Expecting Rain

From his Christian era tunes The MEZ digs this one. Maybe, because as a teen, I saw the Hard The Handle video which led off with this one. Teens are impressionable you know. He last pulled this one out in 2002 in Munich. There should be a many great or solid renditions to note or post. How does this one rank in his trilogy of Christian albums to you all? In The Garden, wish he'd pull this one out of his hat! MEZ

I played this song in church a few times. I think it's my favorite Christian period song.

You may be right. It's certainly the best song off of Saved. What makes it so powerful for me is the sense of wonder and atmosphere the song offers. This is illustrated through the text, Dylan's lesson of Christ illustrated through a series of questions posed to the listener as tests of faith. In conjunction the song utilizes a simple, beautiful melody, one of Bob's most original. The rising and falling diatonic tune as the story unfolds gives the song a constant sense of enlightenment and mystery. One of the great joys of Bob Dylan is that he's continued to play this throughout his career.
I've loved the song even more in fact throughout the NET, which includes 86 and 87 for me MEZ for I love the song in Handle With Care. The Temple In Flames tour is extremely underrated and this song was certainly a stand-out. In 88-89, Bob went hard rock and this song got the punk treatment, which is really awesome when you think about it. What Kurt Cobain would've done with In The Garden...
Anyway, it culminated to a peak in 94-95 when the song became as strong as Bob and his band were at the time....

My nom:
Oct. 8 1994 Boston

http://www.sendspace.com/file/1ayvh0

Great song. I like the treatment received during his tour with Tom Petty and was lucky enough to witness it at that time. Was unaware of what they had done with it so it blew me away.

Bob wanted it to be used by Amnesty International when they chose Chimes of Freedom instead. That says something about his thoughts on the song at that time - mid to late 90s.

It is one of the Dylan gospel songs that could could be used in churches across the theological spectrum, something that cannot be said about all his gospel work.

Good solid song...

Hate it. Needs a new tune and different words.

Still waiting for that version that makes me love it like I know I should.


There's nothing I don't like about it, I just haven't heard a version that quite gets me there.

Another mindwiped bit of nonsense from Dylan's "lost years." You should save us all some time and create a collective "Track Talk" entry for every one of Dylan's Christian songs, since they're all ultimately cut from the same swatch of pseudo-cultish cloth.

As a sidenote, I was listening to Johnny Cash at San Quentin the other day and noticed that Cash's song "He Turned the Water into Wine" has a very similar structure to this song. Maybe there's a gospel song that's common source for both....

The inference that a tune or lyric authored by Dylan is not original to him and his tremendous artistry is bothersome to me.

I like the live version from 1988 with the special lyrics about the Tyson-Spinks fight.

While tourig with Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, did he ever do a bad performance of this great song?

The answer, of course, is a resounding, "No!"

Tucked away at the end of the show proper, right before the encores, it is such an incredible number. It rocks in the position Summer Days and Thunder On the Mountain of recent years have frequently occupied and Tom and the Heartbreakers, along with the Queens of Rhythm knew how to drive and rock this song.

I wouldn't mind seeing it return but it will certainly be different.

Radio City Music Hall 1988, the last show. 'Nuff said.

it was a startling song to hear in concert before it was released/known, very powerful. What could have been the definitive version gets cut off on the 11/16/79 tape

Dammit Path, you and your ancient topic bumping! You made me think Sphinx had come back for a second.

Beautiful testimony to his deep faith. I love it.

In the Garden and Covenant Woman are the stand-outs on Saved, for me at least. I'm not particularly religious, so I'm usually at odds with myself over this period. I don't relate to any of the music, but musically it rocks. His band during those years is tight. I don't know if he was anymore energetic then his late 70's show, but he was more into these shows then his mid to late 80's one, which makes for better shows, even if his song selection leaves a lot of his audience out.

He played Solid Rock up through about 2002 and Saving Grace was in the setlist until a few years ago. I would like to see Covenant Woman and In the Garden brought back but I fear that isn't going to happen.

Why do you think he won't bring those songs back, UP ? I, too, would like very much to see Covenant Woman brought back...or In the Summertime, Saving Grace, or Pressing On.

I suspect Covenant Woman was written about the woman of his life at that time and the lyrics are, to some degree, as intimate as they are religiously/spiritually inclined. His life on both scores has moved on.

In the Garden would work wonderfully. It is a song his current style of organ playing (as well as the sound) would embrace and I think he could handle vocally. But I don't see him bringing it back. One-offs, covers, and rarities in Bob's setlists have become even more rare in the last five years than before.

In the Summertime... I don't know how this would sound with his current voice. If arranged correctly, and he certainly has the band to back the arrangement, it could be a stunning and beautiful piece. But again, I don't see it re-entering the setlist.

Pressing On... It's not a song I see being brought back. Its evangelical edge does not have the universal or more general appeal that a song like In the Garden or Saving Grace.

Saving Grace... I could see a return of this beautiful number. In its most recent (up through 2005 when it was last played) performances, I think its appeal crossed the religious or sectarian boundary expressing gratitude that he has experienced unexpected, perhaps even unmerited, joys and blessings in life. He accomplished this without changing the lyrics, which I find fascinating.

I would love to see all our of these return but I think Saving Grace has the greatest appeal and would be the most likely to return. If the others return, you can rest assured I'll be acquiring those shows as soon as they're available. Those would be treasures.

Trust the Jones to be there waiting, even in the past, with something off-the-wall for me to wonder and laugh about...

I agree with your ideas on these songs with the exception that I think he could still do "In the Summertime" justice live.

If you are ever digging around in the back pages of ER again, maybe you will come across an old thread on SAVED or on "Saving Grace". I hate to start a new topic when I am sure these subjects have been discussed here before at length. But I find Bob's "Christian" albums fascinating. For decades, I assiduously avoided these albums and only recently gave them a listen and I discovered that I had been missing a huge piece in the puzzle of who is BD ? You can discover more about Dylan, the man, just in the first verse of Saving Grace than you will ever find in the "gazillions" of books written about him:

"If you find it in Your heart, can I be forgiven?
Guess I owe You some kind of apology
I’ve escaped death so many times, I know I’m only living
By the saving grace that’s over me"

not a fan, too dissonant

I think this would be a great opener the next time he plays Madison Square Garden.

Looking back at this thread, it's obvious I hadn't yet heard the
Brixton shows from the following year, because this one blows that
version I posted from 94 out of the water!!!
Bob's in incredible voice here and this song has not been equalled before or
since...
Smoke, give a listen!!!

London England
March 31 1995
http://www.sendspace.com/file/67inmu