Discussion: Universal Soldier

Subject: Lyr Add: MASTERS OF WAR (Bob Dylan)
From: Marion
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 11:54 AM

PS The "Universal Soldier" always makes me think of Bob Dylan's "Masters of War"; although this song is much harsher, I find it expresses my feelings about those who instigate wars better than any other song I know.

MASTERS OF WAR
Written by Bob Dylan
As recorded by Bob Dylan on "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan" (1963)

1. Come you masters of war,
You that build the big guns,
You that build the death planes,
You that build all the bombs,
You that hide behind walls,
You that hide behind desks:
I just want you to know I can through your masks.

2. You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy,
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy.
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes,
Then you turn and run farther when the fast bullets fly.

3. Like Judas of old,
You lie and deceive.
A world war can be won,
You want me to believe;
But I see through your eyes,
And I see through your brain,
Like I see through the water that runs down my drain.

4. You fasten all the triggers
For the others to fire,
Then you sit back and watch
While the death count gets higher.
You hide in your mansion
While the young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies and is buried in the mud.

5. You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled:
Fear to bring children
Into the world.
For threatenin' my baby,
Unborn and unnamed,
You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins.

6. How much do I know
To talk out of turn?
You might say that I'm young.
You might say I'm unlearned.
But this one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you:
That even Jesus would never forgive what you do.

7. Let me ask you one question:
Is your money that good?
Will it buy you forgiveness?
Do you think that it could?
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll,
All the money you made will never buy back your soul.

8. And I hope that you die,
And your death will come soon.
I'll follow your casket
On the pale afternoon,
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your death bed,
And I'll stand over your grave till I'm sure that you're dead.

Marion

Subject: RE: Universal soldier and Codine
From: Marion
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 11:39 AM

Hi Wolfgang.

I'm pretty sure that Buffy wrote it as "condemned him".

And I think what she was trying to get at is that the "Universal Soldier" is both the killer and the killed - something like saying that he is 5'2" and 6'4".

That doesn't make perfect sense, since it was basically civilians who were in concentration camps (this is accurate, isn't it?), but it fits in with her motif of speaking of all soldiers as one universal soldier.

What I'm not sure about is the point of the whole song. For a long time I thought that the central idea was "He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war and without him all this killing can't go on." While I don't think it's fair to totally blame war on soldiers, it's true that if they were all conscientious objectors that there would be no war, so I could see what she was getting at. I thought the line "he's the universal soldier and he really is to blame" was not very artful or fair, but I thought that really was her point.

However, I once heard her introduce this song on a video, and I reexamined the last verse, and I think her point may have been the opposite. I wonder if her main point is that soldiers are not a separate kind of being from the rest of us, nor are they the ones responsible for war; rather, war comes about because of the will of the general population and its government. Maybe the majority of the song, which seems to be blaming soldiers, was meant ironically and only the last few lines are sincere.

Marion

Subject: RE: Universal soldier and Codine
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 05:39 AM

Now that's interesting. "Condemned him" it is in all versions I have found in the web so far (guess they just copy from each other), but I have never really understood what (who) was meant. With "commanded" I have less difficulties to make sense. Anybody knows if Owlkat is right?

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Universal soldier and Codine
From: Owlkat
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 05:06 AM

Okay, so it's two a.m. and I should be in bed, buuuut, I couldn't resist one parting shot. I remember singing Universal Soldier in youth group, and I think the line was... "But without them who would Hitler have commanded at Dachau". There. I'm done. G'Night. Mart.

Subject: RE: Universal soldier and Codine
From: Wolfgang
Date: 28 Oct 99 - 05:01 AM

a minor typo in Bugsy's additional verse: the place is called 'Dachau'.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Universal soldier and Codine
From: Bugsy
Date: 25 Oct 99 - 10:35 PM

I looked up the Universal Soldier in Digitrad and there appears to be a verse missing.

The one that goes:

But without him how could hitler have condemned them at Dachou.

Without him Caeser would have stood alone.

He's the one who gives his body as a weapon of the war.

And without him all this killing can't go on.

cheers

Bugsy