Talk:Only a Pawn in Their Game

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thread_title: Image copyright problem with Image:TimesChangin'.jpg

message: The following was right at the bottom of the article, looks like a copyvio, but I'll leave it here in case it is not.
The problems of society have seemed to make their way in to the hearts and lyrics of many different artists.  The young Bob Dylan was no exception to this stereotype.  His songs spoke to the time and problems of his day. With the civil rights movement in full force and the war in Vietnam on every one’s mind, Dylan’s lyrics touched people where they are. His melodies are simple, but the words are deep. “Only a Pawn in Their game” is another of Dylan’s songs that spoke to oppressed people.
This song was written right after the death of   Medgar Evers.  Evers was a member of the NAACP and part of the civil rights movement. Just a few hours after Kennedy had given his civil rights speech “A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers' blood.” Evers was carrying an arm full of tee shirts that read “Jim Crow Must Go”.  His murder Byron De La Beckwith was a member of the KKK. He was tried twice that year but his all white jury couldn’t decide on a verdict. 
“A bullet from the back of a bush took Medgar Evers’ blood” is the first line of this song by Dylan.  The rest of the first verse talks about how Evers assassin hid in the dark ,took aim, and put a bullet “behind a man’s brain”. Then Dylan finishes this verse and points to the theme of the rest of the song. “But he can’t be blamed He’s only a pawn in their game.” Dylan is talking about Evers white assassin. He uses the rest of his song to point out how racisms is a tool used by the rich whites to keep their control of America. Evers and Beckwith were both simply pawns in the game played by the whites in power.
In each verse Dylan points out how this system keeps the “poor whites” and “negros” under the elites thumb in this game of life.  In the second verse Dylan talks about “a south politician” preaching to the poor white man, telling him how the white man has more than the blacks not to complain. The politician promotes white supremacy just to gain a vote.  The third verse Dylan goes on to point how flawed the justice system is. He says that the poor white man is taught in school that the law is on his side “To protect his white skin.” The poor white man is taught “to keep up his hate”, and therefore he has a flawed view and doesn’t see just how bad his life is. “But it ain't him to blame he's only a pawn in their game.”
	With two verses left Dylan starts to get back to how this misguided view of view of the world caused the death of Evers. In the fourth verse he goes on to point out how the poverty of the poor white causes hate to be built up. Dylan then goes on to say how the poor white is taught to fight, “to hang and to lynch.” The members of the KKK like Beckwith hang and lynch and hide beneath their white hood. Dylan said that he was taught “To kill with no pain like a dog on a chain.” Beckwith was just part of this system, and it was this system that had control of the chain.
Dylan closes the song by talking about Medgar Evers funeral. He said that “they lowered him down as a king.” Evers was buried with full military honor. Dylan then talks about Beckwith again and points out that one time it will be his time for burial.  He contrast Evers funeral to that of a king, but points out that when Beckwith dies he dies “Only a pawn in their game.” As we look back at this song almost fifty years later we see and understand the struggle that reformers such as Evers faced. We see that for America to get where she is today blood was shed, and that racism wasn’t just a hate held by a few but a system that was broken. This system needed its flaws to be shown to the world and that’s what Dylan helped to do through this song and many others like it.
Brandon Gross
--Richhoncho (talk) 20:21, 27 February 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Text from article. 

message: Thought all covers are generally mentioned under the popular culture part.. I was going to add that Morrissey covered it, but am too inexperienced to know how to link to Morrissey's Wikipedia. :/ Help? Glorialafolle (talk) 12:21, 25 June 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Is there a reason Morrissey's cover isn't mentioned?