Bob Dylan’s “With God On Our Side” Addressed A Fundamental Divide In American Culture, and Still Does

Painting by the author.

The times today are turbulent, but some of the issues dividing us have deep roots. The role of religion in the public square has been wrestled with since before the original Colonies were even real colonies. And the manner in which our country has wielded its military might has made many ashamed while producing a patriotic pride in others.

In my own lifetime the Vietnam War has revealed how deep the gulf is that divides many of us. I've just finished read Seymour Hersh’s Reporter and the book reveals much about the cancers at the heart of our nation. Even after Hersh discovered the horrors of My Lai, editors were afraid to touch the story because any negative (that is, truthful) story about what was going on was feared to be “aiding and abetting the enemy.” As a result, the public was totally oblivious to the horrors taking place in the name of “freedom” and patriotism.

The lies. The horrors. It was all too easy for Francis Ford Coppola to re-configure Joseph Conrad's Heart of Darkness into a Viet Nam context as Apocalypse Now.

When Bob Dylan wrote “With God On Our Side” JFK was still president and LBJ’s escalation of the Viet Nam War had not yet happened. It was brewing though. What weighed on everyone, and it had become the lens through which all global events were interpreted, was the Cold War. But the song contains a clear and present warning.

It begins with the writer identifying himself, as just another person who was brought up to live by the rules and that the land he grew up i
n was the good guys. He then, verse by verse, summarizes our history of foreign wars as we were taught in our schools. (By-passed: War of 1812, Mexican War and Civil War.)

Here are the lyrics, with a few comments, followed by a video of Dylan performing the song live in 1963.

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 the 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
l’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

Here he turns to our present (1960s) situation.

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

One of the sections of Sy Hersh’s remarkable book was about the amount of spending our Defense Department was doing on chemical and germ warfare. Anthrax and all kinds of experimental chemical and biological agents were being developed and stores in underground “igloos” and what frightened Hersh was how secret this all was, as well as the quantity.

The next verse is one that was quite controversial. May people stumbled when he asks the question about Judas Iscariot. Perhaps it was made more complicated because of the rock opera which became a film, Jesus Christ Superstar. But when this was written, that particular red herring had not been invented yet.

Rather, the answer here is not blowing in the wind. It’s straightforward matter. Judas betrayed Jesus but believed he was doing the right thing, which is the point of this song. We always have rationalizations for what we do as a country, and then write the history books afterwards justifying our wars and atrocities.

Through 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

The summing up is an appeal.

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

Copyright © 1963 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1991 by Special Rider Music

Here’s a live performance at  the famous Town Hall concert in 1963, NYC.

He was a month shy of 22 here. Catch the response to his pointed missive.

Right on target, so direct.