Abused By Illusions

Back in the days when this was a free country, it was possible to sing an antiwar song like "Masters of War" without having to give the Secret Service a second thought.

But 41 years after Bob Dylan recorded his elegiac, acoustically spare meditation on the folly of war, the lyrics are still causing trouble with those H.L.Mencken referred to as the "booboisie."

Last week, radio talk shows in Colorado were abuzz over a local punk band's plans to cover "Masters of War" at a Friday night talent show at Boulder High School. Rumors about the band, which drolly calls itself the Coalition of the Willing, prompted calls to the Secret Service in Denver because of alleged threats against President Bush. The "threat" consisted of the following copyrighted lyrics:

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

Never mind that the intent of the song was to use a corpse as a metaphor for the Cold War-era U.S. military, people still called talk shows in Boulder insisting that the lyrics were about assassinating George Bush! These days, high school students who call themselves the Coalition of the Willing are assumed to be seditious until proven innocent.

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