How many times must a man..... hear that Bob Dylan has turned 70?
If he is that old, what happened to time? Why do I still see him in my mind as about 25? I was 13 when I first heard Dylan thanks to my 15 year old step-brother, who hung out with an older crowd of New York City kids. I was quite early to the show. Dylan was not yet a household name. I took my stepbrother's Dylan album to my room to listen on my pathetic little record player and wore the grooves off the record. I had many dark moods as an adolescent, and listening to songs like "In my time of dyin" and "Baby let me follow you down" just resonated, as eventually did his protest songs several years later. For the next ten years Dylan was my main hero. Then, his music seemed to lose it's magic for me. He seemed to have sunk into mediocrity. In the mid 70's he released "Blood on the Tracks" which restored for me some of my admiration for him, but then he seemed to drift again. In 1979 I had a remarkable, overwhelming born-again experience, and became a Christian; and within a month, I heard that Dylan had converted to Christianity as well. I felt like I was right there with him again when he put out his next two "Christian" albums..."Slow train coming" and "Saved." My conversian happened independent of any "church" connection, so I was hungry for anyone who could relate to what was happening in my life, and he was speaking the language of my experience again. I have no idea where Dylan is spiritually today, and I haven't enjoyed any of his albums in the last decade or so.
One thing I give him credit for is that he has always said he is not a hero or out to change the world. He is right about that. I think Dylan the man is far more human, fallible, and perhaps materialistic than the ideals we held him and his music to in the 60's. He had some great songs and lyrics and some awful albums as well. I didn't bother getting tickets to the last concert he did here, as I was totally disappointed the last two times I saw him.
Oh, well, that's the way it goes with heros. They have nowhere to go but down. As Dylan himself wrote...
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their marks
Made everything from toy guns that sparks
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
Oh, but he wrote some awesome songs. Happy 70th!
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