Steve Beard On Dylan.

Gotta Serve Somebody

By: Steve Beard|Published: July 19, 2007 3:06 PM

BOB DYLAN’S ROCK OF AGES

In an interview last year, Rolling Stone asked Bob Dylan what song he’d like to hear before his death. The enigmatic folk legend responded: “How ‘bout ‘Rock of Ages’?” For forty years, Dylan has energized the anti-war and civil-rights movements, excited poets and songwriters, and exasperated those who have attempted to neatly define his spiritual journey.

There seems to be no end to the fascination with America’s arguably most significant and mysterious troubadour. Fans snatched up his autobiographicalChronicles, Vol. 1. And on September 25-26, PBS will be airing No Direction Home, Martin Scorcese’s four-hour documentary on Dylan’s life between 1961 and 1966. The twin-DVD of the show, as well as the two-CD soundtrack set of unreleased material from the period, already have been made available.

As helpful as these portrayals are in helping unwrap the Dylan mystique, there still remains the intriguing question regarding his theological disposition. Some fans would rather that he remain elusive on the question of religion, while others would love to see him clearly and articulately map out his beliefs.

A few years ago, Dylan was making a habit of opening his concerts with the song “I Am the Man, Thomas.” Out of more than forty albums of his own from which to choose, it was not unreasonable to ask why he was opening with a cover song from the old Stanley Brothers.

The song is about the conversation between Jesus Christ and the man that all Sunday-school alumni know as Doubting Thomas. “Look at these nail scars here in my hands/They pierced me in the side, Thomas, I am the Man/They made me bear the cross, Thomas, I am the Man/ They laid me in the tomb, Thomas, I am the Man/In three days I arose, Thomas, I am the Man.”

Was it a reassertion of his Christian conversion back in the late 1970s? Or was it merely a spasm of eccentricity to keep his fans scratching their heads?

His public proclamation of Jesus was more controversial than when he was booed for playing his electric guitar instead of an acoustic at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965. His theological devotion was exceedingly more profound and countercultural than a mere shift of musical instruments.

Dylan’s gospel albums dumbfounded critics and aggravated a segment of his fan base when the “spokesman for a generation” became a preacher.

In their very helpful book Restless Pilgrim: The Spiritual Journey of Bob Dylan, co-authors Scott Marshall and Marcia Ford quote from one of his pithy 1980 sermonettes between songs: “There’s only one thing that can save you, only person went to the cross for you. And you can take it or leave it. Now if you don’t believe in heaven or hell, you’re [still] gonna die. You’ll find out . . . ”

They also quote him from a concert in Omaha, Nebraska: “Years ago they used to say I was a prophet. I’d say, ‘No, I’m not a prophet.’ They’d say, ‘Yes, you are a prophet.’ ‘No, it’s not me.’ They used to convince me I was a prophet. Now I come out and say, ‘Jesus is the answer.’ [Now] they say, ‘Bob Dylan? He’s no prophet.’ They just can’t handle that.”

When he was interviewed by Robert Hilburn of the Los Angeles Times later that year, Dylan said, “I didn’t mean to deliver a hammer blow. It might come out that way, but I’m not trying to kill anybody. You can’t put people down who don’t believe. Anybody can have the answer I have. I mean, it’s free.”

Dylan was stung by the intense criticism of his new-found faith. Rumors circulated about him abandoning Christianity and returning to his Jewish roots. Of course, he never denounced his faith. Nor did he abandon his gospel songs, such as “Solid Rock” from his 1980 album Saved. In it, Dylan proclaims: “For me He was chastised, for me He was hated/For me he was rejected by a world that He created . . . Well, I’m hangin’ on to a solid rock/Made before the foundation of the world/And I won’t let go, and I can’t let go, won’t let go.”

It was songwriter Leonard Cohen who once referred to Dylan as “the Picasso of song.” He further stated, “People came to me when he put out [Slow Train Coming] and said, ‘This guy’s finished. He can’t speak to us anymore.’ I thought those were some of the most beautiful gospel songs that have ever entered the whole landscape of gospel music.”

It would only be offering mere speculation as to why Dylan includes his gospel-centric songs -- and others such as “Man of Peace,” “In the Garden,” or “I Believe in You” -- on his playlist. Nevertheless, Dylan has always been a prophetic poet on a quest to find God, and it’s only reasonable to assume that he believes in what he sings.

In his song “Gotta Serve Somebody,” Dylan explains that statesmen and preachers, the rich and poor, as well as the famous and infamous all must make a choice about their destiny. “Well, it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord / But you’re gonna have to serve somebody.” It seems as though he has made his choice. Perhaps the next documentary on Dylan will explore his decision to let his faith inspire his art.

Steve Beard is the creator of Thunderstruck -- a website devoted to faith and pop culture.