“It’s the ways of the flesh to war against the spirit
Twenty-four hours a day, you can feel it and you can hear it”

Bob Dylan had his so-called “Christian phase” in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. The preachy tone and in-your-face Gospel message in his songs from that time was too much for many fans. Yet the astute listener must acknowledge that Dylan has always been preachy and in-your-face. Whether it is his folky protest songs or  far-out beat poetry or country blues or electric soul or any other way Dylan gets his song-craft out into the world, he has never been shy or avoided any confrontation in his lyrics.  How “put off” you are by his words depends on whether or not you are part of the choir he happens to be preaching to at the time.

The song “Solid Rock” from his 1980 album Saved is one of my favorites of his overt-Christian oeuvre. It combines Rock of Ages lyrics with the rollicking Dylan sound of the Rolling Thunder Review era. This is Rock-n-Gospel-Roll at its finest presented by a preacher worth listening to…

Solid Rock

Well, I’m hangin’ on

To a solid rock
Made before the foundation of the world
And I won’t let go, and I can’t let go
Won’t let go and I can’t let go
Won’t let go and I can’t let go no more

For me, He was chastised, for me, He was hated
For me, he was rejected by a world that He created
Nations are angry, cursed are some
People are expecting a false peace to come

Well, I’m hangin’ on
To a solid rock

Made before the foundation of the world
And I won’t let go, and I can’t let go
Won’t let go and I can’t let go
Won’t let go and I can’t let go no more

It’s the ways of the flesh to war against the spirit
Twenty-four hours a day, you can feel it and you can hear it
Using every angle under the sun
And He never give up ’til the battle’s lost or won