"Only a Pawn in Their Game"
A bullet from the back of a bush
Took Medgar Evers' blood
A finger fired the trigger to his name
A handle hid out in the dark
A hand set the spark
Two eyes took the aim
Behind a man's brain
But he can't be blamed
He's only a pawn in their game.
This part here is describing how a man named Medgar Evers died, he was a African American civil rights activist who was killed by Byron De La Beckwith. In the song, Bob Dylan is saying that Byron shouldn't be blamed because he is only a pawn in the game of the white supremacist, to cause and uproar in the African American community.
A South politician preaches to the poor white man
"You got more than the blacks, don't complain
You're better than them, you been born with white skin," they explain
And the Negro's name
Is used, it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
In this verse, it is describing how politicians used African Americans to divert the white peoples frustrations over the increase in taxes and low employment away from them. The politicians are using blacks as a scape goat to prevent the whites from pointing their anger in the right direction, which is why white people are still suffering from the corrupt authority of the politicians.
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
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
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.
This verse is describing how white people are being lied to by the politicians to believe that the law is working in their favor. This is a problem because while the whites are busy directing their hate towards black people, the politicians get away with wronging everyone. They are using the anger and frustrations of white people as a pawn in their game of corrupt politics.
From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
And the hoofbeats pound in his brain
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide 'neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain't got no name
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
Bob Dylan is saying in this verse that people are taught to blame others for their problems, which continues the cycle of hate and people shooting one another. They do this instead of blaming the those who are teaching them to hate each other, because they just might be the "real" problem not blacks or whites.
Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
They lowered him down as a king
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
That fired the gun
He'll see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain
"You got more than the blacks, don't complain
You're better than them, you been born with white skin," they explain
And the Negro's name
Is used, it is plain
For the politician's gain
As he rises to fame
And the poor white remains
On the caboose of the train
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
In this verse, it is describing how politicians used African Americans to divert the white peoples frustrations over the increase in taxes and low employment away from them. The politicians are using blacks as a scape goat to prevent the whites from pointing their anger in the right direction, which is why white people are still suffering from the corrupt authority of the politicians.
The deputy sheriffs, the soldiers, the governors get paid
And the marshals and cops get the same
But the poor white man's used in the hands of them all like a tool
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
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.
This verse is describing how white people are being lied to by the politicians to believe that the law is working in their favor. This is a problem because while the whites are busy directing their hate towards black people, the politicians get away with wronging everyone. They are using the anger and frustrations of white people as a pawn in their game of corrupt politics.
From the poverty shacks, he looks from the cracks to the tracks
And the hoofbeats pound in his brain
And he's taught how to walk in a pack
Shoot in the back
With his fist in a clinch
To hang and to lynch
To hide 'neath the hood
To kill with no pain
Like a dog on a chain
He ain't got no name
But it ain't him to blame
He's only a pawn in their game.
Bob Dylan is saying in this verse that people are taught to blame others for their problems, which continues the cycle of hate and people shooting one another. They do this instead of blaming the those who are teaching them to hate each other, because they just might be the "real" problem not blacks or whites.
Today, Medgar Evers was buried from the bullet he caught
They lowered him down as a king
But when the shadowy sun sets on the one
That fired the gun
He'll see by his grave
On the stone that remains
Carved next to his name
His epitaph plain
Only a pawn in their game.
From what can be gathered throughout the song, Bob Dylan is trying to say that everyone, regardless of race, loses when they give in to racism and start blaming each other. Events such as this are orchestrated by those in power to keep people from dealing with the real issue, these events are pawns in the sick game being played by politicians to gain an advantage in politics.
I wish politicians back then, and even now weren't able to get away with using everyday people as their pawns. They need to realize that a lot of society puts more trust into them and their careers than they'd like to think.
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