Dear Kees

As a lifelong Bob Dylan fan I've spent many an hour in sputtering-mad frustration at so called Dylanologists who ignore his Christian themes and imagery, not to mention his outright statements of faith. I call these "analysts" the ABC critics--Anything But Christ. They seem to outnumber the open minded 1000 to 1, but that may just be sputtering-mad math.

Short of finding a mint-condition copy of Bert Cartwright's "The Bible in the Lyrics of Bob Dylan" on my doorstep, I can't imagine a more pleasurable discovery then your website.

Looking forward to your take on Bob's upcoming album.

God Bless you, Brother. Wonderful work.

Dan Bennett

— dan bennett20-05-2014 20:35

Ha broer Kees,
kwam op je website terecht ivm Mat 25:1-13.
Leerzaam wat je schreef, bedankt, ik heb het nodig omdat ik meditaties schrijf en verdiep me dan zoveel mogelijk in de bijbelgedeelten. Prijs de Heer dat je nog steeds enthousiast bent over Jezus, je lijkt me (foto)niet de jongste. Ik kwam zelf tot geloof op de Wageningse Universiteit in 1972. En ook ik heb de Heer Jezus nog steeds en ik denk misschien wel nog meer dan voorheen lief.
God bless you,
Dick de Vries, Lelystad.

— Dick de Vries11-05-2014 22:52

I found your article on Dr. Stanley's version of Calvinism, well written and thought out.'

And, I thoroughly was entranced by your PDF article on Dylan and his Christianity, thanks for bring enlightenment to the 'net.

— Thomas McCall28-04-2014 21:38

Regarding the Jimi Hendrix/Bob Dylan song. The Hendrix version is more inspired.


The thief is Jesus (thief in the night)
The Joker is the Buddha Meitraya (laughing Buddha)

— bryan borich13-04-2014 03:20

Lieve lezers,

‘ Eden is burning, either brace yourself for elimination,
or else your hearts must have the courage for the changing of the guards’.
**Dader of slachtoffer**
de vraag of (dis)positie kan alleen door jezelf worden beantwoord ;
// We all wear the same thorny crown \\
U kunt natuurlijk ook uw andere wang toekeren...

Blij hier te lezen uw bewegingen in het Taaloefenspel,
er beweegt nogal wat eruditie.

— Richard11-04-2014 14:40

Hallo Kees,

ik kwam op een stukje wat je geschreven had, wollen sokken voor het opvangtehuis, op je site. Ik zit met een levensgroot dilemma omtrent mijn schapen en googelde wat en vond jou hartverwarmende stukje. Groet, Herder Jozef shepherd of seemingly hopeless but special sheep.

— Herder jozef26-03-2014 14:59

Hello Kees:

Your comprehensive parsing of every word and line of “High Water” has made it possible for me to decide, without disagreeing with a single idea of yours, what I believe the point of the song to be:

It’s a labyrinthine cry of anguish, employing more-or-less religious and more-or-less ancient historical and cultural cues, to describe the out-of-control acceleration of the corruption of the American democratic process.

Thanking you again!

— Myra Quinn21-03-2014 16:53

I'm so excited to have (finally) discovered your analysis of "High Water (for Charlie Patton)." This song has affected me so deeply for many years. Your comments have clarified and deepened my thoughts about it. Thank you so much for your effort!

Sincerely,
Myra

— Myra Quinn20-03-2014 19:45

Sorry again, It's too late to be a proper worker. Forget all the bullshit that I've posted before and take this one:
I'm sorry, bur you think too much in your own direction but you don't listen attentively to the artist's voice. Dylan is a poet and retrospectively not a religious ideologue anymore. This is already eaten. Just listen to the intonation of the version that he played in Hamburg and notice how I put the quotation marks in the text. Do not get confused by the heels but read attentively the quotation marks and listen, listen, listen. Not only in this song Dylan is an actor as well. And by the way, Dylan IS working with religious pictures, because he is a fabulous painter but not an ambassador of any religious headquarter at all, not at all. Are you crazy?

Hamburg concert: http://youtu.be/i7ZFsMzdNIM

Lyrics (slightly different)
"Well I'm grinding my life out, steady and sure
Nothing more wretched than what I must endure
I'm drenched in the light that shines from the sun
I could stone you to death for the wrongs that you done"

"Sooner or later you make a mistake,
I'll put you in a chain that you never will break"

"Legs and arms and body and bone
I pay in blood, but not my own.

Night after night, day after day
They strip your useless hopes away
The more I take the more I give
The more I die the more I live"

"I got something in my pocket make your eyeballs swim
I got dogs that could tear you limb from limb"

"I'm circlin' around the Southern Zone
I pay in blood, but not my own.

Another politician pumping out his piss
Another ragged beggar blowing you a kiss
You got the same eyes that your mother does
If only you could prove who your father was"

"Someone must to slipped a drug in your wine
You gulped it down and you lost your mind"

"My head's so hard, it must be made of stone
I pay in blood, but not my own.

How I made it back home, nobody knows
Or how I've survived so many blows
I've been thru Hell, what good did it do?
You bastard! I'm supposed to respect you!"

"I'll give you justice, I'll fatten your purse
Show me your moral virtue first"

"Hear me holler and hear me moan
I pay in blood but not my own.

You pet your lover in the bed
Come here I'll break your lousy head
Our nation must be saved and freed
You've been accused of murder, how do you plead?"

"This is how I spend my days
I came to bury, not to praise"

"I'll drink my fill and sleep alone
I play in blood, but not my own."

— Massa s04-03-2014 00:56

The song can as easily be seen as an anti-capitalistic apocrypha as it could biblical.

— gold01-03-2014 21:14