At the time he recorded his "gospels" Dylan was very close to Christian fundementalists of the same breed that now reign the White House. (I don't want to talk politics now...). That's what pushed me away from the songs, but now I see a master of words and music testing just another style, probing into it.
It's interesting that as soon as Dylan realised the political connections of the Vineyard Fellowship (the fundamentalists he flirted with) he ran a mile. The Vineyard's Pastor and several Vineyard liggers formed part of his ontourage in 1979/80. Dylan even initially submitted his material to them for theological approval .. but soon tired of that and complained that things around them were "too tight", that they wanted to censor his output and he couldn't behave as he wished to around them. At this time Dylan performed only songs, "written off the gospel", as he put it. However, some sentiments obviously slipped past the censors e.g. "People starving & thirsting/Grain elevators are bursting/You know it costs more to store the food/Than it do to give it" ... hardly the position of the masters of war in the White House. By autumn 1980 the vineyard liggers had vanished from the entourage.
I don't think Dylan was just testing a style ... Paul Williams has written that Dylan was in the "first flush of a love affair with Christ". He was 100% sincere when he wrote those songs .... and many of the songs on Saved are incredibly moving. I guess afterwards he just complicated his thinking a bit.
Leonard vs. Bob
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Jonnie Falafel
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tom.d.stiller
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Hi Jonnie,
I knew I knew that unmarked quote somehow...
I didn't question Dylan's sincerity in writing his gospels. Nor was it my intention to politically discredit his works of that period.
At that time (1979/1980) I was repelled by his new attitude, since I was as atheistic then as I am now. And I was aware of his coming very close to people I politically disliked. Looking back now, I realize there's more to the stuff he wrote then. It is not necessary to share his then-time beliefs to appreciate his works from that period.
Looking at Dylan's "periods": When Dylan did what I retrospectively describe as "testing", "probing", he always did it at full speed, with full conviction, full commitment, "100%". Another example could be his short love affair with being a "country crooner".
Distances, reflection, "complicated thinking" always came afterwards. That's the way Mr. Zimmerman is. He goes his way. Later he might change his mind, and he often did.
Tom
I knew I knew that unmarked quote somehow...
I didn't question Dylan's sincerity in writing his gospels. Nor was it my intention to politically discredit his works of that period.
At that time (1979/1980) I was repelled by his new attitude, since I was as atheistic then as I am now. And I was aware of his coming very close to people I politically disliked. Looking back now, I realize there's more to the stuff he wrote then. It is not necessary to share his then-time beliefs to appreciate his works from that period.
Looking at Dylan's "periods": When Dylan did what I retrospectively describe as "testing", "probing", he always did it at full speed, with full conviction, full commitment, "100%". Another example could be his short love affair with being a "country crooner".
Distances, reflection, "complicated thinking" always came afterwards. That's the way Mr. Zimmerman is. He goes his way. Later he might change his mind, and he often did.
Tom