Bob Dylan Says He Was "Not C******d in China." F***.
That title, as you all know, is "Bob Dylan Says He Was "Not Censored in China." Fact." After his Beijing concert back in April the media was quick to question whether his iconic lyrics of protest and rebellion had been censored by the government or even himself. Finally laying the rumors to rest, Dylan has chimed in with facts behind his trip to China.
In an open letter “To my fans and followers” Dylan sets the story straight including that there was never a 2010 concert planned, let alone denied permission.
He discusses the crowd, which “According to Mojo magazine the concerts were attended mostly by expats and there were a lot of empty seats. Not true;” a fact that our own music editor confirmed in her review.
In response to censorship Dylan writes, “As far as censorship goes, the Chinese government had asked for the names of the songs that I would be playing. There's no logical answer to that, so we sent them the set lists from the previous 3 months. If there were any songs, verses or lines censored, nobody ever told me about it and we played all the songs that we intended to play.”
For some insight from people that actually attended his Chinese concerts, blogs ShanghaiScrap and Jottings For a Granite Studio do an excellent job dispelling the bull led by the likes of this gem from The New York Times.
Image Michelle Dai