Some historical notes on Christianity and Dylan








EDLIS Christianity and Dylan Agency
William C. Parr
bill@billparr.org

In Article <4099a2$qaj@newsbf02.news.aol.com>, cheaofca@aol.com (CHEA OF CA) wrote:
>Hello. my dad is letting me use his computer for a few minutes, and i
>found this. anyway, i have heard a lot about bobby being a christian, and
>then giving up, or letting everyone down or something. meanwhile, i was at
>the vineyard, and they were selling copies of slow train coming and other
>stuff, and ny da's friend said something about dylan being burned by the
>vineyard. if anyone knows anything, please let me know. also, has anyone
>here heard of peter case? i'm a big fan. thanks.

Well, this could be long, but I'll keep it short and let you get back to me if you have further questions.

Yes, Bob Dylan clearly had a born again experience in 1978. He discussed this in an interview with Robert Hilburn.

In Fort Worth, November 24, 1978 he was seen wearing a large metallic cross on stage (per Bert Cartwright, reference below, page 57). "Two days later in Houston he altered four lines of Tangled Up in Blue to sing:

She opened up the Bible
And she started in quoting it to me,
Gospel according to Matthew,
Verse 3, Chapter 33." (Don't bother with the reference, it's apparently just a random cite.)

He became involved with the Vineyard Fellowship, and particularly the pastor, Ken Gulliksen.

Excellent sources of information include:

Dylan: What Happened? (Paul Williams) --- if you can get a copy!

An article in On The Tracks (last issue minus one) --- with a good section on the Vineyard relationship. Write me for more details.

Although Dylan's lyrics have always reflected sensibilities informed by the Judeo-Christian tradition, and a certain steeping in the Bible (I write this with my copy of "The Bible in the Lyrics of Bob Dylan" by Bert Cartwright open), the albums during the intense "convert phase" were:

Slow Train Coming
Saved
Shot of Love

In the words of Bert Cartwright, "In contrast to composing songs in a folk culture with natural allusions to the Bible, or more sophisticated songs with literary allusions to the Bible, here Dylan composes songs in which the Bible is constantly alluded to as the essence of the believer's faith." -- page 61.

Those who would suggest that Dylan has "completely gone beyond this" appear to fail simple comprehension tests, and would do well to listen to Infidels, Under The Red Sky, or Oh Mercy again.

Email me at parr@utkvx.utk.edu if you'd like more information.

Bill Parr
EDLIS Dylan & Christianity Agency

EDLIS Christianity and Dylan Agency
William C. Parr
bill@billparr.org
---------------------------------------

I thought you might find the following of interest. In Heylin's book "Behind the Shades," he says:

David Mansfield and Steven SOles, who had both been in Dylan's various touring bands since 1974, were committed born-again Christians, and both were subjected to his inquiries about the nature of their faith, as was ex-Rolling Thunder member T-Bone Burnett. One thing they said in particular struck a chort with Dylan, and reflected the toll the custody battle and his subsequent enforced separation from his children had taken on him.

Howie Wyeth: "T-Bone [Burnett] read Bob that line in the Bible that says if you listen to astrologers and people who are into the black arts . . . your family
will be taken from you. And he'd just lost the battle in court. . . T-Bone
told me that the thing that really nailed it was when he showed him in the
Bible that quote."

Steven Soles: "I kept telling him that I was so glad that I didn't have to place my faith in man any longer.

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Subject: Re: Dylan booed in born-again days?
To: Multiple recipients of list HWY61-L <HWY61-L@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu>

The first "born-again" shows were at the Warfield in SF in 1979 and the
crowd absolutely loathed Dylan. Since he played 14 nights, word got
around and lots of people dumped their tickets particularly people who had
tix for multiple nights. I saw one of the later nights, and it was Dylan
at his most aggressivley unlistenable.
Bob did another round of shows in 1980, and Bill Graham made him
promise that it wasn't going to be "all-religious". Bob sent Bill a
rehearsal tape, and there was a series of radio ads with Bill Graham
swearing to the people of the Bay Area that he had "personal assurances
from Bob Dylan" that he had been rehearsing lots of different songs, while
a rehearsal tape of Mr. Tambourine Man played in the background (hop to
it, collectors). The first six shows sold out, so Bill added more,
eventually going to 15 (remember the Dead had played 14 nights at the
Warfield the month before). At the first show, Bob did a few perfunctory
oldies and ground out more religious numbers. The crowds were furious,
Bill was furious, and ticket sales for the last 9 nights went into the
tank.
The BGP organization started bringing in guest stars to pump up ticket
sales--Roger McGuinn, Carlos Santana, Mike Bloomfield and Jerry Garcia.
Dylan grudgingly did one or two more oldies. Dylan's band, incidentally,
was Fred Tackett-gtr (now in Little Feat), BIll Smith-organ (later in
El-Rayo X), Tim Drummond-bass (Neil Young, james Brown) and Jim
Keltner-drums (everyone). I saw one night (11/12/80) and it was OK but
Dylan was clearly trying to be difficult, while at the same time emulating
Bruce Springsteen by telling long stories while he strummed the intros to
each tune. A wierd period, indeed.


Date: Sun, 31 Dec 1995 18:44:42 -0800 (PST)
From: Michael Maxwell <maxwell@ainet.com>
To: bill@billparr.org
Subject: Dylan Booed in SF
Mime-Version: 1.0

Greetings! I saw the discussion posted on the Dylan newgroup and had to
put in my two cents. I saw the 3rd and 8th nights of Bob's 18 day
marathon. The third night Dylan was badly abused and booed. The three
back-up singers who "tried" to open the show were booed so loudly they
couldn't be heard. The first three songs Dylan did could bearly be heard
for the booing and he was visibly shaken. A young woman in the third or
fourth row on the floor stood between songs ( 4th and 5th as I recall) and
shouted " Jesus loves you Bobby and so do I." From that point on he
focused on her. I was seated on the front row of the balcony and by the
time Dylan took a short break half way through, nearly half the audience
had walked out. I don't know how you feel about spiritual things, but that
was one time in my life I felt the real presence of evil. The line had
been drawn and curses were certainly cast. After the break, Dylan came
back with alot smaller audience, but with fire in his eyes! What a second
half!
Thought you'd like to hear from a disciple that nearly saw another
crucifixion!

Regards,
Micheal Maxwell



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From: Cliff Warnken <WARNC@snycorva.cortland.edu>
Subject: Re: Dylan booed in born-again days?
To: Multiple recipients of list HWY61-L <HWY61-L@ubvm.cc.buffalo.edu>
Status: RO

Dylan's gospel show at Columbus, OH, 5/20/80 was one of the best I've
seen/heard him do, and was just that, an all-out rockin' bluesy gospel show
with much of the feel and sound of black gospel groups of the '50's. I think
that's the sound he was going for at that point. All the songs he did were
from his "Christian"period. The crowd loved it, and nobody booed.

Cliff Warnken
warnc@snycorva.cortland.edu

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From: ffrink@msn.com (Michael Fallon)
Subject: Re: Dylan booed in born-again days?
Date: 8 Jan 96 20:21:43 -0800
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I recall the shows I attended in Pgh in 1980 when Bob was doing his
gospel show and they were very impressive. Most of the people that
came for the old songs were definitely disappointed!!! Some were
yelling their opinions quite vociferously (as the tape I still have
will attest) Perceptive opinions like 'Rock and roll', 'play some
classics', and 'where ya at?'. Some were no doubt fueled by not so
controlled substances as was the fashio at the time. Many 'fans'
retreated to the theater bar for some libation, especially during the
powerful opening set by the female gospel singers. As for myself,
the strongest memory I have is the story/song the gospel group
told/sang about the son who went to war and the mother who
subsequently got a message and had to get on the train to get to her
son. BUT she had no money and while on the train, the conductor
confronted her about the lack of a ticket and if you want to hear the
rest you'll have to track down the tapes from that show......worth
the price of admission IMO.


As for the curly headed one, he seemed to do his best to instigate
the crowd. His raps disparaged fellow artists who had not found what
he had found. He said 'I knew Jim Morrison and I knew Jimi Hendrix
and I knew Lowell George (who had just died a few days earlier) and
if they knew then what I know now, thy'd still be here.' So much for
modesty. Well, more quotes from the show in the future. Just for
historical purposed ya might say.

Peace,

blueyedson


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Subject: Re: Dylan booed in born-again days?
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Well, I saw Bobby in Oct, 81 at the Spectrum in Philly. I went by myself,
the night of the concert, to the ticket window and asked for the best seat
available: I figured that it wasn't a sell-out. I was correct. I actually
got a good floor seat; it was the nearest to Bob I got for a concert until
the recent Dec shows (I went to all three and really dislike having to
stand for the whole show) with Pat Smith at the new Elect Factory - well
the old Factory had benches to sit on. Well back to October of 81: I sat
in a row of seats filled with stag Dylan fans that bought their tickets
that night just like I did and established an instant raport. Anyway, the
most interesting thing about the concert was that Bob had extra provided
MANY extra security guards who walked around to make sure that NOBODY
smoked anything. Pot/tobacco/hash all was forbidden and really inforced.
Mant people were really pissed off. Anyway, as I remember the concert, it
was actually pretty long. The first part was gospel (well, anyway this
part seemed really looong), well rehearsed. Audience didn't boo but
shouted out requests between songs. Then for around an hour and a half
Dylan did a regular concert/greatest hits show. It was really great.
People were on their feet. Just as the atmosphere reached a fever pitch -
Bob pulled the plug and ended the show. Most people (including myself) was
surprised that it wasn't a completely gospel show and left very satisfied.
Bob put on a great show.

Quazimodem


In Article <4cfgu0$3e0@murphy.servtech.com>, joko@servtech.com (jay kay) wrote:
>In article <4cdc55$ave@sun.sirius.com>, Jim Dikel <zooey@sirius.com> says:
>>
>>corrarnold@aol.com (CorrArnold) wrote:
>>>The first "born-again" shows were at the Warfield in SF in 1979 and the
>>>crowd absolutely loathed Dylan. >
>
>The show I saw him at in Syracuse was great, energetic. I felt funny being
>surrounded by all those born-againers. It was a real change of crowd
>for me, but I loved the music. He said something then about having many
>changes in his life and this was the final change. My mind said "sure!"
>all for now,
>jk

I'm really enjoying all the posts on the booing (or not booing) during the 1979 - 1981 period.

Interesting that:

1) Clearly the booing has been greatly exaggerated.

2) Ability/inability to hear the booing doesn't seem to be that tied to whether one is a Christian or not. (Someone commented to me that they thought the believers would remember no booing, others would remember only booing. Certainly not borne out by the pattern of posts on rec.music.dylan!)

3) How multiple people at the SAME concert can have such varying memories. (John Henry, obvious citations to "having ears....." not required.)

Enjoy.

Bill Parr

EDLIS Christianity and Dylan Agency
William C. Parr
bill@billparr.org

==========================================


In Article <wmobley.822285148@hubcap>, wmobley@hubcap.clemson.edu (Christopher Mobley) wrote:

>Bill, Thanks for the post. Out of curiosity does EDLIS a date
>on file for the end of Dylan's "Christian period"?

(snip)

>Christopher Mobley
>Dept. of Electrical Engineering
>Clemson University
>

Well, . . . .

We don't have one on file yet. That period doesn't appear to me to be over.

But, if you mean when did the concert setlists change to begin to include pre-1978 Dylan material, that appears to be November 9, 1980, when a concert at the Warfield in San Francisco (interesting symmetry!) included

1. Gotta Serve Somebody
2. I believe in You
3. Like a Rolling Stone
4. Man Gave Names to All the Animals
5. Precious Angel
6. Ain't Gonna Go to Hell
7. Girl of the North Country
8. Slow Train
9. Abraham, Martin and John
10. Let's Keep It Between Us
11. Covenant Woman
12. Solid Rock
13. Just Like a Woman
14. When You Gonna Wake Up?
15. Senor (Tales of Yankee Power)
16. In the Garden
17. Blowin' in the Wind

Enjoy.

Bill Parr


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