They Killed Him (1986) – Bob Dylan

I was about 14 when I bought the cassette of Dylan’s much-maligned Knocked Out Loaded album. I got a kick out of some of its tracks – including today’s featured song, They Killed Him. Even now, whenever I hear it, the hairs on my arms stand on end. Dylan taking detours into unexpected musical territory was nothing new, but this song really did feel like it came out of left field at the time. It just wasn’t what listeners expected from him then, for several reasons. Let’s unpack them.

Firstly, They Killed Him wasn’t a Dylan original but a cover of a song written by his friend Kris Kristofferson. The two had worked together years earlier on Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid. Secondly, the song harks back in spirit to Dylan’s Christian trilogy: each verse is dedicated to a servant leader who died a martyr’s death – Mahatma Gandhi (SatyaGraha – Truth Insistence), Martin Luther King Jr. (“I Have a Dream”), and Jesus Christ (“Take nothing for the journey”). Thirdly, Dylan closed the track with a full-blown children’s choir – something utterly unlike anything else in his catalogue. Many fans found that part cringe-inducing; I never did. I still find it sweet.

Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven

– Mark 10, Luke 18, and Matthew 18

Kristofferson himself first released They Killed Him on his October 1986 album Repossessed, where he also added a final verse referencing the Kennedy brothers. Before Kristofferson’s own version appeared, however, Johnny Cash had recorded the song in 1984 as one of his last singles for Columbia Records. Dylan’s recording, released on Knocked Out Loaded in July 1986, also predated Kristofferson’s release by a few months. Later, Kristofferson’s supergroup The Highwaymen (with Cash, Willie Nelson, and Waylon Jennings) gave the song a memorable treatment on their 1990 album Highwayman 2.

As an aside, Knocked Out Loaded also features another cover (of an old hymn) that has long fascinated me – Precious Memories, which I wrote about back in March 2024. I’ve always been perplexed at how overlooked and underrated that track is, perhaps because the whole album was dismissed so harshly. Unlike other Dylan records, age hasn’t been especially kind to its reputation either.

[Verse 1]
There was a man named Mahatma Gandhi
He would not bow down he would not fight
He knew the deal was down and dirty
And nothing wrong could make it right away
But he knew his duty and the price he had to pay
Just another holy man who tried to be a friend
My God, they killed him

[Verse 2]
Another man from Atlanta, Georgia
By name of Martin Luther King
He shook the land like the rolling thunder
And made the bells of freedom ring today
With a dream of beauty that they could not take away
Just another holy man who dared to make a stand
My God, they killed him

[Verse 3]
The only Son of God Almighty
The holy one called Jesus Christ
He healed the sick and fed the hungry
And for his love they took his life away
On the road to glory where the story never ends
Just the holy Son of Man I’ll never understand
My God, they killed him

[Verse 4]
There was a man named Mahatma Gandhi
A man named Martin Luther King
The only Son of God Almighty
The holy one called Jesus Christ
On the road to glory where the story never ends
Just the holy Son of Man we’ll never understand
My God, they killed him

References:
1. They Killed Him – Wikipedia