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{"id":2242,"date":"2011-04-18T07:57:21","date_gmt":"2011-04-18T11:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tmatt.net\/?p=2242"},"modified":"2011-04-18T07:57:21","modified_gmt":"2011-04-18T11:57:21","slug":"dylan-does-his-dylan-thing-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/tmatt\/2011\/04\/dylan-does-his-dylan-thing-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"Dylan does his Dylan thing in China"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The drama that unfolded in Beijing began when police evicted the unregistered Shouwang \u201chouse church\u201d from its usual meeting place. <\/p>\n

The police arrived again when this same flock tried to gather in a public place last Sunday. A church member who escaped told the Associated Press that about 200 were arrested.<\/p>\n

This kind of persecution is old news for those concerned about the 60 million or so Christians in China\u2019s \u201cunderground\u201d churches. The crackdowns have become so common that they rarely inspire protests from human-rights activists.<\/p>\n

Bob Dylan, however, is another matter. His first-even concert in China opened with an edgy gospel rocker that slipped past the Ministry of Culture officials who allegedly screened the April 6th set list to make sure it was safe.<\/p>\n

\u201cChange my way of thinking, make myself a different set of rules. \u2026 Gonna put my best foot forward, stop being influenced by fools,\u201d sang Bob Dylan<\/a>, performing a classic<\/a> from the \u201cSlow Train Coming\u201d album that opened his \u201cborn again\u201d era.<\/p>\n

So who might the \u201cfools\u201d be in this context? <\/p>\n

Seconds later, Dylan veered into alternative lyrics for \u201cGonna Change My Way of Thinkin\u2019,\u201d written for a duet with gospel star Mavis Staples<\/a>. These lyrics added a clear reference to \u201cend times\u201d doctrines and the second coming of Jesus \u2014 subjects Chinese authorities have tried to curb in sermons, music and religious education.<\/p>\n

\u201cJesus is calling,\u201d he sang. \u201cHe\u2019s coming back to gather his jewels. \u2026 Well, we live by the golden rule, whoever\u2019s got the gold rules.\u201d<\/p>\n

Many critics, however, noted that the set list omitted Dylan\u2019s most famous anthems of political protest, such as \u201cThe Times They Are A-Changin\u2019 \u201d or \u201cBlowin\u2019 in the Wind.\u201d The Washington Post<\/em> coverage claimed<\/a> that the set was \u201cdevoid of any numbers that might carry even the whiff of anti-government overtones.\u201d<\/p>\n

Then again, maybe the mainstream writers who voiced similar sentiments about this historic concert in the Worker\u2019s Gymnasium in Beijing were only listening for messages about politics, as opposed to messages about religious freedom.<\/p>\n

Many years ago, commentator Bill Moyers told me that the reason so many journalists struggle to cover religion news is that they are \u201ctone deaf\u201d to the music of faith in public life. That image still rings true for me, after 23 years of writing this column for the Scripps Howard News Service and more than three decades of research into life on the religion beat.<\/p>\n

For me, the coverage of the Beijing concert was a classic example of this \u201ctone deaf\u201d syndrome. It certainly seems that many reporters attended, but they didn\u2019t hear what they wanted to hear. They decided that Dylan had copped out, since he didn\u2019t sing the songs that they knew and respected.<\/p>\n

In a column called \u201c Blowin\u2019 in the Idiot Wind<\/a>,\u201d Maureen Dowd of the New York Times proclaimed \u2014 with a bitter snap \u2014 that Dylan \u201cmay have done the impossible: broken creative new ground in selling out.\u201d His sins, she added, were even \u201cworse than Beyonc\u00e9, Mariah and Usher collecting millions to croon to Qaddafi\u2019s family, or Elton John raking in a fortune to serenade gay-bashers at Rush Limbaugh\u2019s fourth wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n

This was a rather typical comment in this mini-firestorm.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to believe that scribes who were familiar with the wide spectrum of the Dylan canon could miss the point of that opening number, said Jeffrey Gaskill, who produced \u201c Gotta Serve Somebody<\/a>: The Gospel Songs of Bob Dylan,\u201d the 2003 album that included the Dylan-Staples duet.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is absolutely safe to assume that he\u2019s going to make a statement with his first song in a concert as symbolic as that one,\u201d said Gaskill. \u201cThat\u2019s Dylan history, right there. That\u2019s what he is going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Truth is, Dylan\u2019s music has always contained a stream of religious images, he added. This was true long before he began mixing his Jewish beliefs with an apocalyptic brand of Christianity \u2014 influences that continue to shape his music to this day.<\/p>\n

This faith-driven worldview, added Gaskill, is \u201cthe most important aspect of his career \u2014 hands down. It has lasted longer than his so-called political protest period, an era in which his work already contained religious themes. \u2026 <\/p>\n

\u201cSome people simply refuse to come to terms with this side of Bob Dylan. They just can\u2019t handle it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"