The Ballad of Bob Dylan and the Pope
The Atlantic · Gal Beckerman ·
The image of their encounter at the Vatican is strange and funny—but these two make some sense together.
The image of their encounter at the Vatican is strange and funny—but these two make some sense together.
At first, the image appears to be some kind of intergalactic photo op, something out of Star Wars. A figure hooded in black, his craggy face partly in shadow, greets a serene-looking man in a white robe. Think Emperor Palpatine shaking hands with Obi-Wan Kenobi, perhaps brokering a cease-fire in the Clone Wars. Closer inspection yields a picture that is no less weird: Bob Dylan is hanging with the pope.
What they actually spoke about during their meeting yesterday at the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, we may never know. But the questions only begin there! Why is Dylan’s head covered by a hood? Why, in some photos, does he have gloves and an umbrella? Why does he seem to have abandoned tying his polka-dotted tie mid-flip? And: Is the pope a fan? (Actually, that last one might have an answer—in a recent book about disarmament, the pope quoted Dylan’s 1963 deep cut “Go Away You Bomb”; “I want that Bomb—I want it settin in my mouth like a cigar,” goes one line. This is unfiltered Dylan that only a true fan could love.)
Read the full story at The Atlantic · All coverage of this story