I had read somewhere that the song was comparing US history to the Roman Empire (nonlinearly of course). The first verse is obviously about slavery, which existed in both societies at one point or another. The final two verses appear to be about how all empires eventually fall, and how the American "empire" would follow in the steps of Rome in that respect if we continued to commit collective suicide through war. It was, after all, written in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War, a war that many considered to be imperialistic and/or futile. That was the central message I think, since Ochs himself was strongly anti-war. The other verses are less clear, but someone told me that the fifth verse was a Holocaust reference (due to the mention of turning on the gas, as in gas chamber).
I had read somewhere that the song was comparing US history to the Roman Empire (nonlinearly of course). The first verse is obviously about slavery, which existed in both societies at one point or another. The final two verses appear to be about how all empires eventually fall, and how the American "empire" would follow in the steps of Rome in that respect if we continued to commit collective suicide through war. It was, after all, written in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War, a war that many considered to be imperialistic and/or futile. That was the central message I think, since Ochs himself was strongly anti-war. The other verses are less clear, but someone told me that the fifth verse was a Holocaust reference (due to the mention of turning on the gas, as in gas chamber).