(Extracted from an earlier rec.music.dylan post)
EDLIS Dylan & Christianity Agency
William C. Parr
wparr@Utk.edu
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Good sources about 1979 - 1981 and background, . . . include the following. I originally obtained some of this list from the EDLIS Bibliography Agent, Ron Chester. Comments on virtues are mine.
Enjoy. If you have other recommendations for a "short list" such as this, please let me know. (Or, if you have two copies of anything I list as not having!!!)
Enjoy.
Author: Cartwright, Bert
Title: The Bible in the Lyrics of Bob Dylan : 1985 pbk
1993
Description:
Notes: Dylan's use of biblical references in his lyrics.
Subjects: Critique
ISBN:
(Really top marks!!! But if you buy this one, plan on spending some substantial time working your way through it.)
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Author: Heylin, Clinton; editor
Title: Saved, the Gospel Speeches of Bob Dylan. Hanuman Books,
Series VI-VII; #36. Madras ; New York : Hanuman
Books, <1989- > Jan 1991.
Description: <12> v. ; 11 cm.
Subjects: Miniature books -- Specimens.
Other entries: Dylan, Bob, 1941-
ISBN: 0937815381 (pbk) $5.95
Good source for the speeches, many of them at concerts. Cheap, and available through Rolling Tomes.
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Author: Hinchley, John
Title: Bob Dylan's Slow Train : Wanted Man Study Series 1,
Bury, Wanted Man, 1983 or 1984?, pbk.
Description:
Notes:
Subjects: Critique
ISBN:
Haven't seen it. Recommended to me.
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Author: Jansen, Gerghard, ed.
Title: Slow Train Coming : 1980, pbk.
Description:
Notes:
Subjects:
ISBN:
Haven't seen it. Recommended to me.
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Author: Pickering, Stephen, 1947-
Title: Bob Dylan Approximately : A Portrait of the Jewish Poet
in Search of God : a Midrash / Stephen Pickering ;
photography by George Gruel, Peter Vogl, and others.
New York : David MacKay, [1975]
Description: 204 p. : ill. (some col.) ; 27 cm. (pbk)
Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Focus on 1974
tour with Dylan seen as a Jewish mystic.
Subjects: Dylan, Bob, 1941- -- Religion.
Mysticism -- Judaism -- Miscellanea.
ISBN: 0-679-50529-6 (pbk)
ISBN: 0679504931 McKay, May 1975 $14.95 OP
Really good. Not really on the 1979 - 1981 period (that would have been prophetic!) but provides some interesting background on a part of Dylan that he has NEVER left behind him.
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Author: Williams, Don, 1937-
Title: Bob Dylan : the Man, the Music, the Message / by Don
Williams. Old Tappan, N.J. : F.H. Revell Co., c1985.
Description: 160 p. : ill., ports. ; 26 cm.
Notes: Bibliography: p. 157-158.
Extended treatment of Dylan's evangelism.
Subjects: Dylan, Bob, 1941- -- Religion.
Singers -- United States -- Biography - Critique
ISBN: 0800714393 (pbk) $12.95
Excellent resource.
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Author: Williams, Paul, 1948-
Title: Dylan----What Happened? / Paul Williams. South Bend,
IN : And Books, c1980.
Also Glen Ellen, California: Entwhistle Books 1980
Description: 125,[3] p.: 16 p. of plates, ill., ports.; 22 cm.
Notes: Review of 1979 songs and concerts, attempting to
explain Dylan's 'born again' changes. Critique.
Bibliography: p.[127]
Subjects: Dylan, Bob, 1941- -- Religion.
ISBN: 0-89708-021-1 (pbk) Entwhistle $6.95 OP
Best single reference. And up to Paul Williams' usual standards of: 1) great writing, and 2) admiring treatment of Dylan. (Not a dig at Paul --- I agree!)
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Wanted Man: In Search of Bob Dylan, edited by John Bauldie, pages 128 - 134 contain an article by Clinton Heylin. This article contains some historical background on the 1978 conversion experience, and has a good selection of portions of some of Dylan's sermons from the shows in Tempe (11/26/79), Omaha (1/25/80), Hartford (5/7/80 and 5/8/90), Syracuse (5/4/90), Pittsburgh (5/15/90), and Dayton (5/21/80).
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Bob Dylan: Performing Artist, the Middle Years, by Paul Williams (BUY THIS BOOK!!!) contains good information on the performances of this period. It is beyond me to try to understand why anybody who loves Dylan's performances would not own this book.
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Isaiah on Guitar: A Guide to John Wesley Harding, by Robin Witting. Published 1991. ISBN 0-9516251-2-8. Lyric analysis of the lyrics of the album John Wesley Harding. Witting states "John Wesley Harding [the album] is the Book of Isaiah set to music, just as It's All Over Now, Baby Blue is modelled on the Lamentations of Jeremiah. The songs are riddled with all the diction, thought, imagery and metaphor of Isaiah: watchtowers, plowmen, princes, doors, windows, footstool, fingers, house, thirst, mouse, confusion, judges, messengers, strangers, priests, etc. The whole album is composed of direct and implicit reference to the Book of Isaiah."
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On the Tracks, #4, Fall 1994 contains several articles, including: 1) A Letter from Pastor Larry Myers, 2) Trouble in Mind: A Rabbinic Perspective on Bob Dylan's 'Religious Period," and 3) Bob Dylan's Church: The Vineyard Christian Fellowship. Collectively, these articles fill pages 30 - 48 of the issue of On the Tracks.
This site managed by:Bill Parr
EDLIS Christianity and Dylan Agency
bill@billparr.org
My home page: http://web.utk.edu/~wparr
Slow Train Coming page: http://web.utk.edu/~wparr/SlowTrain.html