There’s been a wealth of Dylan-related footage uploaded to YouTube in the past week or so, mostly by the same user who uploaded the video you can see by clicking below — Dylan and crew performing Saved in Toronto on April 20th, 1980. Fabulous.

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A few days ago I referred to Dylan’s 1986 performance for the Chabad telethon. Also now on YouTube are Dylan’s performances on the 1989 Chabad telethon. He joined Peter Himmelman (his son-in-law) and Harry Dean Stanton on the show. On Hava Negilah he plays harmonica. On the Mexican tune Adelita he plays the recorder and contributes backing vocals. Neither performance is, shall we say, the greatest musical event one could hope to witness, especially the latter one, but, for curiousity’s sake, there they are. And of-course it’s the thought that counts in a telethon.

Addendum 7:25 pm: Didn’t realize this, but the 2006 Chabad Telethon is going on tonight; right now.

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It’s nice listening to Modern Times and just letting the songs release their secrets slowly, without subjecting them to overly-violent analysis. These lines popped out at me from Thunder On The Mountain:

I did all I could, I did it right there and then
I’ve already confessed — no need to confess again

Prof. Christopher Ricks would back me up, I’m sure, in noting that Dylan uses words with a wonderful consciousness of their varied meanings. These days, when someone says “I’ve already confessed - no need to confess again,” you instantly think someone is referring to the confession of a crime. But, of-course, there’s another sense in which someone “confesses.” Webster’s will tell you that it also can mean “to declare faith in or adherence to” — confessing one’s faith is similar to professing one’s faith. It’s not so commonly used that way any more; not like in the days of the Augsburg Confession, for instance. But you can be pretty sure Dylan was amply aware of the double-meaning, and savored it. In the context of the never-ending debates about Dylan’s faith, brought into focus by the recent Christian Science Monitor debacle, I guess the line jumps out all the more to my ears: “I’ve already confessed — no need to confess again.” See the YouTube video above for clarification.

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