From his debut into world history over forty years ago, Bob Dylan has been known as a troubadour - a singer who writes both music and words - who is regarded by many as the "conscience of the nation."

In this collection of songs he still speaks with that same communal sensitivity but clearly from a different point of departure. While here-to-fore Dylan seemed to have been speaking from a moral societal perspective, here he speaks from the vantage of being a child of God who has, according to the lyrics of one of his songs, "been saved by the blood of the lamb." An analysis of the songs in this collection, focusing on the four most important characteristics of gospel, will indicate how he has been able to transfer that feeling to this music.

Modern gospel songs were shaped by such publicly avowed Christian composers as Wendell Phillips Loveless, Thomas A. Dorsey, Bill Gaither, Andrea Crouch and Dottie Rambo. There are certain similarities among the songs of these composers and foremost among them is an evangelical story concerned directly or indirectly, with winning souls for Christ. Dylan expresses this attitude through the conviction and determination that serve as the basis of "I Believe in You" and the gratitude declared in "Saving Grace."

Secondly, a gospel song must be in the gospel style. That is, the song must be built primarily on small intervals, it must have a contour of a few central tones to which the singer can return often, and it must have a tinge of the sound of piety. The harmony can be as simple as that of the blues but the rhythm must incorporate - or be elastic enough to accommodate - the beat, the division of the beat, syncopation, cross - rhythms and other pulses that come "in-the-moment." Witness the rhythmic confrontations in "When You Gonna Wake Up?" (this bit of gospel vernacular should not go unnoticed) and "Solid Rock."

The third characteristic requires the story and drama (action) to be unfolded in one part of a song while the reaction and commentary take place in another. This first part is commonly called the verse, while the second part is called the chorus or refrain. This distribution is no where more eloquently illustrated than in "Saved" wherein in the first verse almost every horrible situation that befalls mankind has visited the singer, yet the refrain concludes that he is "... saved by the blood of the lamb." Inspiration, the fourth characteristic of a gospel song, is that element that declares that regardless of the medium for which the song was written, it should reach all groups and invite their performance.

Inspiration is evident here in the solo performance of "When He Returns," a slow ballad; that of a male quartet on the jubilee, "Are You Ready" and the "shout" song "Saved", and a mixed group on "Pressing On." "Call and response" is the principal mode of the unfolding word.

Finally, singers must be inspired to find themselves in the music and it is clear here that these singers have not only found themselves but forgot about "self" and let the Lord speak through them. And they did this through the songs of Bob Dylan, gospel music composer.

Horace Clarence Boyer
Author of The Golden Age of Gospel