When was with god on our side written

You hear a lot about God these days: God the beneficent; God, the all-great; God the Almighty; God the most powerful; God the giver of life; God the creator of death. But if we know anything about God, God is arbitrary. And suddenly I can recast the whole song. It is not With God on our Side but rather When the dice rolls in our favour. Here, finally, it all makes sense. Life as chance. Yep, I can go with that.

Famous Tonight version from a classic BBC TV early evening news and review programme of the s — although it is only a partial version. Live version — much later interesting re-working with much of the melody gone. Its was featured on one of the alphabet television networks news broadcasts. As I recall, my parents watching , were offended by such iconoclastic sentiment presented over the airwaves. At the time it was considered rude. Of course God is on our side- it goes without saying…so they believed.

Anyone who believed America was anything less than righteous, must be atheist, communist or similar low-life. Dylan sang this song for the last time on Sept. Listing the atrocities done in the name of God, even to man selecting whose side God is on for Him viz.

The worst has been done in the name of God by reprobates. You acknowledge that point in your review. But then you spend more time it seems to me arguing that he meant it non-ironically or literally viz, your comments on Germany and on your take on the faults of youth. The song merely rubs it in their face.

And maybe at the time, pointedly made the victims aware that their oppressors were emperors with no clothes viz. Or at least merely wearing the Flag. And maybe The Trouble fit that template as well. And we still do not get it. Are you saying that Dylan meant those words to be taken at face value? Because he clearly does not believe that was a good excuse for genocide if one could possibly exist. But that is that excuse that he would have read in high school history books.

Ditto for the Germans. He is not saying we should all still hate the Germans. He is saying that, wars over and now they are our friends so God must love them too, is a absurd attitude. This attitude is still pervasive today. Every time we support some despot dictator because he supports us. Or God is on our Side. An attitude that this is a protest against.

Hi Tony Few points: 1. Although Dylan lyrics may be originated from the Irish poem, the songs meaning is completely different. It is used to ridicule the stupid state of mind of America going to each and every war , seriously believing if not in representing God will , then in being absolutely the right side.

Dylan theme is confronting America and many other countries with the wars endless stupidity, absurdity and futility combined with righteousness and very often racism and extreme nationalism. This song drives this message extremely well, and it did not lose it relevancy with time.

Hi Tony, Thanks for this thoughtful piece. Would it not be the perfect backdrop to express a different point of view on it all? It seems as if on the U. It raises a lot of big social and theological questions. May I share some thoughts? Please allow me to assume for the sake of argument that God exists and is involved in human affairs. First, individual soldiers engaged in a conflict do need to believe in their cause but how tragic to fight, kill, risk your own life, perhaps lose a limb, all for a cause that is widely regarded as unjust.

And some also need very much to believe God is with them because they are only a breath away from death all the time. Let us first deal with the first seven stanzas. The picture Dylan shows us is crystal clear, so we do not need to dwell on details. In the first two stanzas the poet starts with the very beginning of the American nation. These words sound like mock modesty and are in contrast with what the average Midwesterner stands for and is proud of.

In the very beginning of the American nation it was the very Midwest region which took the initiative and from there on the early pioneers from the Midwest spread and expanded westwards.

The poet was taught and brought up in a society where law and order were predominant. There were a lot of hard working, law abiding, orthodox Christians and obviously there was nothing wrong with that. There was a strong sense that no matter what happened, they Americans were always ready to stand up for their country and to fight and to do whatever circumstances required; with only one goal: to defend American material or immaterial interests, not only in their own country but all over the world.

The consequences of this ideology were disastrous as the following verses show us. It was well recorded in the history books. This is again an ironic statement. The fact is that the Indians were slaughtered. He meant to say that the Indians were butchered, slaughtered and murdered. In the year , just after the arrival of Columbus, there were said to be 12 million Indians in America, in the year there were only The Indians were wiped out in one of the greatest genocides of all times, although it is also true that many of them died because of foreign diseases like smallpox, a disease which the Europeans imported from Europe.

Two things are stated here as an excuse to kill the Indians: 1. We were young. If the first excuse does not convince you, you have to remember that God was on our side. The Spanish-American War of was a war between America and Spain about the independence of Cuba and other islands in the Caribbean area.

Number of casualties: more than in battle and through disease. Officially the goal of the war was to have slavery abolished in the 20 rebelling Southern States of America. In reality however, economic motives triggered off this bloody Civil War. Number of casualties on both sides: between Both the Spanish-American war and the Civil war were officially fought for idealistic reasons, but when you take a closer look, these idealistic motives were only a pretext to start these wars.

It reminds us of those old war photographs in black and white, but most of the time in a brownish color. On those old pictures you see these so-called heroes, proudly stand with guns in their hands. The Civil War was a brother war. The reason for fighting, I never got straight. This event caused a chain reaction in which more and more countries became involved, within weeks the major powers were at war; via their colonies, the conflict soon spread around the world.

The First World War was a fact. Total death toll of the First World War: about Although the poet could not really figure out why this war was fought in the first place - this war was called the bloodiest ever — he learned to accept it with pride.

The poet shows us the shocking image of the holocaust. The lyrics comment on the fact that politcal leaders always claim a partnership with God during a conflict. That has not changed. George Bush, in his State of the Union address in , in reference to the Iraq war said:.

With the might of God on our side we will triumph over Iraq. God will bless us and keep us safe in the coming battle. If America attacks our homes, it is necessary for all Muslims, especially for Afghans, to wage a holy war. Dylan mentions the Spanish-American War in the song.

He seems to have been a bit confused about when it happened since he places it between the Indian Wars and the American Civil War. General Comment I don't see how anyone could be confused by this.

Humans have gotten used to the idea of gods, and the people who are in power convince the masses that the Easter Bunny God, Zeus, Spaghetti Monster, call him whatever you want would approve of the torture and murdering of millions of people all in the name of the greater good which is their religion. In my opinion religion is the one flaw in the evolution of man, and it will be the death of us all.

Of course, advances in science could also wipe us out and obviously have already to a certain extent , but I sincerely believe that "sheeple" blindly growing into who they are based on religion is much more harmful than people actually concerned with finding out what's really going on, and not just blindly accepting fairy tales as fact to explain life's mysteries. And I truly believe the negative effects of religion far outweigh the good, on a global and historical scale at least.

I hate to be so anti religious, but I sincerely think the time has come for this nonsense to stop and for people to think for themselves. Stop Brainwashing Kids. Trouserz on February 10, Link. General Comment I think God prefers people not to invoke His name in accomplishing what is antithetical to life. Buy Bootleg Vol.

You get to hear Bob and Joan Baez sing an awesome rendition of this song. Artists - B. Rate These Lyrics. We do not have any tags for With God on Our Side lyrics. Why not add your own? Log in to add a tag.