Reflections for a Sunday: "You Gotta Serve Somebody"

“...we’re all spirit. We’re dressed up in a suit of skin and we’re going to leave that behind.” ~ Bob Dylan

You can listen to me read this essay here:

In 1978, Dylan had a life-changing experience. After a late-night recording session, he had gone back to his Tuscon hotel room and sensed “a presence in the room that couldn’t have been anybody but Jesus”. He described it like this, “Jesus put his hand on me. It was a physical thing. I felt it. I felt it all over me. I felt my whole body tremble. The glory of the Lord knocked me down and picked me up.”

This is of personal interest to me since around this time, my dad, Dave Hunt, told us how Bob Dylan had been inspired by one of his books, I don’t remember which one. But it might well have been his little know autobiography, Confessions of a Heretic, since he wrote about similar experiences in it. I was especially amazed and thought it kind of funny, since growing up my parents had always told us rock music was of the Devil and we were never allowed to listen to it. But of course, I had loved rock music and listened to it every chance I could get.

Out of Dylan’s conversion to Christianity came the song “Gotta Serve Somebody” recorded for his 1979 album Slow Train Coming, along with other songs expressing his new faith. This was big news since Dylan was considered such a great writer and artist. To date he is the only person to have won Nobel, Oscar, Golden Globe and Grammy awards (10 of them).

Singing about how everyone serves God, or the Devil wasn’t what Dylan’s fans wanted to hear. Especially not in the late 70s and into the 80s, an era consumed with “dancing the night away”. That’s why, when Dylan got up on stage and sang that song along with others like “I Believe in You”, fans walked out, and critics panned it.

A critique headlined “Bob Dylan’s God-Awful Gospel” in the San Francisco Chronicle said: “Dylan has written some of the most banal, uninspired and inventionless songs of his career for his Jesus phase.”

John Lennon thought “Gotta Serve Somebody” was so "embarrassing", he wrote "Serve Yourself" to make fun of it:

You gotta serve yourself
Ain't nobody gonna do it for you

Despite the loss of fans, the bad reviews, and derision of other recording artists, the song was awarded the 1980 Grammy for Best Rock Vocal Performance by a Male. And I know that these songs continue to inspire and uplift people of all faiths to this day.

Getting up on that stage at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and telling all those celebrities in his raspy voice what they knew to be true but didn’t want to admit—that most of them had probably chosen to serve the Devil, has got to be one of the most iconic moments in Hollywood history. Up there with Ricky Gervais’ iconic opening monologue at the Golden Globes 2020.

If you want a little inspiration for a Sunday (and a good laugh at the faces in the audience), here is Bob Dylan’s performance:

And here are the lyrics:

[Verse one]
You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls

[Chorus]
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You’re gonna have to serve somebody
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you’re gonna have to serve somebody

[Verses}
You might be a rock ’n’ roll addict prancing on the stage
You might have drugs at your command, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high-degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief

You may be a state trooper, you might be a young Turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name

You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody’s landlord, you might even own banks

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be working in a barbershop
You may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody’s mistress, may be somebody’s heir

We are told that success means fame and fortune. This message is pushed on us day and night. For Dylan to have achieved great success—especially the kind where people looked up to him as a legendary artist—and then to speak out, knowing those same people would turn on him, took courage born of conviction. Dylan sang about this in “I Believe in You”:

They ask me how I feel
And if my love is real
And how I know I'll make it through
And they, they look at me and frown,
They'd like to drive me from this town,
They don't want me around
'Cause I believe in you

They show me to the door,
They say don't come back no more
'Cause I don't be like they'd like me to,
And I walk out on my own
A thousand miles from home
But I don't feel alone
'Cause I believe in you

I believe in you even through the tears and the laughter,
I believe in you even though we be apart
I believe in you even on the morning after
Oh, when the dawn is nearing
Oh, when the night is disappearing
Oh, this feeling is still here in my heart

Don't let me drift too far,
Keep me where you are
Where I will always be renewed
And that which you've given me today
Is worth more than I could pay
And no matter what they say
I believe in you

I believe in you when winter turn to summer,
I believe in you when white turn to black,
I believe in you even though I be outnumbered
Oh, though the earth may shake me
Oh, though my friends forsake me
Oh, even that couldn't make me go back

Don't let me change my heart,
Keep me set apart
From all the plans they do pursue
And I, I don't mind the pain
Don't mind the driving rain
I know I will sustain
'Cause I believe in you

This searing truth cannot be tolerated today. It’s far too dangerous. It inspires us to think beyond ourselves to something more. We mustn’t do that. We must be consumed with self. We now have celebrities groomed by the industry to sing nonsense, repeated over and over like a mantra, surrounded by such glitz and glamour that it zombifies those who watch and listen to it.

Like Byonce’s “Run the World (Girls) (which pretty much insults the intelligence of girls everywhere):

Girls, we run this motha (Yeah!)
Girls, we run this motha (Yeah!)
Girls, we run this motha (Yeah!)
Girls, we run this motha (Yeah!)
Girls!

Who run the world? Girls!
Who run the world? Girls!
Who run the world? Girls!

Talk about “banal, uninspired and inventionless”.

People complained that the problem with Dylan was that he preached too much. At one concert, he stunned his audience by launching into what can only now be seen as prophetic:

“You know we’re living in the end times ... The scriptures say, ‘In the last days, perilous times shall be at hand. Men shall become lovers of their own selves. Blasphemous, heavy and highminded ... Take a look at the Middle East. We’re heading for a war ... I told you ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’’ and they did. I said the answer was ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ and it was. I’m telling you now Jesus is coming back, and He is! And there is no other way of salvation ...”

Dylan said that becoming a Christian didn’t make life easier, but it made it clearer. He said that in this life, this is the place you have to work things out. You have to figure out what your place is and who you are.

“But we’re all spirit,” he said. “We’re dressed up in a suit of skin and we’re going to leave that behind.”

The 70s and early 80s are often referred to as Dylan’s “Jesus phase”, as if it was just some aberration not to be taken seriously. Yet just because he stopped writing overtly about his faith doesn’t mean it ended.

In 2022, Dylan expressed his faith to The Wall Street Journal:

“I read the scriptures a lot, meditate and pray, light candles in church. I believe in damnation and salvation, as well as predestination. The Five Books of Moses, Pauline Epistles, Invocation of the Saints, all of it.”

This week, you might want to listen to some of these songs from Slow Train Coming. Despite all the criticism, they have endured the test of time, and I can promise you, they will lift up your spirit and inspire you. Just what we need for these dark times.

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