On May 24, Bob Dylan’s 80th birthday, Bishop Robert Barron paid the legendary singer a musical tribute. With acoustic guitar in hand and a harmonica strapped to his neck, Bishop Barron played through “Every Grain of Sand,” Dylan’s 1981 hit.
Before he began playing, Bishop Barron shared a personal reflection on Dylan’s music and how it impacted him. He said:
Bishop Barron went on to explain that he had thought of writing an article about Dylan, but he decided the best tribute to give would be to play one of his songs. He settled on “Every Grain of Sand,” which Barron calls his “best Christian song.”
The bishop proceeded to put on a great performance, playing guitar, harmonica, and singing. Barron surprised us with a clear tenor that expertly held the tune. In fact, he sounded a little better than Dylan, who was never known for outstanding vocals. We were especially blown away by how well Bishop Barron played the harmonica. Even through such a simple little solo, it’s very hard to play guitar and play the blues harp at once.
Bishop Barron has long extolled the Christian virtues in Dylan’s music. In 2008, Word on Fire produced a brief video in which Barron dissects the lyrics of “All Along the Watchtower,” the 1967 classic tune that was made famous by Jimmy Hendrix. He said in the interview:
Watch the video below to hear Bishop Barron’s astute analysis of this Dylan classic.
