When You Gonna Wake Up?

1979 was a dramatic year in Bob-land. Slow Train Coming marked a rather surprising turn in Bob Dylan’s career, kicking off his gospel period. This first of three Gospel inspired and infused albums, Slow Train was produced by Jerry Wexler and featured Mark Knopfler on guitar. The album blends polished blues-rock with overtly Christian themes, earning Dylan a Grammy for “Gotta Serve Somebody” and sparking both acclaim and controversy.

“When You Gonna Wake Up?” is not subtle. It's a jeremiad set to music — urgent, accusatory, and unapologetically moral. (To younger readers: do you know the origin of the word "jeremiad?")

The song functions as a wake-up call to a culture Dylan saw drifting into spiritual and moral confusion. He indicts political ideologies (“Karl Marx has got ya by the throat”), moral compromise (“adulterers in churches”), corrupt institutions, and a society obsessed with wealth and self-gratification. The refrain — “When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?”— echoes the language of Revelation, reinforcing the song’s prophetic tone.

What makes the song powerful is not its policy commentary but its spiritual urgency. Dylan’s target is not merely government or culture; it's human hearts. He challenges listeners to reconsider their assumptions about God, materialism, and moral responsibility. The line “You think He’s just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires” addresses a lot of people's ideas about God. 

My personal feeling is that even if you're put off by the religious iconography, the repetitious refrain is exceedingly relevant in secular applications as well. Does your life feel stale, like you're drifting? When you gonna wake up? Are you drinking too much, partying too hard, eating too much, wasting too much time doing nothing? Ignoring responsibilities? Too absorbed in your self? When you gonna wake up? When are you going to do something about it?

Critics have sometimes faulted Dylan’s Gospel-era songs for their bluntness. And indeed, this is not the elliptical Dylan of “Visions of Johanna” or the ambiguity-laden "All Along The Watchtower." 

“When You Gonna Wake Up?” is both a fierce cultural critique and a personal challenge — less concerned with pleasing listeners than with shaking them. Whether one agrees with its theology or not, its urgency is unmistakable. 

When You Gonna Wake Up?

WRITTEN BY: BOB DYLAN

God don’t make no promises that He don’t keep

You got some big dreams, baby, but in order to dream you gotta still be asleep

Refrain: When you gonna wake up, when you gonna wake up

When you gonna wake up and strengthen the things that remain?

Counterfeit philosophies have polluted all of your thoughts

Karl Marx has got ya by the throat, Henry Kissinger’s got you tied up in knots

Refrain: When you gonna wake up...

(EdNote: Here Dylan frames ideology itself as a kind of captivity. “Counterfeit philosophies” suggests systems of thought that promise liberation but ultimately distort reality, something akin to a fog machine. By invoking Karl Marx and Henry Kissinger, Dylan spans the political spectrum—leftist economic theory on one side, realpolitik power politics on the other. In hindsight I've wondered if the word "realpolitik" was invented to distance the name from what it really is: Machiavellianism.) 

You got innocent men in jail, your insane asylums are filled

You got unrighteous doctors dealing drugs that’ll never cure your ills

Refrain: When you gonna wake up...

You got men who can’t hold their peace and women who can’t control their tongues

The rich seduce the poor and the old are seduced by the young

Refrain: When you gonna wake up...

Adulterers in churches and pornography in the schools

You got gangsters in power and lawbreakers making rules

Refrain: When you gonna wake up...

Do you ever wonder just what God requires?

You think He’s just an errand boy to satisfy your wandering desires

Refrain: When you gonna wake up...

You can’t take it with you and you know that it’s too worthless to be sold

They tell you, “Time is money,” as if your life was worth its weight in gold

Refrain: When you gonna wake up...

There’s a Man up on a cross and He’s been crucified

Do you have any idea why or for who He died?

Refrain: When you gonna wake up...

Copyright © 1979 by Special Rider Music

Now Available for Download or Purchase: Dylan's Trouble No More -- Bootleg Series Vol. 13

Here's the full nine yards.

Around Sunday noon the dog began barking like someone had just driven up the drive, so I took a peek. Sure enough it was a vehicle with the USPS insignia on it. Except it was Sunday, so it didn't really make sense. The man putzed around whil leaning into the opened back door while holding a scanner to record details of the delivery, and then nervously brought it over to the gate, somewhat intimidated by the barking. Turns out he was from Amazon. I alleviated his concerns and encouraged him to pass through the gate so I could receive the package, which consisted of a book I'd ordered [Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art] and the newly released Trouble No More, Volume 13 in Dylan's Bootleg Series.

This summer we saw the release of Scott Marshall's highly researched, deep dive into the spiritual thread that runs through Dylan's life and lyrics (Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life). It seems to have been a perfect set-up for the release of #13 in the Bootleg Series. And though his Gospel period may still have its detractors, there are others who seem to have gained a measure of perspective with the passage of time.  Here's the "summing up" from a review by Randy Lewis of the L.A. Times:

With the distance of nearly four decades, it’s possible now to look back at this period and recognize that yet again, the Bard from Hibbing, Minn., was doing what he’s done so consistently through all phases of his career: challenging orthodoxy.

What made this manifestation of the impulse to prod and provoke so intriguing is that it was an unexpected orthodoxy Dylan chose to put under his microscope: the orthodoxy of rock ’n’ roll.

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Nov. 8, 1979, San Francisco. Courtesy Bill Pagel.

It wasn't long before the two CDs (disc 1 & 2) were in the CD player. And it was even less time before I had my first round of buyer's remorse, that sense of regret that occurs after a purchase in which we feel we've made a wrong choice. In this case, my regret was as follows: I wished I'd ordered the Deluxe Edition, with 8 CDs plus a DVD that includes unreleased footage from his 1980 tour. Evidently there are ways to save a small wad of cash by downloading from iTunes. Now I have more hard choices.

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One thing different about this new set in the Bootleg Series is that there are fewer studio session outtakes, none on the two-disc set that I acquired yesterday.

Dylan's live performances show the same kind of reconfiguration as his studio outtakes though, and the albums he's produced and songs he's written are never set in stone. In this series of live concert selections we're treated to numerous variations of Slow Train.

The set list also changes over time. It will be noticed that early on his focus was on this new material drawn from the new faith he appeared earnestly to embrace. On the CDs from his 1981 concerts we find playlists that incorporate "Early Bob" like Mr. Tambourine Man, Just Like A Woman and It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. It would be the beginning of another transition, and just as some of the songs from Street Legal foreshadowed this new segment in Dylan's career, so too these 1981 concerts can be said to foreshadow Infidels and what came beyond.

Though many of the songs here were only performed for that three-year stint from '79 to '81, Dylan continued to play Slow Train till September 1987 and Gotta Serve Somebody has been a staple in more than 400 concerts through 2011.

As time permits, over the next few weeks I hope to share my own impressions and insights from the material on this new collection. 

Scott Marshall's Book About Bob Dylan, the Gospel and the Great American Songbook: What a Long, Strange Journey It's Been

"Good evening ladies and gentlemen,. Would you please welcome Columbia recording artist... Bob Dylan."

Glory, glory, glory, somebody touched me
Glory, glory, glory, somebody touched me
Glory, glory, glory, somebody touched me
Must've been the hand of the Lord.

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This is a review of Scott Marshall's 2017 book, Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life, which I finished last weekend, just before my interview with the author. This is not Marshall's first book, nor is it his first foray into the the theme of Dylan's religious convictions. Unlike his first, Restless Pilgrim, this is an in-depth survey of all that Dylan has written, that Dylan himself has said, his actions related to spiritual matters (his son's bar mitzvah, his visits to the Wailing Wall, etc.), and what others have written about Dylan's spiritual impulses, as well as some "man in the street" types of inquiries about perceptions as to where Dylan is at.

Marshall has stated that he spent 12 or 13 years consciously working on the book, sifting through everything Dylan has ever written or said in order to collect the flecks of gold dust that could be re-assembled in this volume. The author acknowledges his own bias up front (he is a Christian and a Dylan fan) but for the most part strives to let the evidence he's accumulated speak for itself.

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Last weekend, while listening to the radio program Beale Street Caravan, the theme of Pentecostal revivalism was brought up as one of the streams that flowed into the blues. The narrator of the show asserted that when we listen to Motown or the music from the streets of Memphis, there's this whole gospel Pentecostal influence that can't be ignored. Anyone who's been to Bourbon Street in New Orleans knows that one of their theme songs is "When the Saints Go Marching In."

What was the appeal of Gospel music? It's chief appeal was a message of hope, a feeling that we've not been abandoned, a message finding its strongest resonance amongst those who were indeed most likely to feel abandoned and without hope, the down-and-outers, the end-of-the-liners, the betrayed, forgotten and lost.

While Wikipedia's account of Pentecostalism is fairly extensive, the first paragraph does a fairly good job of summarizing the core of this movement.

Pentecostalism or Classical Pentecostalism is a renewal movement within Protestant Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism with the Holy Spirit. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek name for the Jewish Feast of Weeks. For Christians, this event commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit upon the followers of Jesus Christ, as described in the second chapter of the Book of Acts.*

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When I was in college I had an art instructor named Frank Holmes. He was a sensational artist who painted interiors in the classical impressionist/realist tradition. A couple years later I learned that Frank had gone to New York and had a loft where he was now painting. I inquired as to how he was doing and what he was working on. I was told that he was painting a piano, but to paint it profoundly he had to engage it profoundly, meaning he felt he had to learn to play it. He had gone a year on this piano engagement without doing a painting. He may have been doing drawings and sketches, I do not know, and this story was relayed to me second hand, but it was my understanding that he was somehow internalizing the piano first. 

This memory popped into my head as I was listening to Beale Street Caravan last weekend, when they discussed the influences of Gospel music on the Blues. If Bob Dylan's life mission had been to internalize and absorb the Great American Songbook, it would have been impossible to do this without becoming immersed to some extent in the music of its Gospel traditions. 

The Bluegrass stream is thoroughly awash in Gospel, the Carter Family being one of its chief conduits. The music of them thar hills is a blend of both sacred and secular themes, shining a light on the high road while acknowledging the brokenness and muck of life's other side.

Like Frank Holmes's efforts to understand a piano before painting it, the best way to really understand the emotional charge Gospel music gives might be to get "set afire" by the Gospel. What I mean here is that getting totally immersed in the Gospel seems to be the most authentic way to translate the Bible through the unique internal method that is Dylan.

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1979, San Francisco (photo courtesy Bill Pagel)

Marshall's book is an overview of all the periods in Dylan's life, extracting quotes from interviews as well as lyrics analysis. Many of the stories are familiar, such as Dylan's question to Noel Paul Stookey, "Do you ever read the Bible?" when the latter was visiting Dylan's Woodstock home in 1967. Nor is Marshall the first to note the more than 60 Biblical references and allusions in Dylan's John Wesley Harding. Marshall, on the other hand, may be the first to sift the sand of Dylan's life this thoroughly, from the beginning till the most current times.

The critics were harsh when Dylan released Christmas in the Heart, outdoing one another with their creative salvos, so much so that one failed to notice the positive remarks  that were made. Marshall doesn't miss these and highlights them for his readers.

One of my favorite lines in Mark Sutton's "I'm a Bigger Dylan Fan Than You" is the one where he sings, "I became a Jew and then a Christian, and then again became a Jew." On the surface, this is a common interpretation of Dylan's temporary three year embrace of Christianity. What Marshall attempts to demonstrate is that, although no one knows except Dylan himself, there is ample evidence to support the belief that he never renounced his Christian faith of the late 1970s, early 80s.

The word that may best describe Dylan on these matters is syncretism, which Dictionary.com defines as "the attempted reconciliation or union of different or opposing principles, practices, or parties, as in philosophy or religion." Indeed, this is what Marshall states near the book's culmination. Dylan has been known to still attend synagogue on Jewish holy days.

Though the songs from his Saved album, for the most part, were only temporarily showcased on his playlist from 1979-1981, Dylan continued to sing "In the Garden" and "Solid Rock" up into the 21st century. He's performed "Gotta Serve Somebody" from his Slow Train Coming more than 400 times, right up to 2011. The song was Dylan's first Grammy, but would that be the only reason he opened so many concerts with this one?

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Marshall has marshaled an impressive list of endorsements, including Gary Cherone of Extreme and Van Halen, Noel Paul Stookey, Grammy-Nominated producer Jeffrey Gaskill, a columnist at The Nation Randall Balmer, Alice Cooper and the President Jimmy Carter. If this is a subject that interests you, you'll probably enjoy it, too.

Meantime, life outside goes on all around you. Engage it.

*Wikipedia entry on Pentecostalism.

Tangled Up In The Bible: A Bob Dylan Quiz

During the course of Duluth Dylan Fest this year I received a number of interesting emails, including this one, a trivia quiz whose central thread happens to be spiritual references in the works of Bob Dylan. At the end of the questions you'll find a link to a Facebook page where the answers can be found.

TANGLED UP IN THE BIBLE: A BOB DYLAN QUIZ 
By David Buckna

In the history of popular music, few figures loom as large. This quiz explores Dylan's biblical connections.

"There's mystery, magic, truth and the Bible in great folk music. I can't hope to touch that. But I'm going to try.” – Bob Dylan, in a 1963 interview

QUESTIONS

1. As early as 1962 Dylan made an allusion to Jesus in song: "To preach of peace and brotherhood/ Oh, what might be the cost! / A man he did it long ago/ And they hung him on a cross." Name the song.

2. According to author Ronnie Keohane, what one line from Masters Of War (1963) has Dylan consistently omitted from his concerts since 1979?

3. In 1968 Jimi Hendrix recorded what is considered to be the most notable cover of a Dylan song. Name it.

4. What movie soundtrack album did Dylan release in 1973?

5. What are the titles of Dylan's three gospel albums?

6. On what 1980 Keith Green song does Dylan have a harmonica solo?

7. What’s the first line of Jokerman (1983)?

8. The line "One says to the other no man sees my face and lives" is from what Dylan song?

9. For what 1997 album did Dylan win three Grammy awards?

10. What Dylan album includes Tryin' To Get To Heaven?

11. What "rock" hymn did Dylan perform Feb. 2, 1999 at a concert in Pensacola, Florida?

12. After years of speculation, it was confirmed in 2001 that Dylan was the model for this bronze statue on top of the north-western tower of Nidaros Cathedral (Trondheim, Norway). Who does the statue depict?

13. When 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley asked Dylan in 2004, "Why do you still do it?" (perform), Dylan replied: "Well, it goes back to that destiny thing. I mean, I made a bargain with it, you know, long time ago. And I'm holdin' up my end...to get where I am now." When Bradley asked, "Should I ask who you made the bargain with?" what was Dylan's reply?

14. What Dylan rarity from Under The Red Sky (1990) did he perform July 10, 2005 in Schaumburg, Illinois?

15. What are the first two lines of Spirit On the Water (2006)?

16. The Bible was Dylan's theme for the Sept. 6, 2006 edition of his Theme Time Radio Hour, on Sirius XM Radio. Whose 1930 version of John The Revelator did Dylan play?

17. In a 2009 interview to promote Dylan's Christmas In The Heart album, Bill Flanagan – referring to O Little Town of Bethlehem – told Dylan he "delivered the song like a true believer." What was Dylan's reply?

18. He said on May 29, 2012: "Today everybody from Bruce Springsteen to U2 owes Bob a debt of gratitude. There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music. All these years later, he's still chasing that sound, still searching for a little bit of truth, and I have to say that I am a really big fan." Who said it?

19. What song on Dylan's 35th studio album is 14 minutes long?

20. According to Christian minister/author Steve Stockman, what song on Tempest "is dripping with the images of the Jewish Passover or the Christian idea of atonement"?

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Answer Key: Here.

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In 2015 I interviewed Scott Marshall, author of a book about Dylan's spiritual side called Restless Pilgrim. One of the comments I received in response to that interview was an inquiry from someone wanting to know if his more in depth manuscript on this theme had been published. This past week I learned that, in fact, it's being released this month. You can check it out here on Amazon, Bob Dylan: A Spiritual Life.

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"May your wishes all come true... and may you stay forever young."