> From: "shane mattison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: joni, 80's, popularity > > my intuition is this...joni has said a thousand times she is both a sensitive > and a vulnerable person... the press was very unfair in their reviews of her > work as well as the industry paparazzi...IMHO, no one who has been so loved > and admired before can completely ditch their desire to be popular...even > dylan felt too deeply the attacks made on him for his spiritual changes, > altering his course accordingly... Excellent post on joni's path in the 80s shane.... but this bit about Bob I can't agree with. In some ways Bob's always been a bit vulnerable but he doesn't show it, and I think he has developed a thicker skin to protect himself emotionally. As such, I can't imagine that he would actually change his beliefs because of what all the yahoos said about him in 1979-1981. On his third of the overtly Christian trilogy, Shot Of Love, several of the songs are about toughing it out in one's faith despite all the barbs from everyone around you. "Watered Down Love," "Property of Jesus," even "Lenny Bruce" touch on this theme, which is what I love about Bob's perspective on Christianity, as it speaks out against societal norms as much as his sixties work did--- his is very much not the Christianity of the powerful and the wealthy, and I interpret it as being against the Falwells of the land. Yes, his songs stopped being overtly Christian after this period, but that is because he had already said what he had to say about it, and then later needed to say other things about other things, but his writing was forever altered by the conversion experience, even when not overtly Christian. I think the experience caused him to become more in touch with his jewish roots, the same roots of Christ Himself. His songs later in the 80s and what little there has been in the 90s often dealt with apocalyptic themes and his own mortality in a way that is informed by some deep thinking about God and the universe and how it began and how it will end, as well as a sense that the smug and pompous among us have got it coming to them. His most recent interviews in 1997 have him saying that he still believes but does not subscribe to any preachers or organized churches, but that he finds all of his religious needs in the songs, like listening to Hank sing I Saw The Light is his religion now.
