Posted on 12/27/2004 11:51:13 PM PST by goldstategop
He was no fundamentalist, that is for sure.
the press kept promoting me as a mouthpiece, spokesman, or even conscience of a generation. That was funny. All I'd ever done was sing songs that were dead straight and expressed powerful new realities. I had very little in common with and knew even less about a generation that I was supposed to be the voice of.
I find this hard to believe. Are we talking about the same Bob Dylan? Not really, he is forty years older now and he sees things differently. But, I still remember.
I believe you are wrong about that.
Interesting, thanks; Thanks!
Very interesting article. I know that GA Jimmy also tried to ride the Bob Dylan popularity in the political sphere.
"He's up for a Nobel Peace Prize this year in Journalism for his songwriting"
If he did he wouldn't have had people all over his roof.
I don't know what you remember but what I remember is the attempts of every Leftist to claim Dylan as a fellow traveler and his determined silence outside his songs. Many a anti-war rally advertised his upcoming presence and every one was disappointed when he never showed.
His early songs were of a social protest nature generally associated with Leftism but which also appealed to those who just had a concern about Justice and Injustice eminently American concerns.
Then you dont know what a Fundamentalist is.
Welcome to the online home of The Fundamentals. This site will eventually contain all four volumes of The Fundamentals: A Testimony to the Truth, published by Baker Books. The site is intended to serve as a resource for and defense of essential Christian doctrine, as was intended by those men who authored The Fundamentals and those who funded the work.
http://www.xmission.com/~fidelis/index.html
I thought him to be a radical. I am a child of the 60's. Couldn't stand his voice. did enjoy many of his songs (or poems). Maybe I'll take a look at it. Thanks.
Now that is quick information. He converted to Christianity I believe in the late 50s early 60s and the references and allusions start to make a heavy presence.
Here's an excerpt.
For those hoping that Dylan’s fanaticism was only a one-shot deal, Saved was proof that his convictions were real. "By His grace I have been touched, by His word I have been healed, by His hand I've been delivered, by His spirit I've been sealed" went the title song and the rest of the album followed suit.
While it contained a few of Dylan’s best "gospel" songs—"Solid Rock" and "In the Garden" stand beside any of his best—the album seemed uninspired.
His next album Shot of Love contained songs that were not explicitly Christian—although most were along the lines of "Property of Jesus" and "Every Grain of Sand"—and by Infidels in 1983, with only one song, "Man of Peace," directly religious in content, the rumors began to fly. A New York magazine headline read, "Dylan Ditching Gospel?"
Today, the general opinion is that Dylan flirted with Christianity the same as he did with amphetamines or country music in the ‘60s, abandoning them for whatever his next phase was.
But in Restless Pilgrim (Relevant Books), Marshall argues that Dylan has maintained his Christian beliefs. "I think he’s mellowed, but it’s a reasonable conclusion that Dylan has maintained his faith in Jesus, as expressed through his songs," says Marshall. "I don’t think I’m projecting my personal beliefs on Dylan, because I listened to Dylan before I was Christian, and I didn’t even listen to those records, I guess because I thought they were too religious, maybe. And once I had my experience, I was curious as to what happened to Dylan, and when I heard those songs, I was like, ‘Whoa!’ I knew something had happened to him when I heard those songs, they were right to the heart."
Dylan is one of my favorite songwriters. As you said, His early songs were of a social protest nature generally associated with Leftism. He may say that he was doing what good writers do, reflecting the mood of the times, which he was. As a matter of fact, he was doing it so well and even seeing what the rest of us could not see yet, that sure looks like leadership to us uncomplicated types.
Masters of war mp3 file:
http://praxeology.net/mastersofwar2.mp3
oops...sorry! My mistake.
Perhaps he should have written a song about this in protest.
Now Jimmy Carter was one politician who was not harassed for talking about being Christian...
The left have tried time and time again to annoint a Pied Piper to bring people over to their side. Why is it any surprise that they tried to co-opt the songs of Bob Dylan when they co-opted Rock and Roll and have rewritten the history of punk rock to say that IT TOO was political; if anything punk was a response against hippie/liberal political correctness.
www.rightwingbob.com
Democrat Presidents that regularly attend church and invoke God in their speeches do so completely unmolested by the left, while Presidents that do exactly the same thing get crucified. I mentioned this to a lefty friend of mine who responded "that's because we know that the Democrat Presidents don't mean it."
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