Bob Dylan's Masters of War

Bob Dylan: Blowing in the Mind 1967 | Brett Whiteley & Dylan | Don't Look Back 1967 | Film Script | London 1962-3 | Masters of War |

Masters of War - 1963 version (The Avener Rework) [short remix], 2018. Duration: 2.50 minutes.

Simply the most devastating anti-war song of all time (Object History 2018) 

Bob Dylan's Masters of War .... remains the strongest indictment of war in popular music. (Voices of the People's History of the United States 2008)

I've never written anything like that before. I don't sing songs which hope people will die, but I couldn't help it with this one. (Bob Dylan 1963)

One of my favourite Bob Dylan songs of all time is 1962's Masters of War. It is an angry and damning critique of war and the individuals and organisations who profit from it through the international military industrial complex. They represent the very antithesis of the peace movement. Dylan's performance of the song at Brandeis University, Waltham, Massachusetts, on 10 May 1963 is perhaps the most chilling version of all, with his voice captured stronger and more powerful than in any other recording during his long career. That performance is included within this article, along with a number of others. Masters of War is a timeless composition, just as relevant today, and just as thought provoking, as when it was written and initially performed. This took place in London during December 1962, at the height of the Cold War and in the aftermath of the Kennedy : Khrushchev Cuban missile crisis which had taken place just two months earlier. All of this followed on the botched Bay of Pigs, Cuba, incursion by United States forces in April 1961. A 2018 audiovisual remix of Masters of War by The Avener of the original studio 1963 recording opens this piece and is testament to the song's ongoing relevance and application to events such as the later Vietnam War, the Gulf War, and post 9/11 so-called War on Terror. Though composed in a paranoia-filled, 'duck and cover' environment of impending nuclear apocalypse, the lyrics were nevertheless shocking for the time in their unrestrained call for the death of war mongers and profiteers. In his own distinctive way, Dylan produced a lyrically poetic protest song, though he would often declare that he did not write protest songs! The story of Masters of War goes beyond its initial writing by Dylan during December 1962, its studio recording on 24 April 1963 and release just over a month later on his breakthrough The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album. A number of performances of the song were recorded by Dylan and friends between January and October 1963 and are listed or linked to below.

The Music

Dylan was a truly original and unique artist who nevertheless was part of a tradition and utilised traditional music and themes in his composition, just like every other musician since time immemorial. Whilst the lyrics are distinctly his, the music is derivative, in part, of a traditional English folk tune going back to the Medieval period (circa 1066 - 1485). Appropriation and adaptation is the norm in musical composition, either consciously or subconsciously, and to varying degree. This is something every musician is aware of, and modern pop and rock music is no exception. The latter, for example, is founded on basic blues and jazz riffs and simple chord progressions, whilst the modern American folk idiom specifically draws inspiration and knowledge of British tradition. As Dylan himself recently noted, he was a "musical expeditionary" during the formative period of his professional life as a singer songwriter, acquiring and reworking material from a variety of sources, attempting to create something that was new, fresh and very much of its time. Whilst some of the musical origins of Masters of War may date back to the English Medieval period, there is no doubt that the words are distinctly modern and his alone, as is his adaptation and expression of a relatively simple acoustic guitar chord progression and combination of strumming and picking. All of these elements are discussed below.

The relatively straightforward tune we hear in Bob Dylan's Masters of War - a Dm chord capoed on the second fret, with a few low note frills and a rhythmic strum - is a slight variation of a traditional English folk song Nottamun Town, aka Old Nottingham Town or Fair Nottamun Town. It has been identified in one instance as traceable to the mid-15th century English Civil War, though its lyrical and musical origins are unclear and will probably ever remain so (Dunn 2008, Wikipedia 2020). A 2015 performance of Nottamun Town in the Medieval English manner by Brian Kay, singing and playing a lute, brings the heritage of this rather surreal and atmospheric song to the fore.

Nottamun Town, Brian Kay, 2015. Duration: 3.51 minutes.

It is believed that the song had arrived in the United States by the late 1800s, and from the beginning of the twentieth century was performed by, amongst others, generations of the family of American folksinger Jean Ritchie. Following the end of World War II she bought back from England to the Appalachian region a song book of traditional British folk material which included Nottamun Town. In 1950 Ritchie recorded an unaccompanied version of the song, and re-recorded it again in 1960, this time with dulcimer. Her version was later claimed to be the basis for the tune Dylan used in Masters of War. However, the Richie family's claim to the simple tune must be as tenuous as Dylan's, or anyone else for that matter including the thousands of musicians who had made use of it prior to them, such is the nature of the folk music process, and such, also, is the nature of the modern copyright-driven music scene.

Jean Ritchie, Fair Nottamun Town, 1950. Duration: 2.29 minutes.

When, and from whom, Dylan first heard Nottamun Town or a variant is unclear, though it is likely he came across it in both his homeland during the late 1950s and early 1960s, and during his visit to England in 1962. According to one account, Dylan heard the song during 1961-2 at Gerde's Folk City, New York, in a rendition by Jamaican singer Jackie Washington, who in turn had based his rendition on the Jean Ritchie recording. Washington recorded his own version in 1962 and remembers Dylan frequently asking him to sing it at the time. This indicates that the young singer songwriter was enamored of the tune, as he was with so many others, from so many different artists.

Jackie Washington, Nottamun Town, Vanguard Records, 1962. Duration: 3.22 minutes.

Washington noted his connection with the song in a 2019 YouTube posting. Therein he also referenced the subsequent involvement of Bob Dylan:

I first heard 'Nottamun Town' while listening to a recording by Jean Richie, of the Singing Richie Family. The Richie family is known for having a large repertoire of Appalachian folk songs. Many of the songs from their region of the USA originated wholly or in part from traditional English ballads etc. This is the case in all cultures. Through the years as songs are passed down from one generation to the next, they undergo changes based on the regional influences of the people who sing them. That's how folk songs are "made". Jean Richie sang this song accompanying herself on a dulcimer which is a graceful stringed instrument whose strings are permanently tuned in a major chord. The strings of a dulcimer aren't manipulated individually. The entire chord it's tuned in is varied by pressing a small wooden bar across the strings and moving it up and down the neck of the instrument to provide accompaniment for whatever song that's being sung (I know this is all very dry and complicated, but stick with me). The melody of 'Nottamun Town' is in a minor key. But Ms. Richie's dulcimer, as I said, is permanently tuned in a fixed MAJOR key chord. This is not a problem for lovers of Appalachian music. But, try as might, I couldn't bring myself to sing a minor key song with a major key accompaniment (See? White folks really can get away with stuff non-whites can't!) Now, why did I want to do the tune in the first place? Well, I was intrigued by the lyrics Jean sang in her version of the song. They were weird and nonsensical. And when I started singing them accompanying myself with a droning minor chord on guitar, it produced a new melody and mood. The song took on a creepy, macabre quality. As the song's verses progressed, I'd gradually increase the intensity of the single minor chord I was playing. It was spooky and I LOVED it. Bobby Dylan liked it too. He used to hang out at Gerde's Folk City on East 3rd Street in New York, and during one of my gigs there, he'd ask me time after time, "Hey man, play that song" which I did every time he asked. At the time I was under contract to Vanguard Recording Society. Maynard Solomon, my producer there (and part owner of the company) told me later that Bobby had gone up to their studios on East 14th Street and asked for - and was given - my recording of the tune. The changes I'd made to the Jean Richie tune had produced a new song. Dylan and many others assumed that the melody - like its lyrics - was in the Public Domain like most folk songs, as opposed to being composed - like THIS melody technically is. Not too long after getting his copy of my album, Dylan came out with his song, "Masters Of War" which uses the melody from my version of "Nottamun Town". This melody doesn't appear anywhere else before my recording of it, so it is clearly a melody I accidentally made up. It didn't take long for several people to start to become aware it was my tune. So one evening I got a phone call from George Pickow. George was a well known photographer and husband of Jean Richie. He proposed we sue Bob Dylan. He said he'd pay for the lawyer and all, but we'd share the big bags of money he seemed to think could be won. Dylan's song was a hit! It was being played all over the radio, in malls and supermarkets everywhere. But I declined George's proposal. I did it for two reasons. One was that Mr. Reynolds, my old college English Lit professor used to contend that plagiarism is when you take somebody else' stuff and mess it up! Dylan hadn't done that I thought. The second reason was I thought to myself, if I wanted to sue Bobby....what did I need the Pickows for? I could just sue him and keep any winnings for myself. Besides, how much money could I get, and how long would it take and how much would it cost to finally get it? Bobby was on the Columbia record label and probably had a big time, fancy-schmancy lawyer. I figured it wasn't worth the hassle." Jack Landrón aka Jackie Washington, February 2019 (Washington 2019).

In one of his early live performances of Masters of War, Dylan references Jean Ritchie's association with the tune. Later, during 1965, Dylan told Nora Ephron his thoughts on the song Nottamun Town and its association with an almost timeless folk tradition.

... folk music is the only music where it isn't simple. It's never been simple. It's weird man, full of legends, myth, Bible and ghosts...'Nottamun Town', that's like a herd of ghosts passing through on the way to Tangiers. 'Lord Edward', 'Barbara Allen' - they are all full of myth. (Ephron 1965)

When Dylan unveiled the song in London during December 1962, a number of folk musicians there, including Martin Carthy, picked up on its similarity to Nottamun Town, and the well-known, recent Jean Ritchie version.

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The Words

Bob Dylan's Masters of War was written in England around 20 December 1962 whilst Dylan was preparing for an appearance in a BBC television play. An original notebook copy is known, with subsequent refinement to some of the lines. The words of the final version are reproduced below, with those words in brackets representing variants sung by Dylan during 1963-4, or replaced from the first version as written prior to the earliest recorded performances, beginning in January 1963:

Come you masters of war
You that build [all] the [big] guns
You that build the death planes
You that build [all] the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see [read] through your masks
You that never done nothin’
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it’s your [own] little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And [then] you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly
Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can [could] 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 [Replaced 'You're like the dirty rotten water']
That runs down my drain
You fasten [all] the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
[While] As young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud
You’ve thrown the worst fear
That can [could] ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain’t worth the blood
That runs in [down] your veins
How much do I know
To talk [speak] out of turn
You might say that I’m young
You might say I’m unlearned
[Well] But there’s one thing I know
Though I’m younger than you
[That] Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do
Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
[Can] Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you [gonna] will find
When your death takes its toll
[That] All the money you've made [Replaced 'For all of your money']
Will never buy back your soul [Replaced 'You ain't worth a hole in the ground']
And I hope that you die
And your death will come soon
I will follow your casket
[By] [All] In the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave
’Til I’m sure that you’re dead

There are a number of contemporary accounts of the song's performance in London folk clubs during December 1962. Martin Carthy saw Dylan play it at the Troubadour club during late December:

[I heard it] at the Troubadour…. He’d written it already. I remember him singing it and me thinking, “Oh, that’s Nottamun Town.” He would have learnt that [tune] from Jean Ritchie.

The 16 year old Natasha Morgan saw him perform Masters of War at the Singers Club in the Pindar of Wakefield pub, London, where he is known to have sung on 22 and 29 of December (Organ 2018). She later remembered:

I'm pretty sure that one of the songs he sang was Masters of War, and that was shocking. I mean, I'd just done my O Levels; I think we'd just had the Cuban missile crisis; I'd been on my first Aldermaston march that previous Easter and we'd sung 'Don't you hear the H-bombs thunder' and, you know, it was very much what I was excited about. And there he was singing 'I hope you die, and your death will come soon.' I mean, I'd never - 'And Jesus would never forgive what you'd done,' or what the words are. (Harris 2008)

A photograph from that 22 December performance is reproduced below.

Bob Dylan, Singers' Club, London, 22 December 1962. Ewan MacColl, with goatee beard, can be seen at right of picture, and Natasha Morgan is sitting next to Anthea Joseph at the lower left. Folk singer A.L. 'Bert' Lloyd is the bald-headed figure sitting above and behind Dylan. The guitar he is using belonged to Barry Beattie, a regular accompanist at the Singers' Club. Photograph: Brian Shuel.

Louis Killen also saw a performance of Masters of War at the Singers Club, and recorded the following account during 2014:

I was at the Singers' Club when he came there and was asked to sing. It was a very strange night. I think it was a party night, because it wasn't the usual set-up. People were sitting all over the place. That's where he sang 'Nuclear Warfare Blues' (possibly Masters of War) or whatever it was, the basis of what it was about was that the Holocaust has come. I don't even know if any of us had heard his record. I remember his first record had been pushed around among the people who could get it, because it wasn't out here when he first came across. (Bean 2014)

When Dylan returned to The Singers Club on 29 December, according to Martin Carthy he apparently 'brought the house down' with renditions of Masters of War and The Ballad of Hollis Brown.

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The recorded performances

Recording from the following years (highlighted in bold) are are discussed and linked in the chronological listing below: 

1963 | 64 | 65 | 66 | 67 | 68 | 69 | 70 | 71 | 72 | 73 | 74 | 75 | 76 | 77 | 78 | 79 | 80 | 81 | 82 | 83 | 84 | 85 | 86 | 87 | 88 | 89 | 90 | 91 | 92 | 93 | 94 | 95 | 96 | 97 | 98 | 99 | 2000 | 01 | 02 | 03 | 04 | 05 | 06 | 07 | 08 | 09 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |

* 1963

Upon Dylan's return to New York around 17 January 1963, he visited musicologist Alan Lomax in his apartment and recorded a 7 minute 58 second version of the song with associated commentary on its origins. Excerpts from that recording are available here: Masters of War - Alan Lomax Archive.

- Masters of War, Alan Lomax recording, New York, circa 20 January 1963. Duration: 4.31 minutes.

During the Lomax interview Dylan explained: I wrote it in London ... about all them people over there in England - they don't like Kennedy too much. I remember when the papers came out, I was at this rehearsal place out in Putney and I kept seeing in the papers every day, [them] putting down MacMillan, [saying] Kennedy's gonna screw him, on these missiles .... They got headlines in the papers, underneath MacMillan's face, saying "Don't mistrust me, don't mistrust me, how can you treat a poor maiden so?" (Lomax 1963)

This was in reference to the relationship built up between President Kennedy and Prime Minister Harold Macmillan at the time of the Cuban missile crisis. It was one of mutual trust as they faced off Russia. It seems that Dylan was spurred on to compose Masters of War by the criticism of his President, who would be assassinated in Dallas, Texas, on 22 November 1963. In December 1962 the young Bob Dylan was both patriot and critic of the country he came from, and very much aware of its faults and failings. Masters of War does not point the finger at any single nation or group, but has universal application. Following on the Lomax recording, on 24 or 26 January 1963 Dylan performed the song at the Folkways studios for the staff of the Broadside newsletter.

- Masters of War, Broadside Sessions, 26 January 1963, @ 32.20 - 36.10. Duration: 3.50 minutes.

The song lyrics and music were published in the Broadside #20 issue of February 1963. It featured on the front cover and second page, with simple line drawings by Dylan's partner at the time, Suze Ritolo.

Masters of War, Broadside, #20, February 1963, 1-2.

At the end of the issue there is the following account of the recording of the song:

BIRTH OF A BROADSIDE

By Josh Dunson

Broadside's home is a small little room that's got chairs and a sofa, with a tape recorder finishing off the bottom wall space. First people Sis Cunningham welcomed in after me was two-thirds of the New World Singers & Gil Turner took out his l2-stringer, borrowed a flat pick, Sis took out the mike for the tape recorder and out came a talking blues Gil just wrote about the newspaper strike that had us all quietly laughing. We didn't want to laugh louder than quietly because that might get on the tape.

Before the song’s over, in walks Bob Dylan and Suzy, who sometimes illustrates Bob's songs. The last verse that Gil was singing had [been] how he was going to see his friend, Bob Dylan, who is a walking newspaper and will give him the lowdown on what's happening in the world .. Bob thought it was a great song just from hearing the last verse of. Then, Gil took out his 6-string Gibson, handed it over to Bob Dylan saying how Bob’s new song "MASTERS OF WAR" was a powerful and a great one, one of the best Bob had ever written. I kept on thinking he had written a lot of good· ones, some that had real lyric poetry like “Blowin in the Wind" and “Hard Rain's Gonna Fall” (which makes you think right away of Lorca), and I waited for the images of rain, and thunder, and lightning to come out in great spectacles. But no, this time there was a different kind of poetry, one of great anger, accusation, just saying what the masters of war are, straight forward and without compromising one inch in its short sharp direct intensity. I got a hunch this is the most difficult Dylan song for others to sing right, 'cause it can so easily be over sung, made a melodrama. But when Bob sings it, it rings honest and true. I hope a record is made of Bob singing this song and that a lot of people will listen to the quiet voice that Bob sings this song in because there is a dignity in the words that comes from when they have been thought about for a long, long time.

In the so-called Banjo Tape recording of late January or 8 February 1963, a rather inebriated and/or stoned Dylan presents a rough version of the song, with some guitar, banjo and male vocal accompaniment. This occurred either at Gil Turner's house in the East Village, New York, or in the basement of Gerde's Folk City. Those in attendance, and performing with Dylan, were Happy Traum and Gil Turner on banjo.

- Masters of War, late January or 8 February 1963, unknown location. Duration: 6 minutes.

According to the Bob Dylan website, Masters of War was first publically performed at Gerde's Folk City on 8 February 1963. The compilers of the site were obviously unaware of its London origins and presentation there the previous December. Dylan also recorded a copyright version for Witmark in March 1963, as he regularly did for his publisher.

- Masters of War, Witmark Demo, March 1963. Duration: 4.23 minutes.

A recording was also made at his New York Town Hall Annex concert on 12 April 1963.

 - Masters of War, New York Town Hall, Friday, 12 April 1963. Duration: 5.25 minutes.

 

The Columbia Records studio version of the song, recorded in New York on 24 April 1963, originally appeared as track three on his classic The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan album, released in May 1963. On the sleeve notes, Dylan states the following: [Masters of War] is a sort of striking out, a reaction to the last straw, a feeling of "What can you do?"

- Masters of War, studio version, 24 April 1963. Duration: 4.33 minutes. 

In 2010 a tape of Dylan's performance at the Brandeis University Folk Festival  on 10 May 1963 was found amongst the archives of Ralph Gleason, founder of Rolling Stone. The direct from the microphone recording included a high quality version of Masters of War, with Dylan's voice perhaps stronger and clearer than any other recording from this period. It was released by Columbia Records in 2011. Jean Ritchie and Pete Seeger also performed at the festival.

- Masters of War, Brandeis University, 10 May 1963. Duration: 6.28 minutes.

The LP The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was released by Columbia on 27 May 1963. The liner notes by Dylan included the following comment:

I've never written anything like that before. I don't sing songs which hope people will die, but I couldn't help it with this one. (Bob Dylan 1963)

A version of Masters of War was also recorded during September 1963 for a live radio session on the Skip Weshner Show WNCN (FM), New York's first regular folk music show. Though the precise date is not known, it is likely the recording took place at the New York Hi-Fi show held at the New Yorker Hotel between 11-15 September 1963 [NB: This performance is also listed as occurring during February 1963].

- Masters of War, Skip Weshner Show radio broadcast, September 1963. Duration: 5.13 minutes.

The next known and available recorded version of the song comes from Dylan's Carnegie Hall concert of 26 October 1963.

- Masters of War, Carnegie Hall, New York, 26 October 1963. Duration: 4.10 minutes.

In his introduction to the song, after referring to his belief in the Biblical Ten Commandments, Dylan stated, somewhat emphatically: Some people say this song I wrote is very naive. But I've got to stand here and really not care, because I do, actually, hope that the Masters of War die tomorrow (Bob Dylan 26 October 1963).

Following the release and success of the album and song, Jean Richie registered copyright over her version of Fair Nottamun Town in 1965 and subsequently sued Dylan for breach of copyright. They settled out of court for a sum of $5,000, with Ritchie conceding any future claims to Dylan's version of Masters of War. In an interview with John Cohen and Happy Traum published in the October / November 1968 edition of Sing Out, there was the following discussion regarding the song and its context as part of the protest movement:

Happy Traum: I don't feel that there is much difference between your work now and your earlier work. I can see a continuity of ideas, although they're not as politically as black and white as they once were. Masters of War was a pretty black and white song. It wasn't too equivocal.  You took a stand.

Bob Dylan: That was an easy thing to do. There were thousands and thousands of people just wanting that song, so I wrote it up. What I'm doing now isn't more difficult, but I no longer have the capacity to feed this force which is needing all these songs. I know the force exists, but my insight has turned into something else. I might meet one person now and the same thing  can happen between that person (and myself) that used to happen between thousands (Cott 2006, Heylan 2009) 

No live recording by Dylan of Masters of War exists after 1963 until 1978. Why he stopped singing the song is not known. However, after that date it remained a mainstay of his performances through to the present day. His 1978 performances were electric. He states that he first performed an acoustic version during a performance at Hiroshima in 1994.

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* 1978

In 1978 Dylan restored Masters of War to his live shows in a heavy-rock guise during an extensive world tour which ran throughout the year. The lead guitar work of Billy Cross was prominent by the time of the American leg in December.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance, Nashville Municipal Auditorium, 2 December 1978. Billy Cross on lead guitar. Duration: 4.49 minutes.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance, Berlin, 29 August 1978, duration: 4.30 minutes.

 
- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance, Berlin, 29 August 1978, duration: 4.50 minutes.
 
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* 1984

In 1984 Dylan noted the following in regard to the song:

If I wrote a song like 'Masters of War' now I wouldn't feel I'd have to write another one for two weeks ... The old records I used to make, by the time they came out I wouldn't even want them released because I was already so far beyond them. (Heylan 2009).

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance, Vienna, 6 June 1984, duration: 6.10 minutes. NB: A large collection of versions of the song from this European tour and later tours are available on the YouTube Irenehilda channel, uploaded during 2023.

In the notes accompanying the 3-disc Biography collection released by Columbia in 1985, Dylan was quoted in regard to Masters of War, following on the suggestion put to him that, at the time it was written and released, the song was his goodbye to protest music:

That's pretty self-explanatory that song. But I never felt it was goodbye, or hello (to protest). I was just there. I was just in it, if I wasn't, I wasn't. But I did what I could while I was there, you know. I don't know, in lots of ways, I'm still there in some kind of way, not protest for protest sake but always in the struggle for peoples' freedom, individual or otherwise. I hate oppression, especially on children.

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* 1986

During 1986 Dylan toured with the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers band as backup. A rock version of the song once again featured.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Sydney, 24 February 1986. Duration: 5.23 minutes. See also here.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, live performance with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Buffalo, New York, 4 July 1986. Duration: 4.41 minutes.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, New York, 15 July 1986. Duration: 5.20 minutes.

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* 1989

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, Ottawa, 30 July 1989.  Duration: 3.34 minutes. Electric. 

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* 1991

In 1991 Dylan performed Masters of War at Radio City Music Hall as part of receiving a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. At the time he noted that he performed the song because:

... the [Gulf] War [was] going on and all that .... [Masters of War] has got nothing to do with being anti-war. It has more to do with the military industrial complex that Eisenhower was talking about (Heylan 2009).

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 20 February 1991.  Duration: 3.34 minutes.

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* 1992

 - Masters of War, electric live performance, circa 1992. Duration: 5.15 minutes.

 

During the 1992 live performance, Dylan introduced the song as follows: "...I wrote this song about 30 years ago, I guess, during my so-called protest period. Anyway, I still play it. It seems to hold up well."

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* 1994

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, acoustic live performance, Hiroshima, February 1994. Duration: 5.03 minutes. Acoustic rendition with backing. First acoustic performance since 1993.

- Masters of War, Woodstock 94, 1994, duration: 5.18 minutes.

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* 1995

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, Paris, 24 March 1995, duration: 4.40 minutes. Electric.

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* 1997

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, extended acoustic live performance, Wayne, 13 April 1997, duration: 7.30 minutes.

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* 1998

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, acoustic live performance, San Jose Cafe, 19 May 1998. Duration: 5.21 minutes.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, acoustic live performance, Copenhagen, 11 June 1998. Duration: 6.20 minutes.

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* 1999

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, live performance, Zurich, 25 April 1999. From the I Need a Piano tour. Duration: 5.14 minutes.

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* 2001

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, acoustic live performance, Hiroshima, F10 March 2001, duration: 5.40 minutes. Acoustic rendition with backing.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, acoustic live performance, Anzio, 24 July 2001, duration: 5.05 minutes. Acoustic rendition with backing.

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* 2002

 - Bob Dylan, Masters of War, Berlin, 11 April 2002, duration: 5.10 minutes. Acoustic.

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, Brighton, 4 May 2002, duration: 5.30 minutes. Acoustic + electric.

 
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* 2004

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, Atlanta, 13 April 2002, duration: 5.45 minutes. Acoustic.

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* 2007

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, live performance, 22 September 2007. Duration: 5.20 minutes.

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* 2010

-  Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance, Tokyo, 23 March 2010. Duration: 5.50 minutes. 

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* 2016

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, electric live performance, Coachella, California, 7 October 2016. Duration: 4.37 minutes.

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* 2019

- Bob Dylan, Masters of War, Crackdown 2 Remix, 2019. Duration: 4.56 minutes.

The song Masters of War lives on with its creator, and with the world around him. May it live on, like his memory, when he is with us no more.

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Versions by other artists 1963-2020

Masters of War has remained popular with other artist and performers, most notably Eddie Vedder of Pearl Jam who performed it at the 1992 Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Concert and subsequently, and later by Ed Sheeran in 2013 for the One Campaign fight against global poverty. The following is a list of some of these versions.

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References

Bjorner, It Ain't Me Babe, bjorner.com [website], 2020. Available URL: http://www.bjorner.com/songsm.htm#_Masters_Of_War.

Bob Dylan [website], 2020. Available URL: http://www.bobdylan.com/.

Cott, Jonathan, Dylan on Dylan: The Essential Interviews, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 2006, 447p.

Dunn, Tom, The Bob Dylan Copyright Files, 1962-2007, 2008.

Ephron, Nora and Edmiston, Susan, Interview with Bob Dylan, Positively Tie Dream, August 1965. Available URL: https://www.interferenza.net/bcs/interw/65-aug.htm.

Heylan, Clinton, Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan 1957-1973, Chicago Review Press, 2009, 482p. 

Lomax, Alan, Masters of War - song and commentary [audio], Alan Lomax Archive, New York, 26 January 1963. 

Object History, Review: Masters of War [Video], YouTube, 20 April 2018. Duration 13.01 minutes. URL:  https://youtu.be/zLnI2CfguP8.

Review: Masters of War, Object History, 20 April 2018.

Organ, Michael, Cool Reception - Bob Dylan in London 1962 [blog], 22 April 2018. Available URL: http://dylanlondon.blogspot.com/.

Masters of War, Secondhand Songs [website], 2020. Available URL: https://secondhandsongs.com/performance/401597/all.

Masters of War by Bob Dylan, Music Politics [blog], University of Alabama College of Arts & Sciences, 30 November 2015. Available URL: https://musicpolitics.as.ua.edu/timeline-articles/masters-of-war-by-bob-dylan/. 

Washington, Jackie, Nottamun Town, Vanguard Records, New York, 1962. Available URL: 

Wikipedia, Nottamun Town, Wikipedia, 2020.

Masters of War - live version (The Avener Rework) [long remix], 2018. Duration: 5.30 minutes.

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Blowing in the Mind 1967 | Brett Whiteley & Dylan | Don't Look Back 1967 | Film Script | London 1962-3 | Masters of War

Last updated: 15 August 2023.

Michael Organ, Australia

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