Masters Of War by Bob Dylan Some time ago I worked out a version with a Capo on the 2nd fret. I think Dylan moves from a Dm to a form of 'C' which the top three strings are unused/muted so just uses his index finger to make: E x - A x - D x - G 0 - B 1 - E 0 In parts he pulls the index off for one downstroke, to add a bit of complexity from that C shape - creating an effective Em: E x - A x - D x - G 0 - B 0 - E 0 this is particularly noticeable in the final line of the verses. The strum pattern is, if ^ = upstroke v = downstroke V v ^ v ^ V ^ v ^ V v ^ v ^ V ^ v ^ Dm C (Em) Dm C (repeat times x 12) V v ^ v ^ V ^ v ^ V v ^ v ^ V ^ v ^ Dm C Em Am Am Masters Of War - Bob Dylan (Capo 2) Dm C Dm C Come you masters of war Dm C Dm C You that build the big guns Dm C Dm C You that build all the bombs Dm C Dm C You that hide behind walls Dm C Dm C You that hide behind desks Dm C Em Am I just want you to know I can see through your Dm C Dm C masks Repeat for following verses... You that never have done nothin' but build to destroy You play with my world like it's your little toy You put a gun in my hand then you hide from my eyes Then you turn and run farther when the fast bullets fly Like Judas of old you lie and deceive A world war can be won, you want me to believe But I see through your eyes and I see through your brain Like I see through the water that runs down my drain You that fasten all the triggers for the others to fire Then you sit back and watch while the death count gets higher You hide in your mansions while the young people's blood Flows out of their bodies and gets buried in the mud You've thrown the worst fear that can ever be hurled Fear to bring children into the world For threatening my baby, unborn and unnamed You ain't worth the blood that runs in your veins How much do I know to talk out of turn You might say that I'm young, you might say I'm unlearned But there's one thing I know, though I'm younger than you Even Jesus would never forgive what you do 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 won't ever buy back your soul And I hope that you die and your death will come soon I'll follow your casket through the pale afternoon And I'll watch while you're lowered into your death-bed Then I'll stand over your grave till I'm sure that you're Dead On the final word 'dead' strum Dm hard and quickly to end. A great anti-warmonger poem. Nice and simple left hand guitaring like much of Dylan's work. The great sound comes from the strumming. You can sing it as out of tune as you like and it still sounds great! Best, Dion dion@rowntree.to
