Different versions of the same song.
Diverse versioni della stessa canzone.
Diferentes versiones de la misma canciòn.
THE PATRIOT GAME
written by Dominic Behan (Ireland)
re-edited by Bob Dylan with the title WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE
excerpts from the tracks:
Original version by Dominic Behan: THE PATRIOT GAME
- Clancy Brothers & Tommy Makem: “The patriot game” (album “In Person at Carnegie Hall”, 2000)
- Kingston Trio: “The patriot game” (album “The capitol years”)
- Judy Collins: “The patriot game” (album “Whales and Nightingales”, 1970)
- the Alias Acoustic Band: “The patriot game” (album “Irish songs of rebellion”, 1998)
Bob Dylan version: WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE (Lyrics by Bob Dylan)
- the Neville Brothers: “With God on our side” (album “Yellow moon”, 1989)
- Joan Baez: “With God on our side” (”Rare live & Classics”)
- Max Romeo: “With God on our side” (reggae version, album “A Little Time For Jah”, 2004)
- Bob Dylan: “With God on our side” (album “The Times they ara a-changin’”, 1963)
Scenes: Revolutions all around the world
Lyrics:
THE PATRIOT GAME
(words a nd music by Dominic Behan)
Come all ye young rebels, and list while I sing,
For the love of one’s country is a terrible thing.
It banishes fear with the speed of a flame,
And it makes us all part of the patriot game.
My name is O’Hanlon, and I’ve just turned sixteen.
My home is in Monaghan, and where I was weaned
I learned all my life cruel England’s to blame,
So now I am part of the patriot game.
This Ireland of ours has too long been half free.
Six counties lie under John Bull’s tyranny.
But still De Valera is greatly to blame
For shirking his part in the Patriot game.
They told me how Connolly was shot in his chair,
His wounds from the fighting all bloody and bare.
His fine body twisted, all battered and lame
They soon made me part of the patriot game.
It’s nearly two years since I wandered away
With the local battalion of the bold IRA,
For I read of our heroes, and wanted the same
To play out my part in the patriot game.
I don’t mind a bit if I shoot down police
They are lackeys for war never guardians of peace
And yet at deserters I’m never let aim
The rebels who sold out the patriot game
And now as I lie here, my body all holes
I think of those traitors who bargained in souls
And I wish that my rifle had given the same
To those Quislings who sold out the patriot game.
WITH GOD ON OUR SIDE
(words by Bob Dylan)
My name it is nothing, my age it means less
The country I come from is a part of the Free West
I was taught and brought up there its laws to abide
And that the land that I live in has God on its side
Oh the history books tell it, they tell it so well
The cavalries charged, the Indians fell
The cavalries charged, the Indians died
For the country was young with God on its side
Oh the Spanish-American War had its day
And the Civil War too Was soon laid away
And the names of the heroes I’s made to memorize
With guns in their hands And God on their side.
Oh the first World War, it came and it went
The reason for fighting I never could get
But I learned to accept it, accept it with pride
For you don’t count the dead when God’s on your side
And then the second World War, it came to an end
We forgave the Germans and now we are friends
Though they murdered six million, in the ovens they fried
The Germans now, too, have God on their side
I’ve learned to hate Russians all through my whole life
If another war starts It’s them we must fight
To hate them and fear them To run and to hide
And accept it all bravely with God on my side
But now we have weapons of chemical dust
And if fire them we’re forced to, why then fire them we must
One push of the button and a shot the worldwide
And you never ask questions when God’s on your side
tho many a long hour I’ve thought on this
That Jesus Christ was betrayed by a kiss
But I can’t think for you, you will have to decide
Whether Judas Iscariot had God on his side
And now as I leave you, I’m weary as
The confusion I’m feelin’, there ain’t no tongue can tell
The words fill my head and drop to the floor
That if God’s on our side, he’ll stop the next war.
Duration : 0:5:57