"Masters of War" is very straightforward and VERY powerful. It is THE definitive song to deliver that particular message.


Regarding earlier comments about how good this or that lyric was...the important thing with a song lyric...as opposed to pure poetry or prose without any music...is that you have to *hear it being sung by someone who sings it really effectively* and that along with the music to see how well the lyrics work as a performance. How effectively do they communicate the *feeling* and the meaning in the song? Just reading them straight off the page usually won't give you that. This is one of the reasons why songs aren't necessarily written quite the way poems are, though they do contain poetry.

It is the way Bob Dylan sings his songs that makes up at least 50% of the effect, if not more than that, and you can't get that by reading the lyrics off the page. It's a certain intensity he brings to it. You could say he "takes no prisoners". This was another reason that his material had greater impact in the 1960's than that of many other performers at the time. As Bruce Springsteen said about the first time he heard "Like a Rolling Stone", "it was the toughest voice I'd ever heard". That was that intensity I'm talking about in Dylan's voice. His mother said "That guy can't sing" but Springsteen thought it was the best singing he'd ever heard. That's how subjective it is.

Of course, if you didn't happen to like his particular style or his kind of sound, then you'd probably be listening to somebody else instead. I didn't like it initially...because it wasn't at all what I was used to hearing. Then a few years later, upon reconsideration, I loved the way he sounded.

I do find Ochs' particular vocal sound a bit grating for some reason, though I like his idealism and his commitment. It's all a matter of personal taste. I can see why for someone else it would be just the other way around. (grin) In his elder years, of course, Dylan often sounds like he's singing through cinders and gravel, but he was crystal clear in the early years. Too many cigarettes. But I'm glad he has lasted this long.