“I just try to go on a straight line and stay on it, stay on the level.”
by chuckofish
“Probably because gospel music is the music of good news and in these days there just isn’t any. Good news in today’s world is like a fugitive, treated like a hoodlum and put on the run. Castigated. All we see is good-for-nothing news. And we have to thank the media industry for that. It stirs people up. Gossip and dirty laundry. Dark news that depresses and horrifies you.
On the other hand, gospel news is exemplary. It can give you courage. You can pace your life accordingly, or try to, anyway. And you can do it with honor and principles. There are theories of truth in gospel but to most people it’s unimportant. Their lives are lived out too fast. Too many bad influences. Sex and politics and murder is the way to go if you want to get people’s attention. It excites us, that’s our problem.”
Y’all, I can’t believe that no one has blogged about this yet. Last week, the New York Times published an interview with Bob Dylan. The reporter is a moron who clearly went to the Tom Chiarella school of interview writing (the irony here, is that I literally had Tom Chiarella as a teacher) which means the interview is more about the reporter and how cool/funny/smart he is.
Luckily, Bob rolls with it. He doesn’t get riled by the reporter’s stupidity. He’s used to their nonsense. They’ve been ‘not getting him’ for 60 years.
So, while it pains me to suggest you read something from the New York Times, I highly recommend this interview.
One thing that I love about this interview is the rhythmic cadence of the way he speaks. It is so unlike anyone else.
“It’s one of those where you write it on instinct. Kind of in a trance state. Most of my recent songs are like that. The lyrics are the real thing, tangible, they’re not metaphors. The songs seem to know themselves and they know that I can sing them, vocally and rhythmically. They kind of write themselves and count on me to sing them.”
I could really just keep copying and pasting quotes from the interview, but I won’t.
In other news, I’ve spent basically the last two days on conference calls and I really just can’t. I feel like my brain is absolute mush. And it’s only Tuesday!
dual personalities 
That first passage from the interview is amazing! I will definitely check it out. Conference calls and Zoom meetings are the worst. Hang in there!
He is right on about the gospel message and, of course, “The lyrics are the real thing, tangible, they’re not metaphors.”
(I would have blogged about the interview, but since you had pointed me to it, I thought I’d leave it to you. And I did blog about his new album.)
It was I who shared it! (The joys of early morning internet reading with a newborn.)
I love the excerpts you chose and you’re so right about his voice — I could hear him talking in my head!
Oh, sorry about that! I just had that it was MWC in my head and so I left it to her to blog about!) Ha Ha! No harm, no foul.
Also, Titus One Nine quoted the same section in his daily blog today!
Glad to see that Bob knows the media is the enemy of the people 😉
I thought of you when I read that! 😉