Expecting Rain

Did anyone else buy the SNL complete 5th season that came out last week ?

I bought it primarily for his Bob-ness making his lone SNL appearance.

It was much better than I remembered. (the comedy is consistently dreadful)

"Gotta Serve Somebody, I Believe in You and When You Gonna Wake Up" all gems.

He's dressed like he was either going to do this or finish mowing the lawn, and he's got these small mannerisms, like the way he moves away from the mic and pivots that are pure Bob. You can also sense that the crowd (Manhattan late 70s) wasn't exactly embracing this new turn towards Christianity, but he's got that T.S. attitude and he's gonna do what he's gotta do.

I'd love to see that!

"tough shit"? or TS Elliot?

I remember seeing it when it was on. I was in my glory.. it was great.

A lot of famous musicians made a desperate turn to Christianity in the late-70s.

Too much money and cocaine, and too many broken relationships will do that to a person. Not to mention the daily pressures of being "Bob Dylan".

Honestly speaking, I don't really respect people who (excluding those under exceptional circumstances) drastically switch religions for any reason. And epousing it -- fire & brimstone style -- to millions, as though he were uniquely enlightened, made Bob Dylan appear as ass, in my opinion.

Not even Bob can pull off wearing a jacket like that. Looks like someone gave him some Marks & Spencers vouchers for his birthday.

Illustration to support Bennyboy's comments. Hmmm...

that's how christians dress.

Is M&S still in business? They pulled out of here years ago.

From Wiki.....
M&S expanded into Canada in 1973, and at one point had forty seven stores across Canada. Despite various efforts to improve its image, the chain was never able to move beyond its reputation there as a stodgy retailer, one that catered primarily to senior citizens and expatriate Britons. The stores in Canada were smaller than British outlets, and did not carry the same selection. In the late 1990s, further efforts were made to modernize the stores and expand the customer base, and unprofitable locations were closed. Nonetheless, the Canadian operations continued to lose money, and the last 38 stores in Canada were closed in 1999.

Oh hell.

Bingo. Rock stars do this because they're tired of being led by drugs and money; the problem, of course, is that Christianity is just another mode of control/poison. They're swapping one toxic influence for another. Society, f*cked as it is, often congratulates them for this sort of idiocy.

Just so we're clear here:
is the argument being made within this thread that
anyone who follows Christ is an idiot???

Certainly not by me.
Personally, I feel just the opposite, and that this was Bob's finest hour, where attitude and purpose collided.

I love that Jim Keltner was on drums too, before there was Paul Shaffer popping up at every celebrity gig, there was JK at pivotal moments in rock history.

Blonde on Blonde is IMO his best album but Slow Train Coming is either second or third.
Brilliantly produced, the chaos of Street Legal has given way to clarity and direction.

Yes. That's my argument, at least, but one should bear in mind that I am a rabid anti-theist and do not presume to speak for others. Since I cannot take adults who believe in such things as ghosts, resurrection, ritual human sacrifice and magic seriously, I tend not to fraternize with Christians, Muslims or any of the rest of that nonsense. Not entirely by design, mind you; most deeply religious types hold, shall we say, interests which tend to diverge from my own. I consider myself very fortunate not to live in a country like the U.S. or Saudi Arabia, where my beliefs and lifestyle would be met with open hostility, or even violence -- presuming it's even possible to live in such countries without finding oneself surrounded by ''believers.''

If I can live with the proselytizing that's been invading the board since the release of the Christmas record, I'll take it on faith (if you'll forgive the expression) that you have no problems with my opinion of the cult of Christianity.

I like to pretend that this period in Bob's career never happened. Born again Christains are so lame, yet Bob to me is the coolest person that's ever existed.

I mean just look at that jacket, not to mention his band. That can't be Bob, I refuse to believe it.

People who believe in Christ are fine by me, but the born agains? They suck balls big time.

Would you be spewing the same vitriol if he released a Hanukkah record?
I doubt it, because it's not fashionable and it's clearly offensive.
It's hip to kick followers of Christ around. Great. Rock on. Whatever makes you feel superior.

It's the blight of the internet unfortunately.
You see it everywhere...somebody decides it's their chance to take an anonymous and gratuitous shot at someone, some belief, some statement.
You have to learn to just shut it out.

Sensually-speaking, is there anything wrong with sucking balls? Perhaps you could amend this in future metaphorical posts with the phrase, "chew scrotum". (Though, I suppose even that could be pleasurable depending on how into S&M one is.)

Not sure if I'm speaking for sphinx as well, but for me it's not Bob releasing a Christmas record which is the problem (though it would help if it was better), but the fact that this board is suddenly full of people who seem to be on a mission to push through the opinion that Bob has been a Christian all along. They post in a tone that tends to be very preachy, and some people don't like to be preached to (if I wanted that, I'd be in church and not on a Bob Dylan forum).

It could be an option to ignore the preaching if people posted their preachy stuff in Off Topic, but it always crops up in General Discussion, because it's always about the claim that Bob is a Christian; and it always implies that a true Bob fan will have to agree with that eventually. It's that attitude that gets my goat.

So if Bob released a Hannukah record, I wouldn't have a problem with that. And I'll think about how to react to a large wave of Jewish proselytizing when the occasion warrants it. So far I don't see the need.

To put that whole thing into a larger context: Although I am not a Christian myself (as far as that is possible being brought up in Europe...) some of my best friends indeed are Christians. And they are deeply worried about the wave of evangelical Christianity that has been sweeping the world for a while now, because that wave is threatening to wash away all traces of reason that had been instilled into the religion following the Enlightenment (things like textual critique and the like that make it very hard for anybody to claim anything as "the word of God"). Evangelicals are trying to cancel all that progress.

In short: There's a battle going on about the very foundations of secular Western societies. And I've seen proselytizers taking anybody hostage - figuratively speaking - and claiming as their own who might be useful to them. I will resist that attempt concerning Bob Dylan here on this board.

Why don't you start a thread in Off Topic where you can all testify?

And if you are so deeply hurt by what terrible things can happen to you in a world of free speech I recommend taking a short break and putting "I Believe in You" on repeat for a while.

That tour - including the SNL show - was exciting in its originality. Despite the mundane lyrics, the rock and roll of "Solid Rock" and "Saved" made you feel like you were there with Elvis and Jerry Lee. Whe he would close those shows with "Pressing On" and leave from the keyboard position...well, you had to be there.

I was fortunate to be at both the dress rehearsal and I was on the floor for the show. The light blue denim jacket was a last minute change. He wore the matching white suit jacket in the rehearsal. His performance was right on the money. Bob was dead center in his Christian period and it did seem to cause some space between him and part of the audience. But in the end, the over riding factor was that Bob Dylan was in the house!

In between rehearsal and show I had the good luck to be in and out of Dylan's dressing room. I had seen him in Worcester, Mass. a little earlier and heard the diatribe that included "There ain't no Cadillacs in Romania." My observation at his SNL room further confirmed his "rebirth."

Also - the rest of the show (hosted by Eric Idle and wit an appearance by Andy Kauffman) was one of the worst.

I'm not hurt. Forums can be hairy places, so I'm not daunted. Everyone's got their own perspective -- my only beef is when things get kinda nasty.

On a diff note: I'm reading Bob Dylan: Prophet, Mystic, Poet (by Seth Rogovoy) and it's a treat. The analysis is from a decidedly Jewish perspective, going in-depth to the Judaic roots and connection to the lyrics. Really very cool. Rogovoy is an engaging writer.

Haha, what? So it's fine to believe in God as long as you were conditioned into believe during childhood... But making an informed decision when you're old enough to think for yourself is bad?

Or are you just condemning the holier than thou attitude of some born agains?

Religion is for those who are yet to discover eBay.