THE PAT CROSBY INTERVIEW MAY 16, 1980


(What was it you wanted? #12)

Crosby: How and why did Bob Dylan recently stop singing the older songs and start singing gospel and about the Lord? He said he would talk to us about it ....

Dylan: I can understand why they feel rebellious about it because up until the time the Lord came into my life, I knew nothing about religion; I was just rebellious and didn't think much about it either way. I never did care much for preachers who just ask for donations all the time and talk about the world to come. I was always growing up with "it's right here and now" and until Jesus became real to me that way, I couldn't understand it.

Crosby: So you can understand people's reaction to you when you come on stage and start singing about Jesus and they want the old stuff?

Dylan: Oh, yeas, that's right, they want the old stuff. But the old stuff's not going to save them and I'm not going to save them. Neither is anybody else they follow. They can boogie all night, but it's not gonna work.

Crosby: Do you still hold the same enthusiasm for the older material or is it gone?

Dylan: Oh, yeah, I love that stuff. I look at it now and it amazes me that it was me that even wrote it or performed it.

Interview conducted at the Hilton Hotel in Pittsburgh May 15, 1980 and broadcast the same day by KDKA TV.

Reprinted in Clinton Heylin: Saved! - part 3, The Telegraph #30.