@wordonfirevideo....How do you deduce what you just wrote based on my comment? Of course you're free to "speculate" all you want in an effort to "derive" whatever meaning it is you're looking for in any artist's creations. But I wouldn't take what you or anyone say all that seriously simply because it comes from your mind, itself an illusory creation.
@kwixotic Hey man, no one is forcing you to! If you don't like my reading, move on. But you can't tell me that I don't have the right to offer my point of view or that my interpretation is "nonsense" simply because Bob Dylan hasn't told us what his songs mean.
@wordonfirevideo Good points Fr.!. Dylan also got material from Woody Guthrie, of course. See youtube Woody Guthrie: Voice of the Common Man see the 2 forgotten stanzas at about 7 minutes into it...they are still so true & I think Jesus would agree with the lyrics. Thanks.
Father Barron and anyone else who cares to can speculate all they want on the "meaning" of Bob Dylan's lyrics but it's all nonsense......Dylan refused time and again to explain himself to anyone which is great because it remains a mystery, Got that Father?
@kwixotic So Bob Dylan not saying what his songs mean rules out my speculating on their meaning?! How does that follow? The vast majority of poets and artists don't tell you what they had in mind when they were creating their art. So what? Should all departments of literature and art just shut down? Should all critics just stop writing?
I just heard this lyric at the end of "Times They Are A-Changin": The first one now will later be last. It's just like the verse in the New Testament that said that the last will be first and the first will be last. Thanks for introducing me to Bob Dylan, Father.
I think it's odd that so many people don't want Dylan to be in any way connected to the Judeo-Christian tradition. I think it's interesting that Dylan himself eventually became a very outspoken Christian (although he has had a tough time of it), as if that conversion came out of nowhere, and he gave us no hints in his previous work of the direction he was going.
@littleRayRay306 I know that people are saying this on the basis of the 60 Minutes interview, but I have to admit that your take on the interview utterly puzzles me. In line with his instincts throughout his career, Dylan was saying that he was following the command of God, whom he called "the chief commander both in this world and in the world you cannot see." How you conclude that he was talking about the devil is beyond me.
@littleRayRay306 I'm a devout Catholic, and I believe Bob Dylan allowed Satan to influence his music. He said so himself that he couldn't have written the things he wrote himself and that he did indeed sell his soul for his fame. Catholic priests underestimate the power and intelligence of the Devil's ability to infiltrate today's society.
@fireman8900 I think if you listen again to Bob Dylan's interview on 60 mins. he nevers says he sold his soul to the devil....rather, from my point of view, he made a deal with God.
@littleRayRay306 I'm a devout Catholic, and I believe Bob Dylan allowed Satan to influence his music. He said so himself that he couldn't have written the things he wrote himself and that he did indeed sell his soul for his fame. Catholic priests underestimate the power and intelligence of the Devil's ability to infiltrate today's society.
I think everyone of every religion or non religion can admire Bob Dylan, because everyone can interpret him in different ways, but no way is more or less poignant and meaningful than the next. I'm a secular humanist and I admire him as much as you, albeit for entirely different reasons, which is the beauty of it.
It's good to see Bob Dylan among the regions of abstract and transceding songwriting and being referred to as such. For it is he who is a god we should all follow.
Well, I don’t intend to wage a debate on what Dylon implies in the song partly for I’m not an expert in the subject and partly for I don’t intend to.
But as you asked:
Firstly, In my opinion, a song or any work of art for that matter forgoes its universality when it intends to identify itself with the Religion. And that’s the reason many songs are not universal in that sense.
Secondly, this song can not be conceived of an one to be critical or suggestive of one subject. For example. When Dylon sings ‘How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man” he is seeking an answer to a philosophical question fundamental to our life.
But in the line which reads “……how many times must the canon balls fly Before they’re forever banned” it unambiguously suggest that he is ant-war and that’s directly irreconcilable with Religion – since many wars have been waged – and perhaps many would be - for sake of legitimizing the Religion.
Or when he seeks the answer to the question “……how many years can some people exist Before they’re allowed to be free” he is critical of imperialism- and that’s too irreconcilable with the Religion – since imperial power often take recourse to the Religion to sanctify their hegemonic acts.
And Finally, he wonders that how we can remain ignorant of the plight of the million of the unsung,
Un-honored and unwept! and urges us obliquely to reflect upon it.
Kind of odd though that he chose to cover the song "Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed" on his first album (re-titled "In My Time of Dying"), no? I mean whatever you think about Dylan he did take song lyrics pretty seriously.
Can't we all just be quiet and listen to his music? I don't want to know the complete reasonings on why the hell he wrote a song, just listen. It's brilliant.
I would suggest Fr. Barron read E. Michael Jones on Bob Dylan. Jones puts him in the context of a Traditionalist Catholic history of the revolutionary spirit of Judiasm in 20th century America and it's a lament for the time before the ascendancy of a Talmudic ethos and popular culture in this country. E. MIchael Jones is the Pierre Teilhard de Chardin of Western cultural conservatism. He's no the banjo, either.
@benabaxter I agree with @wordonfirevideo Bob Dylan has one of the greatest voices in folk and rock music. To say Dylan can't sing is to incriminate one's self of not being a true fan of music, in my opinion. I mean no offense, it's just that to me Dylan's voice is a huge part of what I like about him as an artist. It always rings to true and real. I hate it when people say he can't sing. Show me another artist who can pierce the soul like Dylan can.
"Of course, one thing he didn't mention is that once you get hooked on the Bible, you start seeing "messages" everywhere."
Of course, the Bible is a history of man and man's relation to God, and historically formed over thousands of years. There is a wealth of knowledge, history, and "messages" in the writings and stories...lessons and messages of man's growth and stumble in relation to neighbors and in relation to God.
So yes, there are messages to be found that remain with us today.
I understand and completely accept that Dylan found Christianity in the 70/80's but doesn't this whole thing contradict the line 'it's easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred' Pretty clear to me he was in no way religious in the 60's.
@Balzo93 Oh I completely disagree with you here. Blowin the Wind, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, When the Ship Comes In, Mr. Tambourine Man, Like a Rolling Stone, All Along the Watchtower, etc., etc. are dripping with Biblical themes. And I wouldn't read that line from It's Alright Ma as anti-religious at all. He's bemoaning the fact that our society is holding nothing truly sacred.
@wordonfirevideo “Here’s the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else. Songs like “Let Me Rest on a Peaceful Mountain” or “I Saw the Light”—that’s my religion. I don’t adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I’ve learned more from the songs than I’ve learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.”
@wordonfirevideo As said by Father Barron in this video, you can read Dylan how you like. You obviously choose to read him spiritually and thats fine. But there is no way that you can label Dylan's early lyrics as Biblical. For instance I see nothing Biblical in Like a Rolling Stone, I see it as a cultural statement with a moral message. As for It's Alright Ma, I most definitely see it as anti-religious. He says it again in Don't look Back when asked if he believes in anything, further evidence.
Totally disagree, It's Alright Ma is a cry out for something more permanent that the ephemeral day to day. It never once mentions religion as being bad in that song, purely society's tendency to desecrate sacred things. Epitomised in the manufacture of "fleshed coloured Christs that glow in the dark", it's anti-modernity not religion.
You're right about bob making a switch toward the 80s but before then he was always Jewish and actually believed VERY little in religion you can find video of him saying he doesn't think there is a god
bro. the answr is blowin in the wind, meaning that the answer is not hard to find. its simply there, therefore anyone has the ability to cease connonballs and what-nots from doin what they do... there i said it. father barron is a faggot.
Nobody will really know: what, why, or how Bob Dylan meant what he says/ sings, unless you ask him yourself. That would be the best source. For now, just listen to the music, if it hits home for you, that's awesome. Everyone has their own interpretations of anything that they happen to come across, the only thing you can do is ask someone what they believe and take their word for it.
Bob grew tired of people interpreting his music for deeper meaning. The most signature line coming from the song 'Thunder On the Mountain' when he sang 'The writing's on the wall, come read it, come see what it say.' The line clearly pokes fun at his critics who always search for some deep meaning in his songs.
@cityofimmigrants Oh I think that's too easy. Do you really think that "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," "Desolation Row," "Tangled Up in Blue," "When He Returns," "Not Dark Yet," and "Sugar Baby" don't have a pretty profound depth of meaning?
but ok, it was a whole different wind he was thinkibng of when he wrote it, as for LARS, there's nothing about god there, then, as I stated god appears here and there all along his career, but here it's completely out of target...
@ wordonfirevideo - the guy here is talking about "Blowin' in thw wind" both written not over 1965, so this is nonsense in the way he's expressing that, it's like the Church usually does, "sure, you're able to not believe in god but hi's the father of us all!" - it's plain nonsense,
Especially beginning with 1997's Time Out of Mind, Dylan's albums are utterly suffused in Scripture. That and Modern Times are the best of these albums.
he can play this "Bob's belongs to us/this specific topic" game related to his own religion since later on, not yet with songs from that period, then, sure, Bob was filled with influences from everywhere, but it was no god around at that time "I don't believe in god, I don't see any god to believe to around" - Bob Dylan, 1965
@emmeuly Oh come on, friend. Put that one quote from 1965 (which I've never seen before) up against the whole corpus of Dylan's work and tell me that he's not deeply and abidingly religioius.
I have such a fascination with Dylan- for over 40 years now.
In the last few years I have been wondering how to approach "studying" him. For me elements of Jungian Archetypes seem to live in him/through him as he makes the "hero's journey" in public.
And yes, all the biblical references are so embedded in his lyrics.
I've been thinking about the Frederich Buechner (sp?) quote about where your passion and the worlds need meet is your purpose.
I have such a fascination with Dylan- for over 40 years now.
In the last few years I have been wondering how to approach "studying" him. For me elements of Jungian Archetypes seem to live in him/through him as he makes the "hero's journey" in public.
And yes, all the biblical references are so embedded in his lyrics.
I've been thinking about the Frederich Buechner (sp?) quote about where your passion and the worlds need meet is your purpose.
Isn't spirituality universal; or, shouldn't it be seen that way? Do you really think God is concerned with labels of "Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Pagan?"
I think this person has nailed the meaning of the lyrics and the impact of the music, no matter where his philosophy originates from.
Isn't it great how every Christian Dylanphile can twist his songs into Christian parables/commentary that support that tired old dogma about how we're born into shame and can only be redeemed by all the usual spiritual garbage? This guy's right about precisely one thing: the songs are multivalent, all right, and his hoop-jumping analysis proves it beyond the shadow of a doubt. Of course, one thing he didn't mention is that once you get hooked on the Bible, you start seeing "messages" everywhere.
This is like a desperate, ultimate attempt to "recruit" followers. A propaganda that uses anything it can get its hands on to justify the state of self-imposed ignorance it preaches. Here is what Dylan says:
"I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs."
Don't use artists as a recruiting tool, no matter how desperate you are to revive your church.
Great vid there is definately a strong spiritualist element to bob dylan that Ive been attracted to, eveyone used to say oh great political or ideological messages but that stuffs never appealed to me in art but that spirituality I always liked but funnily enough i only became aware of that reason a few years ago before that i just followed my heart for what i liked.
thou shall not reduce Dylan to your particular POV - on the other hand its good art if it lets so many people project different things into it, and still has a clear surface. But is it really liberating to live like a Rolling Stone in that songs, if you have to cut deal with strangers to survive, the voice is full of contempt. I always thought that this was the turning point, which put the freedom theme of the Rolling Stone onto its head.
James and Elvis, I totally see where you're coming from. I will say that as an artist I think art is more about the audience than it is about the artist itself. Dylan wrote songs based on his experiences or thoughts, but the reason they became so famous is because they were so nebulous and open to interpretation.
«And then when/once you see the Bible, you see it everywhere in him». (around 5:55)
Memetics anyone?
Prognostic : Scared closed-minded mentality that feels less alone lying to itself and trying to convince others of its rightfulness/ability to know what's good from what's bad.
Keep doing what your doing, Father. It seems that most people such as elvismilk believe world has to answer to them, not them answer to the world. They lack the even simple depth you find in the basics of mystic. Without mysticism, they won't understand Dylan.
Wow this guy really shows the Genius of Bob Dylan in a good way. I respect Bob so much more now, I liked him before but I never really thought about his work broken down like this before in such a spiritual way. BRILLIANT!!!
If you think this is rough, try commenting on an atheist's video, in order to argue for the reasonableness of Christian faith. It can get bloody. Youtube atheists are often vicious and rarely coherent (in my personal experience). :-)
that is because atheists are fervent believers...in not believing. Agnostics are a more amenable group. Hence, harder to engage in meaningful discussion. Many of my friends are agnostics, but it is my atheist friends who provide the most engaging and meaningful discussions.
I agree about many atheists being "fervent believers.... in not believing." Is it ok if I use that, on the proper occasion(s), in the future? :-)
Some atheists may well be sincere inquirers who either do not, or have not yet, found the claims for God to be convincing.
In my experience though, most athiests with whom I have conversed are not willing to even consider *as* evidence anything which might indicate the existence of God. Youtube atheists are particularly guilty.
Yes, I guess it does...it's a lot like when posting anything about stem cell research (never mind that it could give children with spinal disorders a fair chance at life). We don't like your ideology seeping into everyday reality, because your ideology promotes the "purifying," "character-building" nature of suffering. It's a really popular concept in childrens' hospitals.
jamesharrel, I just reviewed all my posts here and there is not one iota of ideology in any of them. If I had written "Boy, isn't the sunset beautiful tonight?" while we were sitting on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, would you have made this comment? So don't know where you're coming from with your comment.
James (sorry for butting in here-- ok, not really, hehe :-)),
Seriously, I would never be one to *promote* suffering. As a Christian, I'm not a masochist, and I don't enjoy seeing other people suffer. Christians are called by Christ Himself to alleviate suffering in this world (and in the *next* one, by respectfully sharing the Gospel with people in *this* one!).
I also know that suffering, when it cannot be avoided, *does* purify and build character. I have a physical disability (CP).
True, but that is because there are people who understand and get it, and then there are those who don't. I don't have a problem with Christians and I consider myself one, but I don't like when people say they KNOW Jesus is God and don't really KNOW it. They should say they BELIEVE it, a lot of the time I will ask them "how do you know?" And they don't have an answer. I can understand if they had the HOLY SPIRIT talk to them or something but like I said, most don't KNOW.
I'd like to see your answer to Father Barron's reply, concerning your assertion that "Blowing in the Wind" is "about the elusiveness-- perhaps the non-existence-- of the answer." If this is true-- if the song is basically a statement of agnosticism, in terms of the possibility of finding ultimate truth-- then why was Dylan allowed to sing the song, in person, for John Paul II? JP2 definitely believed in a revealed, ultimate truth!
Wow, this goes back a long way. I'm not even sure what he said, and I cannot find it. My flippant reply is that maybe Dylan was trying to talk some sense into JP2, in the same way Moses said to Pharoah, "Let my people go!" And the church will do anything to get people to pay attention to it, including being an audience to a "protest singer."
Dylan went through a Christian phase, yes, but it was just a phase, and he abandoned it.
My main point originally, as I recollect, was that Barron is hijacking a song about elusiveness and saying it is about something self-serving and specific (mine!), in much the same way that JP2 did: that crap about "the wind is the holy spirit!" If the song is evidently Christian, why does Ratzinger so despise Dylan then (he tried to prevent that performance)? R probably knows that Dylan, as he is well known to do, enjoys poking fun at people who do not understand him in just such subtle ways.
If Dylan is no longer a Christian, why does he still perform his Christian songs in concert, such as "Saving Grace" and "I Believe in You"? Go on Dylan's official website and look at his set lists from the past several years. You will find that he still plays at least some of his Christian material (not at every concert but at many of them). Is he being ironic?
As far as "Blowin' In The Wind," Jesus does indeed say that the Holy Spirit is like the wind, blowing where it will...
Possibly he's being ironic, but at the very least, he wrote them, and they're good, and his fans like them, etc. He likely looks at it as a piece of his introspective life, a step on the road, and so doesn't want to throw them out. He understands the totality of existence, the value of his entire journey through life, mistakes and all.
So Jesus said that...that doesn't mean Dylan meant that when he wrote the song. You don't have to apologize for liking something that doesn't praise god.
And this is not about what Dylan thinks, because not I, nor you, nor Barron knows that. Given Dylan's roving interests, even his own answer may differ on any given day. The same could be said about the song itself, so I'm abandoning that with you.
The complaint here is against Barron's encouraging everyone to filter everything they take in through the Catholic sieve, particularly when there's no evidence in the text to which he's referring to warrant doing so. That leads to misinterpretations...
In 2001, post 9/11 (I think), at the end of an interview in Rolling Stone, Dylan was asked if he still thought that there was a "slow train coming." The question was a reference to the title track from his album of the same name. In the song, the metaphor ("slow train") was for the return of Christ. Dylan replied that now, he saw it as being more of a locomotive. That may be an indirect statement of Christian faith, but taken in context with the song, it's pretty emphatic.
If he describes the Coming as a locomotive after 9/11, it sounds like he sees it as a negative, not positive, event.
----
"metaphor ("slow train") was for the return of Christ" Did Dylan say that or are you presuming it? A close, unbiased reading of that song provides no evidence that it is alluding to anything Christian. Believe it or not, "attack dogs" like me want peace as well, it's just that after 2000 years Christ hasn't gotten the job done, but rationality has brought us a long way.
Hmm... I'll have to go back and look at the lyrics for that song again. I was going from memory, and I'll be the first to admit that my memory may have been wrong.
Why would Christ's return being like a "locomotive" be a bad thing? Christians look *forward* to His return. I know that I do!
My friend (and I mean that sincerely), Christ has not failed to bring peace to the world. Sinful people have failed-- Christian and non-Christian, me included-- but Christ has not.
... and a calling to people to find these values back..
But that is my opinion and the fact that there are two opinions, yours and mine, the fact that two human beings with completely different views but both sincere and well-willing are moved and deeply motivated by that song, that I believe was the ultimate goal Bob Dylan set when he wrote this song..
I admire faith in a person, not only faith in god, but all kinds of faith, that's why I loved you expressing your faith here..
I for one come to understand the sayings of this song, blowing in the wind, as simple questions to one's self and to all of us with simply the will to wake us, or make us work as a whole, a family if you will.. I find no christian meaning in the song at all, for me its about our character as human beings which has been utterly disfigured through the years...
I've always loved Bob Dylan's music/poetry, but you threw a light on the spiritual element of his songs that I only dimly grasped previously. Excellent analysis and thank you!
I just read something interesting. Bob Marley was baptized as a Catholic on on November 4, 1980 by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian. I didn't know this. 1 year before he died
Fr. Barron. You've done an unusually great job of observing, pointing out & suggesting "how" ready access to contemplative insights is possible, even in a world of noise. "The wind blows where it wills, & you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) May that mysterious and gentle wind lead us all to the sanctuary in His Divine Eucharistic Presence: (John 6). +Christ IS Risen!+
[Necessary Addendum:] Having seen many of you commentaries, I should nuance my feedback by noting that YOUR normal efforts are unusually practical and insightful. Thanks for your consistent commitment in revealing the Truth, which is Jesus Christ. They come from a lived vocation and prayerlife. For my money, if anybody is looking for a great example of holy priesthood, send them to this man! +Peace and All Good+
One of Dylan's biggest hits in the sixties was Mr. Tambourine Man recorded by the Byrds. It could be interpreted as an ode to the power of music to free the soul, or as a way of melting heroin in a bottle cap (the tambourine) for injection by a user "take me for a trip..."
Dylan uses images from many different sources in his songs, no surprise the Bible included. He can be interpreted in different ways. " Like a Rolling Stone" was usually interpreted as a jab at a rich girl who wasted her chances and is now forced into prostitution!
All Christians are Israel! The New Testament was put together by the Church Fathers, the Orthodox Church, of which the Catholic Church broke away from. Keep it Real!!!
Hmmm, when I look in the mirror, it appears to be the top of my head. ;-) May I point out that I was just making an observation? If I had told you as we walked down the beach that you could almost see the buildings on Catalina Island, would you have asked "Your point?" You made an observation that Bob Dylan is Jewish. True. I made an observation that Jesus is Jewish. True. Fail to see what the issue is here.
@DRR180 Yeah, he is ethnically Jewish, but I think he converted to protestantism, if I'm not mistaken. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong. That is just what I heard about his life.
@DRR180 True, everyone knows that, but being jewish, unlike being christian or muslim, doesn't just imply a faith, but a bloodline. You are born jewish, you are not born christian or muslim. So if a jew decides his faith is muslim, he still a jew, but his faith is islam. Best jews are the atheists anyway...
@DRR180 But Dylan has been reading the New Testament at least since he was in his early twenties, he became a born-again Christian in the 1980's and he has continued to write and perform songs with explicitly Christian themes.
yes Brother Bob, is a completed Jewish man. A fullfilled Jew. A Jewish man who accepts Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Bob still sings of Jesus Christ
I'm ambivalent. When did Father Barron did his commentary? I agree in many points of his generalizations. But Bob Dylan does not appear to be a believer in my eyes, although I keep praying that he will be. What a blessing to the church if he would continue to produce praise as he did in his brief period of putative belief.
If you haven't heard them already, check out Dylan's albums (CDs) from 1980 and '81, "Slow Train Coming" and "Saved." They are very openly Christian. In more recent years, he has been vague about the exact nature of his faith, but his songs still continue to contain Biblical references-- such as the exhortation to "Look up, look up, see your Maker, before Gabriel blows his horn," in the song "Sugar Baby," from the great (I think so, that is!) 2001 disc, "Love and Theft."
I am well aware of those albums. And there are some wonderful videos on line from that era. But he has seemed to fallen away in recent years, equivocating on his statement of faith. I think "Are You Ready?" is one of his truly great gospel songs.
Dylan's fairly recent CD, Modern Times, has a good amount of Biblical themes and imagery. Obviously, I don't know if he is still a Christian-- I hope he is, for the sake of his life and soul, here and in eternity. He has made some "all-over-the-place" religious statements in the last two decades. His lyrics do seem to still have glimmers of Christian faith though. I could just be reading that into them-- I majored in English and minored in religion. :-) I hope not though.
James I am feeling your pain. I love what you wrote. It's funny as soon as we interpret the devil in something to do with the R.C. Church they claim wrong interpretation. I enjoy watching the Father's videos but the bias in so obvious. How can someone who believes in the unknowable claim this about Dylan's music, he talks about what we don't know.
Now that depends on what type of bias. An accountant would be biased towards a ledger of 2+2=4, A director would be biased on actors not going off script, Dylan was biased during his born again phase. I am not saying bias"yours" is bad, I am saying you need to admit why your bias is what it is, and understand why I would find it false and incorrect. I still love you from a fellow human being viewpoint, trying to reflect on the spinning globe we inhabit, but not for your bias.
The light that the three letter thing seperated from darkness, before the sunlight, or the light that allowed plants to grow in its absence?, before humans were created.
More to it, Bob Dylan sang Blowin' in the Wind for Pope John Paul II at a Eucharistic Congress in Bologna. I doubt he would have done this had he considered the song a paeon to agnosticism!
Thanks for that balanced response! Man, what the heck makes you so cock-sure? Did Bob Dylan tell you what his songs mean? Religious concerns are evident in Dylan's songs from the very beginning. You might be an agnostic, but Bob Dylan sure isn't!
The truth is that Dylan's most biblical music is his latest music (which is, to my mind, his best), e.g, on the albums Time Out of Mind and Modern Times. It's saturated in the Bible.
This would be good to add captioning too. These kinds of ideas need to be available to a wider audience. Can you have captions added? Your way of speaking would be good for the Deaf. I work for the deaf and find that the only things that are captioned are things in the secular world.
If it wasn't written Biblically, you don't need to read it Biblically. It's very similiar to the "lenses" point you made in your Religulous video. Why are you looking at his work thinking of God when it isn't about God?
How do you know it wasn't written biblically? The Bible is such a dominant influence in the work of Bob Dylan. Therefore, when scriptural motifs appear in his writings, it isn't too much of a stretch to assume that he had the Bible in mind.
You're right, it's not too much of a stretch, but you don't need to stretch everything so that it fits into a biblical perspective, which is what this channel seems to be about.
Everything? Heck, I've reviewed a handful of movies and songs! Out of hundreds of thousands of cultural offerings, I've noticed biblical motifs in a few. This is stretching?
It's not literally stretching because you have not literally the time to transform, into the Ebert Matrix, and implant every movie ever made into your mind, plus the person off camera(viewer's left side) who listens to you speaking would have to quite their job listening to you, by the way does that off camera person view vicariously through your reviews all those films? like cliffnotes?
I did respond (See my comment above the one he made to me) He has actually been the one who won't respond to me. I even used his own logic from another video to support my argument.
If Shakespeare had been compiled first, we would find it all derives from him. If the three-letter word could actually do anything, I am sure it would make it's own movies and sing it's own songs, heck it created a universe right?
The answer is blowing in the wind, weak minded people blow with the wind. So it does not matter what this world thinks, or God is in the wind and we only hear him when we stand still and listen, instead dodging the wind to not hear it. Yes, Dylan does sing about some good liberating things, but his message seems to get lost on the wayside for most of his listeners.
Didn't Dylan have a Christian fundermentalist period in the late 70's? I've always been a bit agnostic about Dylan, his songs generally seemed to have ambiguous meaning, how many roads must a man walk down? before you call him a man? 42? He used to live near me in Crouch End North London (it's a bohemian arty area).
I agree with you in regard to his elusiveness and ambiguity. But those same qualities can be found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus. Authentic religious people rarely speak in straightforward, univocal categories.
i don't agree with you father!!! ... as religous harritage he is jewish but he says i quote" I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs](Newsweek 1997)So i am sorry but i don;t consider a good point to use a poet and great artist like Dylan for institutionalised religous propaganda
I know that his ecclesiastical affiliation has been all over the place, but I'm more concerned with the undoubtedly biblical themes that are everywhere in his songs, from the earliest period to today.
I´m not a religious person, but i think he make a really interesting interpretation about "Like a Rolling Stone". I would´nt include god´s voice in the analysis, but that´s just me
This man is very inspiring to listen to. . Bob Dylan has always touched me in a similar way. I think people who live on the edge often have a greater understanding of God.
everytime the father says "...you..." he's talking about himself and thinks everybody else in the world thinks the same thing that he thinks... just like every father.
what a massive misinterpretation about like a rolling stone
manwithouthat44 4 days ago
Does anyone know the name of the wong in minute 2:57? Thanks!
csalmeron68 1 month ago
Thanks for sharing!
cosmicallyderived 2 months ago
I thought he was a Jew
Abr022575 2 months ago
@Abr022575 So were Jesus, Peter, and Paul!
wordonfirevideo 2 months ago 5
@Abr022575: He is, but he's also been into christianity. Dylan is very "spiritual."
DakotaY24 2 months ago
@wordonfirevideo....How do you deduce what you just wrote based on my comment? Of course you're free to "speculate" all you want in an effort to "derive" whatever meaning it is you're looking for in any artist's creations. But I wouldn't take what you or anyone say all that seriously simply because it comes from your mind, itself an illusory creation.
kwixotic 4 months ago
@kwixotic Hey man, no one is forcing you to! If you don't like my reading, move on. But you can't tell me that I don't have the right to offer my point of view or that my interpretation is "nonsense" simply because Bob Dylan hasn't told us what his songs mean.
wordonfirevideo 4 months ago 4
@wordonfirevideo Good points Fr.!. Dylan also got material from Woody Guthrie, of course. See youtube Woody Guthrie: Voice of the Common Man see the 2 forgotten stanzas at about 7 minutes into it...they are still so true & I think Jesus would agree with the lyrics. Thanks.
GoodyBob 2 weeks ago
Father Barron and anyone else who cares to can speculate all they want on the "meaning" of Bob Dylan's lyrics but it's all nonsense......Dylan refused time and again to explain himself to anyone which is great because it remains a mystery, Got that Father?
kwixotic 4 months ago
@kwixotic So Bob Dylan not saying what his songs mean rules out my speculating on their meaning?! How does that follow? The vast majority of poets and artists don't tell you what they had in mind when they were creating their art. So what? Should all departments of literature and art just shut down? Should all critics just stop writing?
wordonfirevideo 4 months ago 3
Bob is a business man who sold dope poetry to a credulous decadent America.
So you are cashing in on bob with your soothsaying appropriate for a praeterist
MrNewkingjames 4 months ago
@MrNewkingjames Sure wish you'd tell me where all this "cash" is!
wordonfirevideo 4 months ago
Please talk about Bob Marley next!
blaisemibeck 4 months ago
My God, Father, your words are inspiring! That's two pieces of homework you've got me doing:
1) Watch The Gran Torino 2) Listen to Bob Dylan. Ohhh yeah.
MontChevalier 5 months ago
I just heard this lyric at the end of "Times They Are A-Changin": The first one now will later be last. It's just like the verse in the New Testament that said that the last will be first and the first will be last. Thanks for introducing me to Bob Dylan, Father.
DJDizzy113 6 months ago
This is nice:)
safire4real 6 months ago
I think it's odd that so many people don't want Dylan to be in any way connected to the Judeo-Christian tradition. I think it's interesting that Dylan himself eventually became a very outspoken Christian (although he has had a tough time of it), as if that conversion came out of nowhere, and he gave us no hints in his previous work of the direction he was going.
billybagbom 9 months ago
During Don't look back' Dylan kinda says he's atheist or perhaps an agnostic
random guy: ''do you believe in god?''
Dylan: ''I don't believe in anything, I don't have anything to belive in, what do you mean? There's nothing to believe in.''
or something like that..
sam91004 9 months ago
Bob Dylan admitted he sold his soul to the devil for fame and fortune...
littleRayRay306 9 months ago
@littleRayRay306 I know that people are saying this on the basis of the 60 Minutes interview, but I have to admit that your take on the interview utterly puzzles me. In line with his instincts throughout his career, Dylan was saying that he was following the command of God, whom he called "the chief commander both in this world and in the world you cannot see." How you conclude that he was talking about the devil is beyond me.
wordonfirevideo 9 months ago 8
@wordonfirevideo I couldn't agree more. The charge that he sold his soul is pure rubbish. People are hearing what they want to hear.
Jitpring 9 months ago
@littleRayRay306 I'm a devout Catholic, and I believe Bob Dylan allowed Satan to influence his music. He said so himself that he couldn't have written the things he wrote himself and that he did indeed sell his soul for his fame. Catholic priests underestimate the power and intelligence of the Devil's ability to infiltrate today's society.
fireman8900 4 months ago in playlist Food For Thought!
@fireman8900 That's utter nonsense!
wordonfirevideo 4 months ago
@fireman8900 I think if you listen again to Bob Dylan's interview on 60 mins. he nevers says he sold his soul to the devil....rather, from my point of view, he made a deal with God.
rcarabelas 2 months ago
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@littleRayRay306 I'm a devout Catholic, and I believe Bob Dylan allowed Satan to influence his music. He said so himself that he couldn't have written the things he wrote himself and that he did indeed sell his soul for his fame. Catholic priests underestimate the power and intelligence of the Devil's ability to infiltrate today's society.
fireman8900 4 months ago in playlist Food For Thought!
I think everyone of every religion or non religion can admire Bob Dylan, because everyone can interpret him in different ways, but no way is more or less poignant and meaningful than the next. I'm a secular humanist and I admire him as much as you, albeit for entirely different reasons, which is the beauty of it.
BloggerMusicMan 11 months ago
It's good to see Bob Dylan among the regions of abstract and transceding songwriting and being referred to as such. For it is he who is a god we should all follow.
paulturner1990 11 months ago
I'm afraid to say that Father Barron has outright misinterpreted this famous song of Dylon. So they did Jesus many years ago!!!!!
sabyasachikgp 1 year ago
@sabyasachikgp And tell me, friend, precisely how you know that.
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago 3
@wordonfirevideo
Well, I don’t intend to wage a debate on what Dylon implies in the song partly for I’m not an expert in the subject and partly for I don’t intend to.
But as you asked:
Firstly, In my opinion, a song or any work of art for that matter forgoes its universality when it intends to identify itself with the Religion. And that’s the reason many songs are not universal in that sense.
sabyasachikgp 1 year ago
@wordonfirevideo
Secondly, this song can not be conceived of an one to be critical or suggestive of one subject. For example. When Dylon sings ‘How many roads must a man walk down Before you call him a man” he is seeking an answer to a philosophical question fundamental to our life.
sabyasachikgp 1 year ago
@wordonfirevideo
But in the line which reads “……how many times must the canon balls fly Before they’re forever banned” it unambiguously suggest that he is ant-war and that’s directly irreconcilable with Religion – since many wars have been waged – and perhaps many would be - for sake of legitimizing the Religion.
sabyasachikgp 1 year ago
@wordonfirevideo
Or when he seeks the answer to the question “……how many years can some people exist Before they’re allowed to be free” he is critical of imperialism- and that’s too irreconcilable with the Religion – since imperial power often take recourse to the Religion to sanctify their hegemonic acts.
And Finally, he wonders that how we can remain ignorant of the plight of the million of the unsung,
Un-honored and unwept! and urges us obliquely to reflect upon it.
sabyasachikgp 1 year ago
@wordonfirevideo
This is my personal opinion though. And why I believe that Christianity failed to recognize the spirit the Jesus is another topic of discussion :)
sabyasachikgp 1 year ago
@sabyasachikgp
Kind of odd though that he chose to cover the song "Jesus Gonna Make Up My Dying Bed" on his first album (re-titled "In My Time of Dying"), no? I mean whatever you think about Dylan he did take song lyrics pretty seriously.
MrTobytwirl 11 months ago
@MrTobytwirl
Correction. I meant "does" of course. It's not his time just yet!
MrTobytwirl 11 months ago
Can't we all just be quiet and listen to his music? I don't want to know the complete reasonings on why the hell he wrote a song, just listen. It's brilliant.
HyruleLand 1 year ago
Right on Nitai Gauranga!!
108GAURANGA108 1 year ago
you have no money and live on fresh air and gods good graces I take it!
husker666 1 year ago
I would suggest Fr. Barron read E. Michael Jones on Bob Dylan. Jones puts him in the context of a Traditionalist Catholic history of the revolutionary spirit of Judiasm in 20th century America and it's a lament for the time before the ascendancy of a Talmudic ethos and popular culture in this country. E. MIchael Jones is the Pierre Teilhard de Chardin of Western cultural conservatism. He's no the banjo, either.
whodareswings 1 year ago
Bob Dylan's fantastic --- except when he sings.
benabaxter 1 year ago
@benabaxter Oh I disagree! I'm with Rolling Stone Magazine, which named Bob Dylan as one of the top five vocalists of the rock era.
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago 24
@wordonfirevideo If I could understand the lyrics when he sang them, I think I could agree with you. That's really the biggest obstacle for me.
benabaxter 1 year ago
@benabaxter I agree with @wordonfirevideo Bob Dylan has one of the greatest voices in folk and rock music. To say Dylan can't sing is to incriminate one's self of not being a true fan of music, in my opinion. I mean no offense, it's just that to me Dylan's voice is a huge part of what I like about him as an artist. It always rings to true and real. I hate it when people say he can't sing. Show me another artist who can pierce the soul like Dylan can.
shinypoptart 1 year ago
@shinypoptart Well said dylans is probably the most memorable in pop music because he sang his songs as he wanted to and not by popular dictates.
husker666 1 year ago
@benabaxter No...especially when he sings.
Singingbear 1 year ago
"Of course, one thing he didn't mention is that once you get hooked on the Bible, you start seeing "messages" everywhere."
Of course, the Bible is a history of man and man's relation to God, and historically formed over thousands of years. There is a wealth of knowledge, history, and "messages" in the writings and stories...lessons and messages of man's growth and stumble in relation to neighbors and in relation to God.
So yes, there are messages to be found that remain with us today.
ASE7up 1 year ago
nice review, i like it
Salvac88 1 year ago
Excellent commentary.
guitardds 1 year ago
I understand and completely accept that Dylan found Christianity in the 70/80's but doesn't this whole thing contradict the line 'it's easy to see without looking too far that not much is really sacred' Pretty clear to me he was in no way religious in the 60's.
Balzo93 1 year ago
@Balzo93 Oh I completely disagree with you here. Blowin the Wind, A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall, When the Ship Comes In, Mr. Tambourine Man, Like a Rolling Stone, All Along the Watchtower, etc., etc. are dripping with Biblical themes. And I wouldn't read that line from It's Alright Ma as anti-religious at all. He's bemoaning the fact that our society is holding nothing truly sacred.
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago 8
@wordonfirevideo “Here’s the thing with me and the religious thing. This is the flat-out truth: I find the religiosity and philosophy in the music. I don’t find it anywhere else. Songs like “Let Me Rest on a Peaceful Mountain” or “I Saw the Light”—that’s my religion. I don’t adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I’ve learned more from the songs than I’ve learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs.”
Bob Dylan – Newsweek Oct. 6, 1997
itslifeisall 1 year ago 11
@wordonfirevideo As said by Father Barron in this video, you can read Dylan how you like. You obviously choose to read him spiritually and thats fine. But there is no way that you can label Dylan's early lyrics as Biblical. For instance I see nothing Biblical in Like a Rolling Stone, I see it as a cultural statement with a moral message. As for It's Alright Ma, I most definitely see it as anti-religious. He says it again in Don't look Back when asked if he believes in anything, further evidence.
Balzo93 1 year ago 4
@Balzo93
Totally disagree, It's Alright Ma is a cry out for something more permanent that the ephemeral day to day. It never once mentions religion as being bad in that song, purely society's tendency to desecrate sacred things. Epitomised in the manufacture of "fleshed coloured Christs that glow in the dark", it's anti-modernity not religion.
hiddeninromance 1 year ago
You're right about bob making a switch toward the 80s but before then he was always Jewish and actually believed VERY little in religion you can find video of him saying he doesn't think there is a god
Tizzacious 1 year ago
Wooo..thank you father Barron.
satinhell818 1 year ago
bro. the answr is blowin in the wind, meaning that the answer is not hard to find. its simply there, therefore anyone has the ability to cease connonballs and what-nots from doin what they do... there i said it. father barron is a faggot.
mancheromanchero 1 year ago
Nobody will really know: what, why, or how Bob Dylan meant what he says/ sings, unless you ask him yourself. That would be the best source. For now, just listen to the music, if it hits home for you, that's awesome. Everyone has their own interpretations of anything that they happen to come across, the only thing you can do is ask someone what they believe and take their word for it.
MafiaCatProductions 1 year ago
Bob grew tired of people interpreting his music for deeper meaning. The most signature line coming from the song 'Thunder On the Mountain' when he sang 'The writing's on the wall, come read it, come see what it say.' The line clearly pokes fun at his critics who always search for some deep meaning in his songs.
cityofimmigrants 1 year ago 2
@cityofimmigrants Oh I think that's too easy. Do you really think that "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands," "Desolation Row," "Tangled Up in Blue," "When He Returns," "Not Dark Yet," and "Sugar Baby" don't have a pretty profound depth of meaning?
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago 3
@wordonfirevideo completely agree with you...
yaelleinthesky 1 year ago
@cityofimmigrants nah, i think you're reading too deep.
jovialduke 1 year ago
but ok, it was a whole different wind he was thinkibng of when he wrote it, as for LARS, there's nothing about god there, then, as I stated god appears here and there all along his career, but here it's completely out of target...
emmeuly 1 year ago
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emmeuly 1 year ago
@ wordonfirevideo - the guy here is talking about "Blowin' in thw wind" both written not over 1965, so this is nonsense in the way he's expressing that, it's like the Church usually does, "sure, you're able to not believe in god but hi's the father of us all!" - it's plain nonsense,
emmeuly 1 year ago
Especially beginning with 1997's Time Out of Mind, Dylan's albums are utterly suffused in Scripture. That and Modern Times are the best of these albums.
Jitpring 1 year ago
he can play this "Bob's belongs to us/this specific topic" game related to his own religion since later on, not yet with songs from that period, then, sure, Bob was filled with influences from everywhere, but it was no god around at that time "I don't believe in god, I don't see any god to believe to around" - Bob Dylan, 1965
emmeuly 1 year ago
@emmeuly Oh come on, friend. Put that one quote from 1965 (which I've never seen before) up against the whole corpus of Dylan's work and tell me that he's not deeply and abidingly religioius.
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago
a further thought- Like scripture good poetry is living.
We find new meanings, new layers throughout time.
As our lives grow, go through changes, deepen so does our glimpses through the veil of words to find new meaning.
I doesn't really matter what the writer meant at the time. What matters is what we find, how we are touched, moved, thrown into a new AHA moment.
and a month, year or 10 years later that same line opens anew.
Dylan's lyrics are certainly living.
ohmercy 1 year ago
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Fantastic.
I have such a fascination with Dylan- for over 40 years now.
In the last few years I have been wondering how to approach "studying" him. For me elements of Jungian Archetypes seem to live in him/through him as he makes the "hero's journey" in public.
And yes, all the biblical references are so embedded in his lyrics.
I've been thinking about the Frederich Buechner (sp?) quote about where your passion and the worlds need meet is your purpose.
he has become my passion.
Now what? LOL
ohmercy 1 year ago
Fantastic.
I have such a fascination with Dylan- for over 40 years now.
In the last few years I have been wondering how to approach "studying" him. For me elements of Jungian Archetypes seem to live in him/through him as he makes the "hero's journey" in public.
And yes, all the biblical references are so embedded in his lyrics.
I've been thinking about the Frederich Buechner (sp?) quote about where your passion and the worlds need meet is your purpose.
he has become my passion.
Now what? LOL
ohmercy 1 year ago
Isn't spirituality universal; or, shouldn't it be seen that way? Do you really think God is concerned with labels of "Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or Pagan?"
I think this person has nailed the meaning of the lyrics and the impact of the music, no matter where his philosophy originates from.
gipsimuzikinmyeers 1 year ago
Isn't it great how every Christian Dylanphile can twist his songs into Christian parables/commentary that support that tired old dogma about how we're born into shame and can only be redeemed by all the usual spiritual garbage? This guy's right about precisely one thing: the songs are multivalent, all right, and his hoop-jumping analysis proves it beyond the shadow of a doubt. Of course, one thing he didn't mention is that once you get hooked on the Bible, you start seeing "messages" everywhere.
randomartist01 1 year ago
don't take dylan for your own
itonlyadds 1 year ago
@itonlyadds Who's "taking" him? I'm proposing an interpretation. Take it or leave it.
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago
preach father !
kennyg03 1 year ago
Dylan's later work - which I say is his best work - is suffused in the Bible, especially the albums Time Out of Mind, and Modern Times.
Jitpring 1 year ago
The word spirit means breath
gordondelma 1 year ago
This is like a desperate, ultimate attempt to "recruit" followers. A propaganda that uses anything it can get its hands on to justify the state of self-imposed ignorance it preaches. Here is what Dylan says:
"I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs."
Don't use artists as a recruiting tool, no matter how desperate you are to revive your church.
Damien6ix 1 year ago
Great vid there is definately a strong spiritualist element to bob dylan that Ive been attracted to, eveyone used to say oh great political or ideological messages but that stuffs never appealed to me in art but that spirituality I always liked but funnily enough i only became aware of that reason a few years ago before that i just followed my heart for what i liked.
BiffaTW 1 year ago
thou shall not reduce Dylan to your particular POV - on the other hand its good art if it lets so many people project different things into it, and still has a clear surface. But is it really liberating to live like a Rolling Stone in that songs, if you have to cut deal with strangers to survive, the voice is full of contempt. I always thought that this was the turning point, which put the freedom theme of the Rolling Stone onto its head.
wildhias 1 year ago
James and Elvis, I totally see where you're coming from. I will say that as an artist I think art is more about the audience than it is about the artist itself. Dylan wrote songs based on his experiences or thoughts, but the reason they became so famous is because they were so nebulous and open to interpretation.
jbensonmusic 1 year ago
«And then when/once you see the Bible, you see it everywhere in him». (around 5:55)
Memetics anyone?
Prognostic : Scared closed-minded mentality that feels less alone lying to itself and trying to convince others of its rightfulness/ability to know what's good from what's bad.
HalfFullYeah 1 year ago
Hey Father Barron, other wise people in other cultures and religions than the Christian one said the very same thing tens and hundreds of years B.C.
Confucius and Socrates anyone?
Father Barron, you are a good man, but you are also soooooo deluded. Wish you the best man!
I give you 100% on «Creative Interpretation» of another person's opinion.
Did Bob's opinion is the same as yours??
Does it now?
Can you not be a Christian fanboy of Bob?
Cheers, sir!
- a guy who can't believe you...!
HalfFullYeah 1 year ago
Father Barron is just another prey of Memetics : he wants others to think like he thinks.
Hey, I'm doing the very same thing right now!
Way to go, Memetics!!
You rule!
HalfFullYeah 1 year ago
Me thinks Barron would see "a pattern" in anything he observes.
theareohbee 1 year ago
Keep doing what your doing, Father. It seems that most people such as elvismilk believe world has to answer to them, not them answer to the world. They lack the even simple depth you find in the basics of mystic. Without mysticism, they won't understand Dylan.
sleepyhead4 1 year ago
Wow this guy really shows the Genius of Bob Dylan in a good way. I respect Bob so much more now, I liked him before but I never really thought about his work broken down like this before in such a spiritual way. BRILLIANT!!!
HeyWakeUpPeople 2 years ago
Boy, doesn't posting anything Christian bring out the attack dogs!
Lonhall 2 years ago
@Lonhall:
If you think this is rough, try commenting on an atheist's video, in order to argue for the reasonableness of Christian faith. It can get bloody. Youtube atheists are often vicious and rarely coherent (in my personal experience). :-)
christianman73 2 years ago
that is because atheists are fervent believers...in not believing. Agnostics are a more amenable group. Hence, harder to engage in meaningful discussion. Many of my friends are agnostics, but it is my atheist friends who provide the most engaging and meaningful discussions.
Lonhall 2 years ago
@Lonhall:
I agree about many atheists being "fervent believers.... in not believing." Is it ok if I use that, on the proper occasion(s), in the future? :-)
Some atheists may well be sincere inquirers who either do not, or have not yet, found the claims for God to be convincing.
In my experience though, most athiests with whom I have conversed are not willing to even consider *as* evidence anything which might indicate the existence of God. Youtube atheists are particularly guilty.
christianman73 2 years ago
Yes, I guess it does...it's a lot like when posting anything about stem cell research (never mind that it could give children with spinal disorders a fair chance at life). We don't like your ideology seeping into everyday reality, because your ideology promotes the "purifying," "character-building" nature of suffering. It's a really popular concept in childrens' hospitals.
jamesharrel 2 years ago
jamesharrel, I just reviewed all my posts here and there is not one iota of ideology in any of them. If I had written "Boy, isn't the sunset beautiful tonight?" while we were sitting on the bluffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean, would you have made this comment? So don't know where you're coming from with your comment.
Lonhall 2 years ago
James (sorry for butting in here-- ok, not really, hehe :-)),
Seriously, I would never be one to *promote* suffering. As a Christian, I'm not a masochist, and I don't enjoy seeing other people suffer. Christians are called by Christ Himself to alleviate suffering in this world (and in the *next* one, by respectfully sharing the Gospel with people in *this* one!).
I also know that suffering, when it cannot be avoided, *does* purify and build character. I have a physical disability (CP).
christianman73 2 years ago
@Lonhall
True, but that is because there are people who understand and get it, and then there are those who don't. I don't have a problem with Christians and I consider myself one, but I don't like when people say they KNOW Jesus is God and don't really KNOW it. They should say they BELIEVE it, a lot of the time I will ask them "how do you know?" And they don't have an answer. I can understand if they had the HOLY SPIRIT talk to them or something but like I said, most don't KNOW.
HeyWakeUpPeople 2 years ago
@jamesharrel:
I'd like to see your answer to Father Barron's reply, concerning your assertion that "Blowing in the Wind" is "about the elusiveness-- perhaps the non-existence-- of the answer." If this is true-- if the song is basically a statement of agnosticism, in terms of the possibility of finding ultimate truth-- then why was Dylan allowed to sing the song, in person, for John Paul II? JP2 definitely believed in a revealed, ultimate truth!
christianman73 2 years ago
Wow, this goes back a long way. I'm not even sure what he said, and I cannot find it. My flippant reply is that maybe Dylan was trying to talk some sense into JP2, in the same way Moses said to Pharoah, "Let my people go!" And the church will do anything to get people to pay attention to it, including being an audience to a "protest singer."
Dylan went through a Christian phase, yes, but it was just a phase, and he abandoned it.
jamesharrel 2 years ago
My main point originally, as I recollect, was that Barron is hijacking a song about elusiveness and saying it is about something self-serving and specific (mine!), in much the same way that JP2 did: that crap about "the wind is the holy spirit!" If the song is evidently Christian, why does Ratzinger so despise Dylan then (he tried to prevent that performance)? R probably knows that Dylan, as he is well known to do, enjoys poking fun at people who do not understand him in just such subtle ways.
jamesharrel 2 years ago
James,
If Dylan is no longer a Christian, why does he still perform his Christian songs in concert, such as "Saving Grace" and "I Believe in You"? Go on Dylan's official website and look at his set lists from the past several years. You will find that he still plays at least some of his Christian material (not at every concert but at many of them). Is he being ironic?
As far as "Blowin' In The Wind," Jesus does indeed say that the Holy Spirit is like the wind, blowing where it will...
christianman73 2 years ago
Possibly he's being ironic, but at the very least, he wrote them, and they're good, and his fans like them, etc. He likely looks at it as a piece of his introspective life, a step on the road, and so doesn't want to throw them out. He understands the totality of existence, the value of his entire journey through life, mistakes and all.
So Jesus said that...that doesn't mean Dylan meant that when he wrote the song. You don't have to apologize for liking something that doesn't praise god.
jamesharrel 2 years ago
And this is not about what Dylan thinks, because not I, nor you, nor Barron knows that. Given Dylan's roving interests, even his own answer may differ on any given day. The same could be said about the song itself, so I'm abandoning that with you.
The complaint here is against Barron's encouraging everyone to filter everything they take in through the Catholic sieve, particularly when there's no evidence in the text to which he's referring to warrant doing so. That leads to misinterpretations...
jamesharrel 2 years ago
@jamesharrel:
In 2001, post 9/11 (I think), at the end of an interview in Rolling Stone, Dylan was asked if he still thought that there was a "slow train coming." The question was a reference to the title track from his album of the same name. In the song, the metaphor ("slow train") was for the return of Christ. Dylan replied that now, he saw it as being more of a locomotive. That may be an indirect statement of Christian faith, but taken in context with the song, it's pretty emphatic.
christianman73 2 years ago
If he describes the Coming as a locomotive after 9/11, it sounds like he sees it as a negative, not positive, event.
----
"metaphor ("slow train") was for the return of Christ" Did Dylan say that or are you presuming it? A close, unbiased reading of that song provides no evidence that it is alluding to anything Christian. Believe it or not, "attack dogs" like me want peace as well, it's just that after 2000 years Christ hasn't gotten the job done, but rationality has brought us a long way.
jamesharrel 2 years ago
@jamesharrel:
Hmm... I'll have to go back and look at the lyrics for that song again. I was going from memory, and I'll be the first to admit that my memory may have been wrong.
Why would Christ's return being like a "locomotive" be a bad thing? Christians look *forward* to His return. I know that I do!
My friend (and I mean that sincerely), Christ has not failed to bring peace to the world. Sinful people have failed-- Christian and non-Christian, me included-- but Christ has not.
christianman73 2 years ago
... and a calling to people to find these values back..
But that is my opinion and the fact that there are two opinions, yours and mine, the fact that two human beings with completely different views but both sincere and well-willing are moved and deeply motivated by that song, that I believe was the ultimate goal Bob Dylan set when he wrote this song..
8ouvou 2 years ago
I admire faith in a person, not only faith in god, but all kinds of faith, that's why I loved you expressing your faith here..
I for one come to understand the sayings of this song, blowing in the wind, as simple questions to one's self and to all of us with simply the will to wake us, or make us work as a whole, a family if you will.. I find no christian meaning in the song at all, for me its about our character as human beings which has been utterly disfigured through the years...
8ouvou 2 years ago
I've always loved Bob Dylan's music/poetry, but you threw a light on the spiritual element of his songs that I only dimly grasped previously. Excellent analysis and thank you!
merlinstwin 2 years ago
I thought it was a great analysis father.
God bless.
mrROfLlol 2 years ago
Good imagination
JoseProkof 2 years ago
Great analysis! I don't know if I agree or not, but you have given me much food for thought.
braddyboy82 2 years ago
I just read something interesting. Bob Marley was baptized as a Catholic on on November 4, 1980 by the Archbishop of the Ethiopian. I didn't know this. 1 year before he died
Oliver1456 2 years ago
Excellent analysis!
SoloRaven 2 years ago
Fr. Barron. You've done an unusually great job of observing, pointing out & suggesting "how" ready access to contemplative insights is possible, even in a world of noise. "The wind blows where it wills, & you can hear the sound it makes, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes; so it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit." (John 3:8) May that mysterious and gentle wind lead us all to the sanctuary in His Divine Eucharistic Presence: (John 6). +Christ IS Risen!+
michiganois 2 years ago
[Necessary Addendum:] Having seen many of you commentaries, I should nuance my feedback by noting that YOUR normal efforts are unusually practical and insightful. Thanks for your consistent commitment in revealing the Truth, which is Jesus Christ. They come from a lived vocation and prayerlife. For my money, if anybody is looking for a great example of holy priesthood, send them to this man! +Peace and All Good+
michiganois 2 years ago
This was a cool surprise! Thanks, Father.
susiefromomaha 2 years ago
"Beyond here lies nothin
Nothin but the moon and the stars."
rgainsburg 2 years ago
One of Dylan's biggest hits in the sixties was Mr. Tambourine Man recorded by the Byrds. It could be interpreted as an ode to the power of music to free the soul, or as a way of melting heroin in a bottle cap (the tambourine) for injection by a user "take me for a trip..."
sodakmonk 2 years ago
Dylan uses images from many different sources in his songs, no surprise the Bible included. He can be interpreted in different ways. " Like a Rolling Stone" was usually interpreted as a jab at a rich girl who wasted her chances and is now forced into prostitution!
sodakmonk 2 years ago
god is kind of like tyler durden.
"its only that we lose everything that were free to do anything"
wolfgar45 2 years ago
its an opinion-a good one! but just his view on it!
jon3boi 2 years ago
I think you're reading way too far into Dylan's lyrics, but that's the good thing about music; it means different things to different people.
DRR180 2 years ago
Bob Dylan is Jewish.
DRR180 2 years ago 5
Comment removed
snaebjorn53 2 years ago
All Christians are Israel! The New Testament was put together by the Church Fathers, the Orthodox Church, of which the Catholic Church broke away from. Keep it Real!!!
SohoKnights 2 years ago
So was Jesus.
Lonhall 2 years ago
Your point?
DRR180 2 years ago
Hmmm, when I look in the mirror, it appears to be the top of my head. ;-) May I point out that I was just making an observation? If I had told you as we walked down the beach that you could almost see the buildings on Catalina Island, would you have asked "Your point?" You made an observation that Bob Dylan is Jewish. True. I made an observation that Jesus is Jewish. True. Fail to see what the issue is here.
Lonhall 2 years ago
@DRR180 Yeah, he is ethnically Jewish, but I think he converted to protestantism, if I'm not mistaken. Anyone can correct me if I'm wrong. That is just what I heard about his life.
The1joedunne 1 year ago
@The1joedunne He's gone back and forth a few times, but I believe he's Jewish at the moment.
DRR180 1 year ago
@DRR180 True, everyone knows that, but being jewish, unlike being christian or muslim, doesn't just imply a faith, but a bloodline. You are born jewish, you are not born christian or muslim. So if a jew decides his faith is muslim, he still a jew, but his faith is islam. Best jews are the atheists anyway...
Damien6ix 1 year ago
@DRR180 So was Jesus. What's your point?
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago 14
@wordonfirevideo My point is that you're finding Christian meanings in a Jewish man's art.
DRR180 1 year ago
@DRR180 But Dylan has been reading the New Testament at least since he was in his early twenties, he became a born-again Christian in the 1980's and he has continued to write and perform songs with explicitly Christian themes.
wordonfirevideo 1 year ago 2
@DRR180
yes Brother Bob, is a completed Jewish man. A fullfilled Jew. A Jewish man who accepts Jesus Christ as the promised Messiah. Bob still sings of Jesus Christ
sharegrace 1 year ago
@DRR180 hahahaaha yes, i was going to comment that XD
yaelleinthesky 1 year ago
You have the eloquence of Carneades father! :-)
Entropy3ko 2 years ago
Another great review
cloverfield911 2 years ago 2
I'm ambivalent. When did Father Barron did his commentary? I agree in many points of his generalizations. But Bob Dylan does not appear to be a believer in my eyes, although I keep praying that he will be. What a blessing to the church if he would continue to produce praise as he did in his brief period of putative belief.
Lonhall 2 years ago
@Lonhall:
If you haven't heard them already, check out Dylan's albums (CDs) from 1980 and '81, "Slow Train Coming" and "Saved." They are very openly Christian. In more recent years, he has been vague about the exact nature of his faith, but his songs still continue to contain Biblical references-- such as the exhortation to "Look up, look up, see your Maker, before Gabriel blows his horn," in the song "Sugar Baby," from the great (I think so, that is!) 2001 disc, "Love and Theft."
christianman73 2 years ago
I am well aware of those albums. And there are some wonderful videos on line from that era. But he has seemed to fallen away in recent years, equivocating on his statement of faith. I think "Are You Ready?" is one of his truly great gospel songs.
Lonhall 2 years ago
@Lonhall:
Dylan's fairly recent CD, Modern Times, has a good amount of Biblical themes and imagery. Obviously, I don't know if he is still a Christian-- I hope he is, for the sake of his life and soul, here and in eternity. He has made some "all-over-the-place" religious statements in the last two decades. His lyrics do seem to still have glimmers of Christian faith though. I could just be reading that into them-- I majored in English and minored in religion. :-) I hope not though.
christianman73 2 years ago
James I am feeling your pain. I love what you wrote. It's funny as soon as we interpret the devil in something to do with the R.C. Church they claim wrong interpretation. I enjoy watching the Father's videos but the bias in so obvious. How can someone who believes in the unknowable claim this about Dylan's music, he talks about what we don't know.
elvismilk 2 years ago
And I suppose you're not biased!
wordonfirevideo 2 years ago
Now that depends on what type of bias. An accountant would be biased towards a ledger of 2+2=4, A director would be biased on actors not going off script, Dylan was biased during his born again phase. I am not saying bias"yours" is bad, I am saying you need to admit why your bias is what it is, and understand why I would find it false and incorrect. I still love you from a fellow human being viewpoint, trying to reflect on the spinning globe we inhabit, but not for your bias.
elvismilk 2 years ago
What do you think of Leonard Cohen?
pfblewett 2 years ago
I see Bob Dylan in a whole new light now.
PrincessDiana161 3 years ago
The light that the three letter thing seperated from darkness, before the sunlight, or the light that allowed plants to grow in its absence?, before humans were created.
elvismilk 2 years ago
More to it, Bob Dylan sang Blowin' in the Wind for Pope John Paul II at a Eucharistic Congress in Bologna. I doubt he would have done this had he considered the song a paeon to agnosticism!
wordonfirevideo 3 years ago
Thanks for that balanced response! Man, what the heck makes you so cock-sure? Did Bob Dylan tell you what his songs mean? Religious concerns are evident in Dylan's songs from the very beginning. You might be an agnostic, but Bob Dylan sure isn't!
wordonfirevideo 3 years ago
The truth is that Dylan's most biblical music is his latest music (which is, to my mind, his best), e.g, on the albums Time Out of Mind and Modern Times. It's saturated in the Bible.
Jitpring 3 years ago
Good Afternoon,
This would be good to add captioning too. These kinds of ideas need to be available to a wider audience. Can you have captions added? Your way of speaking would be good for the Deaf. I work for the deaf and find that the only things that are captioned are things in the secular world.
jeremystmartin 3 years ago
If it wasn't written Biblically, you don't need to read it Biblically. It's very similiar to the "lenses" point you made in your Religulous video. Why are you looking at his work thinking of God when it isn't about God?
Er0y 3 years ago
How do you know it wasn't written biblically? The Bible is such a dominant influence in the work of Bob Dylan. Therefore, when scriptural motifs appear in his writings, it isn't too much of a stretch to assume that he had the Bible in mind.
wordonfirevideo 3 years ago
You're right, it's not too much of a stretch, but you don't need to stretch everything so that it fits into a biblical perspective, which is what this channel seems to be about.
Er0y 3 years ago
Everything? Heck, I've reviewed a handful of movies and songs! Out of hundreds of thousands of cultural offerings, I've noticed biblical motifs in a few. This is stretching?
wordonfirevideo 3 years ago
It's not literally stretching because you have not literally the time to transform, into the Ebert Matrix, and implant every movie ever made into your mind, plus the person off camera(viewer's left side) who listens to you speaking would have to quite their job listening to you, by the way does that off camera person view vicariously through your reviews all those films? like cliffnotes?
elvismilk 2 years ago
I wonder why Father never will take my cue, and review the film Perfume with those biblical glasses?
elvismilk 2 years ago
the Father beats you on that point, i can see why you didn't respond....You never explained his 'streching"...how come?
boomac62 2 years ago
I did respond (See my comment above the one he made to me) He has actually been the one who won't respond to me. I even used his own logic from another video to support my argument.
Er0y 2 years ago
If Shakespeare had been compiled first, we would find it all derives from him. If the three-letter word could actually do anything, I am sure it would make it's own movies and sing it's own songs, heck it created a universe right?
elvismilk 2 years ago
Such an inspirational voice reflecting the true spirit of God! I will refer my twenty-one year old daughter to this site.
Thank-you Father Barron
dlepagexnow 3 years ago
The answer is blowing in the wind, weak minded people blow with the wind. So it does not matter what this world thinks, or God is in the wind and we only hear him when we stand still and listen, instead dodging the wind to not hear it. Yes, Dylan does sing about some good liberating things, but his message seems to get lost on the wayside for most of his listeners.
tbonealaska 3 years ago
Didn't Dylan have a Christian fundermentalist period in the late 70's? I've always been a bit agnostic about Dylan, his songs generally seemed to have ambiguous meaning, how many roads must a man walk down? before you call him a man? 42? He used to live near me in Crouch End North London (it's a bohemian arty area).
MarkB1ngham 3 years ago
I agree with you in regard to his elusiveness and ambiguity. But those same qualities can be found in Isaiah, Jeremiah, Paul, and Jesus. Authentic religious people rarely speak in straightforward, univocal categories.
wordonfirevideo 3 years ago
i don't agree with you father!!! ... as religous harritage he is jewish but he says i quote" I don't adhere to rabbis, preachers, evangelists, all of that. I've learned more from the songs than I've learned from any of this kind of entity. The songs are my lexicon. I believe the songs](Newsweek 1997)So i am sorry but i don;t consider a good point to use a poet and great artist like Dylan for institutionalised religous propaganda
murse23 3 years ago
I know that his ecclesiastical affiliation has been all over the place, but I'm more concerned with the undoubtedly biblical themes that are everywhere in his songs, from the earliest period to today.
wordonfirevideo 3 years ago
I´m not a religious person, but i think he make a really interesting interpretation about "Like a Rolling Stone". I would´nt include god´s voice in the analysis, but that´s just me
ggeerr90 3 years ago
This man is very inspiring to listen to. . Bob Dylan has always touched me in a similar way. I think people who live on the edge often have a greater understanding of God.
tawnteens 3 years ago
everytime the father says "...you..." he's talking about himself and thinks everybody else in the world thinks the same thing that he thinks... just like every father.
rastafrog12sucku 3 years ago
Hey, I'm proposing, not imposing. No one is compelling you to believe what I'm saying, but show me where you think I'm wrong.
anakephalaiosis333 3 years ago