I have posted this before however it may be woth saying it again in view of the above postings. Dylan asked me, in the Troubadour in the early sixties, who wrote The Patriot Game after listening to Nigel Denver singing it. I explained the connection with Dr Johnson and that Dominic behan had written it. it's not so mush the similarity of the tunes (Patriot Game and God on our Side) but the parodying of Behan's words by Dylan. 'My name is O'hanlon, my age is sixteen, my home is is Monaghan, 'twas there I was weaned...'
Dylan: 'My name it means nothing, my age it means less, ..I was born in ...the midwest' (I don't remember the exact words but it perfectly obvious that Dylan used The Patriot Game as a model for God on our Side.
I also wrote for the Clancys .. but that's another story.
Jim McLean