Re: God Knows this is an historic moment
- From: "Bound for Story" <kenshain@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: 8 May 2006 10:41:09 -0700
Barbara wrote:
"Bound for Story" <kenshain@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1147050102.160953.259320@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I guess u r asking me. What do I think about what exactly?
really real wrote:
So Bob Dylan, for the first time that anyone can remember, did not sing
God Knows on a Sunday last week. Big deal, he sang God Knows on a
Saturday a few weeks before. Skipping God Knows on a Sunday is a minor
thing, an issue only for trivial pursuitists.
However, if Dylan once again refrains from playing God Knows this Sunday
night, then a pattern will be set and history will have been made. This
weird obsession with playing God Knows every Sunday will finally have
been put to rest. And what a strange obsession it has been. Just what
did Dylan think he was doing, playing God Knows each Sunday, except for
holding out a slither of hope to his Christian fans that Bob still
believed in the Tooth Fairy.
There was a time in Bob's career when his albums were entirely Christian
and at his concerts, he played only his Christian songs. This is a time
most Dylan fans would like to forget. But slowly the wise open-minded
Dylan began to return. Songs became secular again. Setlists began to
resemble those of the real Bob Dylan. Now, all we get from those dark
days is Gotta Serve Somebody every now and then, though not on this
tour. God Knows is a much later song, with ambiguous lyrics designed to
satisfy Christians on a Sunday. But for people who have blind faith in a
man in the sky who impregnates virgins, it has certainly been enough.
In recent years, Bob used to sing spirituals at every concert. The
spirituals are now gone. God Knows, tonight, could also be gone.
Went to the May Day festival in the park today and saw the venerated
international workers holiday completely taken over by lifestyle
revolutionaries and a guy dressed
like the Statue of Liberty in a jockstrap. Sad. Must have been the way
Bob felt in the closing days of the seventies when all the young
generation could say was "Party!" and "pass the poppers."
Do you think his so-called Christian phase was his way of saying that
freedom of thought, freedom of speech and freedom of worship were not
the same thing as decadent revelry and the worship of one's freedoms?
I don't see any rupture, break or lack of continuity in his work. He
has always sung about the same kinds of things, only with varying
degrees of clarity and symbolism, depending on the times, which are
always a-changin...
What do you think Barbara?
I wouldn't call his "so-called Christian phase", so-called.
I believe, though I can never say I know it as fact and probably know alot
less less about Bob than most here. But when I read one account of his
conversion to Christianity and when I've read some of his lyrics in those
gospel albums, I believe he meant every word of it and I believe he still
believes what he was saying back then but feels he doesn't have to
speak/sing about it now as he did when he was first converted.
I'm not sure if I answered your question, but I did just give my opinion.
~Barbara~
Barbara,
By so-called conversion, I was referring to the assumption by some
Dylan fans that he somehow had changed and gone through a phase of some
sort when he declared his much-misunderstood conversion.
I used to think that way as well, but have come to understand that
Bob's music before and after these declarations came from the same
spiritual root. The difference, I think, is the clarity of his message,
the symbolism that he used and the audience that he was targeting.
Bob always sought a mass audience for his music and never wanted to be
a spokesman or a niche player. All of his changes were framed by this
desire to appeal to a mass market.
The first time around, Bob "converted" to rock music to broaden this
footprint. He also adopted more esoteric imagery to convey this
message, engaging a willing audience in interpretation and nuance of
meaning. Heady years, those.
Next time around, a few years later, Bob grew frustrated with the wrong
turn that the culture had taken and the craziness in the streets that
subverted the legitimate goals of an entire generation. He was dismayed
how the legitimate and unifying goals of civil rights, peace and
justice were so easily converted into diversionary and divisive
lifestyle issues which tended to repel the masses from the message
itself. His well-known displeasure with this misdirection resulted in
his retreat to the countryside to develop an earthier sound and more
easily understood music. As a result, he stripped his essential sound
back down to the basics, adopted more accessible imagery and
re-targeted it toward a mass audience.
For awhile, it seemed that Bob and the American people enjoyed
something of a reprieve. The values expressed in his songs were once
again on the march and it appeared that the cultural misdirection of
the previous period had been overcome.
But how quickly things change! By the end of the seventies, we once
again saw the lifestyle revolutionaries impose themselves on a growing
mass movement only to subvert all the ground that was regained during
this period. Like many Americans, the decadence of this period
concerned Bob and helped set the stage for another self re-evaluation
of his music.
The third time around, Bob threw it all in and came right out and sang
directly about the things he only alluded to in the past. This new in
your face approach assumed nothing on the part of the listener and his
message was completely unpalatable to the purveyors of decadence at the
time. Called Christian, this music was as humane as any he has ever
made.
Now there are many reasons one could offer why he was so public about
this conversion. Was he trying to make amends for wrongs he committed
in the past? Was he trying to tell someone he has changed? Was he
changing with the times and responding to the market? Was he leading
the times and trying to change the market? Was he trying to regain
control of his song catalog from the Grossmans by discounting his
future in the mainstream? Was he truly overcome by spiritual forces
beyond his control?
Could be all of the above. Or any of them. Or none. In any case, I
think, over time, he became sensitive to the fact that this new
direction, if taken to the extreme, could be just as dangerous as the
misdirections of the past. Just look at the mess our country (and
world) is presently in...
Now for the fourth time around, Bob has developed a musical synthesis
that is perfect for his age, his following and his role in our
nation's history. He is indeed a man of great faith but also a
believer of great fate. Though he still admits that he doesn't
understand all the reasons why things happen, and supposedly has
stopped trying, (providing evidence to the points above that at one
time he did try!) he is still aware that there is a historical process
at work. But his music is no longer ambiguous or outcome-driven.
Remember: It was man that gave names to all the animals...
Christian? Human!
.
- References:
- God Knows this is an historic moment
- From: really real
- Re: God Knows this is an historic moment
- From: Bound for Story
- Re: God Knows this is an historic moment
- From: Barbara
- God Knows this is an historic moment
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