Last month I wrote about the little-known Bob Dylan song “Love is Just a Four-Letter Word” that was covered and recorded by Joan Baez.  This month I want to introduce another topic on Dylan which I wrote about before in my previous column on FolkWorks.

As scholars of Dylan know, he was at that time becoming steeped in the melodies, styles and repertoire of the folkies, musicians and writers in his New York City community who revived, recorded and performed the traditional folk songs from sources that included the British Isles and the Southern United States.

On his first album in 1962 Dylan covered many of these songs in his own style.  Those songs included “Man of Constant Sorrow,” “Gospel Plow,” “House of the Risin’ Sun,” “Pretty Peggy-O” and “See That My Grave is Kept Clean.”  In October of 1962 he released “Live at the Gaslight” from a performance which included a wide range of traditional songs like “The Cuckoo,”  “The Moonshiner” and “Barbara Allen.”

It’s not much of a stretch then to believe that Dylan was exposed to the traditional melody for Jean Ritchie’s arrangement of “Nottamun Town” somewhere in all his deep education of traditional melodies.  As Wikipedia explains, this melody, however, had a hitch:

From Wikipedia:

As with several of his early songs, Dylan adapted or “borrowed” melodies from traditional songs. In the case of “Nottamun Town,” however, the arrangement was by veteran folksinger Jean Ritchie.  Unknown to Dylan, the song had been in Ritchie’s family for generations, and she wanted a writing credit for her arrangement. In a legal settlement, Dylan’s lawyers paid Ritchie $5,000 against any further claims.

And the song that Dylan used this melody for was “Masters of War.”

In a talk one day with Jean herself, I was lucky to find this out first hand.

“Masters of War” is a well-known and powerful protest song from Dylan, written in 1962-63.  It was written and released on the album “The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan” in the spring of 1963. Dylan’s lyrics are a protest against the Cold War nuclear arms build-up of the early 1960s.

Even though Jean Ritchie was ultimately acknowledged and compensated, neither she nor other traditional sources have ever been credited as the original source material for his song.

If you have time, read the article below on the origins of “Nottamun Town.”  It’s kind of great and amazing that we are here today in the 21st century singing a melody that has such ancient origins – indeed back to the medieval age.

Read Wikipedia on Nottamun Town Origins

Masters of War

Come you masters of war, you that build the big guns
You that build the death planes, you that build all the bombs
You that hide behind wall, you that hide behind desks
I just want you to know I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin’ but build to destroy
You play with my world like it’s your little toy
You put a gun in my hand and you hide from my eyes
And 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 fasten all the triggers for the others to fire
Then you sit back and watch when the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion while the young people’s blood
Flows out of their bodies and is 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
That 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 will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die and your death will come soon
I’ll follow your casket by the pale afternoon
And I’ll watch while you’re lowered down to your deathbed
And I’ll stand over your grave ‘til I’m sure that you’re dead

Nottamun Town

In fair Nottamun Town, not a soul would look up
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
Not a soul would look up, not a soul would look down
To show me the way to fair Nottamun Town

I rode a grey horse, a mule roany mare
Grey mane and grey tail, green striped on his back
Grey mane and grey tail, green striped on his back
There weren’t a hair on her but what was coal black

She stood so still, She threw me to the dirt
She tore-a my hide, and she bruised my shirt
From saddle to stirrup I mounted again
And on my ten toes I rode over the plain

Met the King and the Queen and the company more
Came a riding behind and a walking before
Come a stark naked drummer, a-beating a drum
With his heels in his bosom come marching along

They laughed and they smiled, not a soul did look gay
They talked all the while, not a word they did say
I bought me a quart to drive gladness away
And to stifle the dust, for it rained the whole day

Sat down on a hard, hot cold frozen stone
Ten thousand stood round me yet I was alone
Took my hat in my hand, for to keep my head warm
Ten thousand got drowned that never was born

______________________________________________________

As always, thanks for reading! 
Love and Blessings,

Susie

________________________________________________
Award-winning recording artist, Broadway singer, journalist, educator and critically-acclaimed powerhouse vocalist, Susie Glaze has been called “one of the most beautiful voices in bluegrass and folk music today” by Roz Larman of KPFK’s Folk Scene.  LA Weekly voted her ensemble Best New Folk in their Best of LA Weekly for 2019, calling Susie “an incomparable vocalist.”  “A flat out superb vocalist… Glaze delivers warm, amber-toned vocals that explore the psychic depth of a lyric with deft acuity and technical perfection.”  As an educator, Susie has lectured at USC Thornton School of Music and Cal State Northridge on “Balladry to Bluegrass,” illuminating the historical path of ancient folk forms in the United Kingdom to the United States via immigration into the mountains of Appalachia.  Susie has taught workshops since 2018 at California music camps RiverTunes and Vocáli Voice Camp.  She is a current specialist in performance and historian on the work of American folk music icon, Jean Ritchie.  Susie now offers private voice coaching online via the Zoom platform.   www.susieglaze.com