Posted on 09/25/2005 3:47:51 AM PDT by dennisw
Edited on 09/25/2005 10:11:40 AM PDT by Lead Moderator. [history]
About an hour into Bob Dylan: No Direction Home, Joan Baez—in an interview that will be edited by your PBS station—recalls an invincible young Dylan imagining what they'll be saying about him in the future: "A bunch of years from now, all these (expletive deleted) are going to be writing about all this (expletive deleted) I write, and I don't know where the (expletive deleted) it comes from and I don't know what the (expletive deleted) it's about, and they're going to write about what it's about." Here we are. This documentary comes complete with a Starbucks tie-in, an Apple logo, and a celebrity director's credit. That director is Martin Scorsese, who has surely coveted access to this footage—donated by D.A. Pennebaker, Murray Lerner, and others—having already shot Dylan as the pièce de résistance to his documentary about The Band, The Last Waltz. But before you get too excited about this crossroads meeting, viewer, beware: This project was co-produced by Dylan's manager Jeff Rosen. Scorsese was brought in well after Rosen had already conducted the interviews and approved the material. What will all these assholes be saying about Dylan? In this "Martin Scorsese Picture," whatever the Dylan people want.
We'll take it gratefully, of course. No Direction Home is framed by footage from a 1966 European tour in which Dylan was hounded by the folkie furies for plugging in with the Hawks, who later became The Band. (This footage is from Pennebaker's never-released and seldom-seen Eat the Document.) As the documentary opens, we see Dylan performing the classic rock warhorse "Like a Rolling Stone." The record had already been a No. 2 single, but it was still a rock 'n' roll Rite of Spring, too raw
I think you are wrong about Dylan simply wanting to "make money", so to speak...You are right the Dylan dislikes the fact that so many claimed him to be more than he thought himself to be...he hadted to "Spokesman for a generation" crap.
His faith, however, was an is real...but he is private about it.
It is my view, that he simply loved/loves music...and he just wanted to make music that he liked...and he still does...that is HIS JOB...that is what he does...
As for Elvis, he did say that he thought Elvis did the best version of Tommorrow Is A Long Time.
"Nobody but aging boomers will recall this man in the not too distant future."
I know a 10 year old who is just starting to dig it.
"Nobody but aging boomers will recall this man in the not too distant future."
I took my son and his friend to see Dylan a couple of years ago..they both were BLOWN away...Like McCartney, the Stones, etc. you will see many young people at their shows....At the Dylan concerts I attended, there crowd was about 20% college age, and the KNEW the songs...
My 24 year old son said it was the best concert he had ever seen to that point.
Your view of Dylan's faith seems over-stated. He appears publicly (but not for publicity) at Jewish religious services, not Christian ones. His son Jess and son-in-law Peter Himmelman are active in Chabad.
I know personally some of the rabbis he's consulted in more recent years. None report his angling for any Jews for Jesus reconciliation.
You're right: He does view music as his job, above all else.
What parent doesn't cry at those lyrics?
LORD PROTECT MY CHILD
For his age, he's wise
He's got his mother's eyes
There's gladness in his heart
He's young and he's wild
My only prayer is, if I can't be there,
Lord, protect my child
As his youth now unfolds
He is centuries old
Just to see him at play makes me smile
No matter what happens to me
No matter what my destiny
Lord, protect my child
While the world is asleep
You can look at it and weep
Few things you find are worthwhile
And though I don't ask for much
No material things to touch
Lord, protect my child
He's young and on fire
Full of hope and desire
In a world that's been raped, raped and defiled
If I fall along the way
And can't see another day
Lord, protect my child
There'll be a time I hear tell
When all will be well
When God and man will be reconciled
But until men lose their chains
And righteousness reigns
Lord, protect my child
Boomers are generally considered to be the cohort born between the end of WWII and 1960. They were not influenced by either WWII or the great depression except through the tales of their parents. Gen Xer's had nothing to do with Vietnam - that was the central boomer experience.
You're right though about their impact on their children as they retire. I expect the naval gazing boomers will demand, and get, socialized medicine. It's always been about them and it always will be. BTW, I'm a boomer but it doesn't make me proud. I consider them the worst generation in our nation's history.
I think like many of us when Dylan became a parent his life changed radically.
Latch on to this fact - the entire discussion about Dylan's Christian merits didn't start with me. I don't care if he was a Zoroastrian. He's a bump in the road and with the death of self-congratulating boomers, history's steam roller will flaten his legacy out to the proportion of it's real merit.
How about 'There is no new thing under the sun'?
So many of my brothers, they still want to be the boss,
They can't relate to the Lord's kingdom, they can't relate to the cross.
They self-inflict punishment on their own broken lives,
Put their faith in their possessions, in their jobs or their wives.
Trouble in mind, Lord, trouble in mind,
Lord, take away this trouble in mind.
When my life is over, it'll be like a puff of smoke,
How long must I suffer, Lord, how long must I be provoked?
Satan will give you a little taste, then he'll move in with rapid speed,
Lord keep my blind side covered and see that I don't bleed.
Well that's just great. My brother-in-law's sister's friend's hairdresser met a woman on a cruise whose family once knew the gardner of Bob Dylan's uncle's mailman. They tell an entirely different story.
It's true. The seminal moments and personalities of my g-g-generation were mostly trash. There are good folks in the boomer ranks, of course, but our g-g-generational imprint will be that of the worst to have ever breathed free American air. We have killed ourselves.
Agree! To profess does not necessarily mean to possess. There should be some corresponding fruit eventually appearing on the tree after someone is truly born-again.
You may well be right...I base my "opinion" of his current faith on three things:
He continues to perform his Christian music.
He has stated that he believes in the second coming, which logically implies his acceptance of the first coming of the messiah.
The lyrics of his Christian music are not those of someone who took on a fad...as Arron Neville said after reading the lyrics of his Christian music, no one could doubt the validity of his faith...
However, your points are strong and well taken...Dylan may have indeed abandoned Christianity...
He is, at the very least, an enigma.
Ha. Rod McKuen has put out far more product.
Why so angry?
I haven't seen this much vitriol since Zell Miller laughed in the face of his democratic cronies.
Dylan has found peace. I don't think he's going back.
Try it. You might like it.
I saw Dylan in Greenville, South Carolina, then two days later in Birmingham, Alabama...months later I saw him in Ashville, NC, although this was after Charlie Sexton stopped touring with him, and Dylan took to the piano in concert instead of guitar...I MUCH prefered the pre-piano concerts...I think it was 2003 that I saw him.
"I think like many of us when Dylan became a parent his life changed radically."
No doubt about that....well said.
Although it seems odd that becoming a parent cause so many of us to "wise up", yet this seems not to be a reality for liberals....go figure.
That's the bottom line.
Dylan's career tanked after his Christian albums. No one who does not believe in those lyrics would continue to utter them.
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