NP? Masters of War

[Doug Millison]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4474134,00.html
When Dylan played Newport in 1965 he shocked the crowd. Will he do so again
when he returns tomorrow?

"[...] What will Dylan play on Saturday night? With Dylan, it's anyone's
guess. However, one number featured in recent outings is Masters of War,
his 1963 assault on the military-industrial complex. When he performed this
in the US after September 11, many in the audience seized on it as an
indictment, not of a cabinet stuffed with arms dealers, but of America's
enemies in the war on terror. Some fans punctuated the master's rendition
with lusty shouts of "Death to Bin Laden".

It is unlikely Dylan will ever tell us why he chose to sing this song at
this moment. However, it is worth noting that he plucked out the same song
at the 1991 Grammy ceremony during the Gulf war. If there is an all-out war
on Iraq in the coming months, no one should be surprised if a new
generation finds meaning in the old lyrics: "You fasten the triggers/for
others to fire/ then you set back and watch/ when the death count gets
higher." Or, more importantly, composes new ones. In doing so, they could
study Dylan at Newport in 1965, in all its glorious contradictions, to some
advantage. "