Robert Allen Zimmerman known as Bob Dylan is and will always be recognized as a magnificent composer. Artists refer him as an influence and inspiration. Dylan’s music narrates the feeling of an era. Bob Dylan wrote a significant amount of songs that addresses the issue of war. The songs were considered by the public as anti-war songs this was the case of “Masters of War” (Dylan, 1963, USA). However, Dylan never meant to make an anti-war song; as he referred in an interview to the USAToday newspaper “Supposed to be a pacifistic song against war. It's not an anti-war song. It's speaking against what Eisenhower was calling a military industrial complex as he was making his exit from the presidency. That spirit was in the air, and I picked it up” (Dylan quoted USAToday, 2001). “Masters of War” talks about the players and the effect of them during war. Forty years later the song had provided a new vocabulary to artist to express their feelings. Bands like Pearl Jam and the Roots have covered the song as tribute to the lyrics. Each band has provided their own style in order to approach their own audiences. The song has gain social and political value with these bands’s audience. Nonetheless, this essay will approach the cover made by hip-hop group, The Roots, made in the 2007 Coachella festival. The Roots re-interpreted the song by altering the lyrics and rhythm of the song. They re-invented the song by removing from the 1963s era and placing it in the 2000s era within the anti-Iraq war discourse.
The song “Masters of War” was written in a different era. However, what inspired Dylan to write that song was to bring a peace message. Nonetheless, the song can be performed and interpreted within any war subtheme because the general point is there. When United States decide to invade Iraq in 2003, several protest all around the world occurred. Massive movements of people walk the streets raising the voice against war. Nonetheless, nothing happened, United States invaded...