Dylan in China: 'a Whole New Kind of Sellout'

But Dowd notes the dangerous, agitator Dylan has been gone for 40 years
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 10, 2011 5:58 AM CDT
Bob Dylan's China Concert: A Whole New Kind of Sellout
American folk icon Bob Dylan, right, performs with his band in his China debut in Beijing, China Wednesday April 6, 2011. The 69-year-old American legend was expected to meet resistance from Chinese censors considering his association with U.S. protest movements in the 1960s. Dylan's China dates are...   (AP Photo)

Bob Dylan's recent concert in China represents "a whole new kind of sellout," writes Maureen Dowd in the New York Times, "even worse than Beyoncé, Mariah and Usher collecting millions to croon to Gadhafi’s family, or Elton John raking in a fortune to serenade gay-bashers at Rush Limbaugh’s fourth wedding." Dylan played a Communist Party-approved selection of songs that avoided anything anti-authoritarian or political. "He sang his censored set, took his pile of Communist cash, and left," writes Dowd.

But, Dowd notes that Dylan has long since moved away from strident politics. The Chinese government was "trying to guard the audience from some figure who hasn’t existed in 40 years," says a Princeton historian who wrote a book about Dylan. Still, Dowd concludes, "Maybe the songwriter should reread some of his own lyrics: 'I think you will find/When your death takes its toll/All the money you made/Will never buy back your soul.'" (More Bob Dylan stories.)

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