A concert given in Portsmouth Cathedral February 27th 2026
Chimes of freedom.
Well, it’s good to be back. The last time I ‘performed’ so to speak from here, I was in that pulpit, and sitting over there in my Canon’s stall, When 9 years ago Bishop Christopher Foster welcomed me as a Canon (a kind of long service medal for a parish priest -in my case 30 years as a Vicar on the IoW) he spent way too much time (in my view) talking about my love of BD but maybe he could see something I couldn’t , so here we are. It’s great to be here, with my band, whom I’ll introduce later, celebrating the music of Bob Dylan. Now,, having heard that first song, you will know why I gave this show the title ‘Through the wild cathedral.’ ‘In the wild cathedral evening the rain unravelled tales. Tonight we hope to unravel a few tales of the Bob Dylan story and a little of how he connects to me.
For our next song, we go nearly back to the beginning. A song that reflected the frightening times of mid to late 1962, as the world held its breath over the Cuban Missile Crisis. Thematically it is as relevant as ever in our equally frightening times. Yet lyrically it came out of nowhere. Not only Dylan but no folk singer had ever achieved such poetic heights, and it was probably one of the songs for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature 10 years ago. . For me, it’s not just as ‘protest song; but a song of commitment. In the last verse he tells his hearers what he will do in response to all this horror. When I was preparing for ordination in Salisbury, I used – in a service, the words of the last verse to try to articulate my sense of calling – ‘I’ll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it’ I’ll know my song well before I start singing.
Hard rain
I need to say a little bit more about the next song which is quite complicated. I promise I won’t say so much about the others! This is the first I ever played in public. Played, not sang. 40 years ago I was at said theological college- Vicar training school- when one of our tutors decided to base his sermon on this song. One of my fellow students sang and another played the same Saxophone riff David will play tonight.
The sermon was about love, which is the unspoken theme of this song- Visions of Johanna, like ‘Hard Rain’, one of Dylan’s towering lyrical achievements. Three people feature in this very unusual love triangle: 1) the singer, referred to as ‘I’ and ‘he’, the lover of v1 and peddler of the final verse 2) Louise, who is physically present, in the flesh, trying to care for the singer, her lover, who is constantly distracted by thoughts and visions of 3) Johanna, beautiful but enigmatic, Mona Lisa in a hard frame looking down on unlovely jelly-faced tourists who whisper in awe. Louise is ‘all right, she’s just near,’ but it is Johanna who conquers the singer’s mind, Yearning for this perfect but illusory woman is doomed, a pact with the fiddler (or devil) who takes everything, leaving the harmonica playing a danse macabre and the singer with just Visions .
The moral? Hold on to the love that is real – ‘just near-’ and not the perfect ideal even if it does conquer your mind.
Visions of Johanna
It’s great to be here with a band, and BD has spent most of his career singing with a band, but he made his name by himself, with a ‘lone guitar and a point of view’ and so this next song is the only solo effort. Another one of the things the early Bob Dylan made his name for was not just general protest songs- BLowin- but very specific, topical songs, about a particular person and event: Emmett Till, Medger Evers, James Meredith. This next song is probably the best known of all these. It’s good to see this long neglected genre make a comeback in Dylan’s home state of Minnesota by Bruce Springsteen in response to the recent deaths of Rene Good and Alex Pritti at the hands of ICE agents- ‘Streets of Minneapolis.’ Dylan used to introduce this song as ‘straight out of the newspapers.’
The lonesome death of Hattie Carroll
We’re now jumping forwards by 11 years to play 2 songs from what many consider his greatest album, Blood on the Tracks, written in the shadow of the breakup of his marriage to Sara,. This first one was probably written following a brief meeting backstage on his comeback tour in 1974. A mixture of touring pressure leading to an affair followed by intensive classes from an artist who made him look at everything in a whole new way led to a serious rift in his marriage. ‘You’re a big girl now’ is full of searing, visceral emotion. The second, ‘Simple Twist of fate’ is lighter in tone and may refer back to his first great love in NYC- Suze Rotolo (pictured on Freewheelin) which finished 10 years earlier.
You’re a big girl
Simple Twist of fate.
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=hugh+wright+simple+twist+of+fate
The next song comes from the following year 1975. The lyrics are a bit bizarre but the music is beautiful.
One more cup of coffee
Now, to our last 2 songs before the interval, , both from 1967, which need little introduction. The first comes from a collaboration with The Band (of ‘The Weight’ and ‘Old Dixie’ fame on the Basement Tapes sessions. The second was immortalised by Jimi Hendrix.
I shall be released.
All along the watchtower.
(search for previous performances at Hugh Wright and song name)
I N T E R V A L
Blowin in the wind
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qav_7DyhVEQ&list=RDqav_7DyhVEQ&start_radio=1 (RIP Rick Otley on violin)
In the second half we will think a bit more about Dylan’s Christian faith- appropriately, given our setting here. At the end of a world tour in 1978, dubbed the ‘alimony tour’ to pay for the massive divorce settlement with Sara just agreed, Dylan was sitting in a hotel room in Tucson when he claimed to have seen a vision of Jesus. Whatever we think about that, it completely changed his life, sending him to Bible college and to embark on a 3 album project between 1979 and 81 and a tour where he initially played only his gospel music, none of his old. It lost him a lot of his fans but, looking back now, it is crucial to understanding the man, marking a halfway point in his long career, with most of his music since informed by biblical and prophetic themes. This lovely song from 1981 was the last on that initial e album trilogy. It remains very special to Dylan, for he ends virtually every show of his ‘never ending tour’ (4500 shows and counting!) with it.
Every grain of sand
This next song comes from 8 years later and is a good example of his continuing spiritual quest beyond that initial trilogy. Another example of Dylan’s love of ‘bell’ imagery started in ‘Chimes of freedom’. IN this 3song he follows the traditional Catholic practice of praying to the saints and ringing a bell as they do so.
Ring them bells.
Just as spiritual themes continued long after his ‘born again’ period, so they pre-dated it too. Dylan sang about the Gospel Plow on his very first album in 1962 and in this song written during that tour which ended with that vision of Jesus, one can feel the tension which was leading up to it. ‘Senor’ means both Sir/Mr in Spanish as well as Lord.
Senor.
This next song – a real rocker- was the first people heard of Dylan’s new-found faith when they dropped the needle on ‘Slow Train Coming’ back in 1979. Many people hated its judgmental sentiments, but actually Dylan is aiming his fire at himself as much as other. He had just built himself a house with a dome in Point Dume CA (where he still lives) and his childhood nickname was ‘Zimmy’ . He too has to answer the question of Moses: Choose who you will serve.
Gotta serve.
(Type in Hugh Wright/Gotta serve)
Dylan is incredibly knowledgeable of American history, especially its darker side. Nothing is darker than the original sin of slavery. In this song, from that early Christian period, he muses on this, concluding that this land is far short of the ‘shining city on a hill’ of its early fathers but irredeemably corrupt and condemned by God. City on a hill or land condemned? You decide,
Blind Wiilie Mctell.
Finale.
In an interview Dylan said that a successful man is one who wakes up in the morning and goes to bed at night and in between does exactly what he wants to do. Dylan has lived this creed most of his life, refusing to submit to people’s stereotypes of him and follow the path they would like him to. IN the last 40 years that has been tempered by a sense of religious calling, but the basic attitude still exists. The recent film ‘A complete unknown’ perfectly illustrates this theme, ending with this song performed on stage at Newport Folk Festival 1965. The trouble with this creed is that can lead to a lonely path, despite riches and universal acclaim. ‘How does it feel to be on your own?’
Like a Rolling Stone
Knockin’ on heaven’s door.
Dylan – as I hope I have shown- is a serious musician, with serious themes. He has however written many upbeat songs over the years of which this is probably the sunniest, written 53 years ago for his young son as a blessing and one I hope we can all apply to ourselves. ‘May your hearts be always joyful and your song be always sung.’
Forever Young
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