national life as a person equal in dignity and promise to all others” in Howard University Address. Meanwhile, it is not enough to give freedom to people, they also need to have the ability to use that freedom. Students burned their draft card to object war in 1967.

“Is your money that good”? Bob Dylan wrote this lyric to ask the one who control the war. A nation fight in war because if they won, they can show their powerful and gain the benefits form the lose nations. Although they might get huge benefits and money, they were exchanged by the death of people and soldiers. Is that money covered the value of human life? Human was the most valuable resources in this world. War would brought you glory, but it cannot pay back people’s sadness.

At the end of the lyrics of Masters of War, Bob Dylan wanted to stop the war and hope it never come again. “And I hope that you die, and your death’ll come soon”. He used death to describe the war, once it was dead, it would never came back.

In this song, Bob Dylan wrote about his objection for war, because it brought damage, death, lost of life and property. In some lyrics, it showed the anger of Bob Dylan. “That ever Jesus would never forgive what you do”. This song was a meaningful song that protests war. It firstly described what’s the war like, and then it mentioned the deaths of youth people and how the people are feeling. At last, he hoped war could totally disappear in the world and never came back.