| Bob Dylan – Only a Pawn in Their Game Lyrics | 13 years ago |
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"The phrase "only a pawn in their game" is not saying that the poor white man is only a pawn in the government's larger scheme, as is often reflected in the above posts." No, that is exactly what it is about. You're deeply misinterpreting and, in some cases, simply misunderstanding the lyrics. For example, in the closing lines of the song, you somehow read into the lyrics that Dylan is describing Medgar Evers as a pawn, but that is not the case. Evers is lowered into his grave as a king, it is "the one who fired the gun" whose epitaph reads: "Only a pawn in their game." You further misinterpret his lyrics when you suggest that Dylan means "unfortunate" when he describes the white man as poor. This is not the case, when Dylan describes "the poor white man," he means poor in the most literal sense of the word: having little or no money. Finally, you mention the following lyrics, but leave out the line which completes the point: He's taught in his school From the start by the rule That the laws are with him To protect his white skin To keep up his hate [b]So he never thinks straight 'Bout the shape that he's in But it ain't him to blame He's only a pawn in their game.[/b] What these lyrics - and the song as a whole - mean, is that the poor (as in destitute, not unfortunate) white man is taught to viciously defend his position on the lowest rung of the mythical ladder of opportunity from the black man, so that he'll be distracted from looking up the ladder and focusing his attention on those who are actually responsible for his problems. This is an argument that predates Dylan at least as far back as the end of the 19th century, as is reflected in this 1892 quote by Thomas E. Watson: “You are kept apart that you may be separately fleeced of your earnings. You are made to hate each other because upon that hatred is rested the keystone of the arch of financial despotism which enslaves you both. You are deceived and blinded that you may not see how this race antagonism perpetuates a monetary system which beggars both.” |
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