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Bob Dylan awarded Nobel prize for Literature

MikeG

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MikeG
Joined
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Nobel prize for literature goes to Bob Dylan

BBC

The 75-year-old rock legend received the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
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If you'd have given me a thousand guesses, I'd not have got that.
 
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They should have just given him the Peace Prize and be done with it




Baby Boomers rejoice. Everybody must get stoned indeed.
 
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I've listened to the local community-radio show, Songwriter's Showcase, since the early 80s. The original host of the show always referred to Dylan as "The Master".
 
Honestly, I don't get it. He has a good line or two, but as a whole, his lyrics range from shallow to gibberish.
 
Tero said:
I've had trouble with most of his lyrics. For example, a very popular song...it's sort of country...keeps shifting time, place and point of view in a confusing way:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tangled_Up_in_Blue
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That's the point...

Tangled Up In BlueWP
"Tangled Up in Blue" is one of the clearest examples of Dylan's attempts to write "multi-dimensional" songs which defied a fixed notion of time and space. Dylan was influenced by his recent study of painting and the Cubist school of artists, who sought to incorporate multiple perspectives within a single plane of view. ...In a 1978 interview Dylan explained this style of songwriting: "What's different about it is that there's a code in the lyrics, and there's also no sense of time. There's no respect for it. You've got yesterday, today and tomorrow all in the same room, and there's very little you can't imagine not happening".
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https://vimeo.com/150126587

It's a great song!

I'm pleased at this ridiculous decision because I like Bob Dylan.

I expect when he turns up to collect his award we will see that literary capability in full flourish.

"Uuuuh, thanks for this... I guess." Is roughly what I expect him to say.
 
I think his pre-electric lyrics, in general, showed a lot of potential. Like "Blowing in the wind". But it never goes anywhere - the answer is just "blowing in the wind". But working from there, I think he could have become what I would consider a great poet. Instead, he moved on to songs like "Desolation Row" - once he'd figured out he was Bob Dylan and could just write stream-of-consciousness gibberish that everyone would take as profound on sheer faith. I always thought that capacity hit its peak with "All Along the Watchtower", where not even the title can be parsed.

That said, I enjoy quite a few of his songs, but I find the lyrics irksome.
 
You are still close to being a children. One day, my boy, one day....

Funny thing is I don't like poetry much, and truthfully have no idea what Bob is actually trying to say a lot of the time, but I do get weird mental images when I listen, which I enjoy. So that's all that counts.

But it's mainly the way he sings his own stuff that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Listen to something simple like I Threw It All Away from Nashville Skyline. Bridge is a bit corny, but if you've ever been in the same place, it's intensely moving.

Whether he's worth a Nobel, I have some doubts, but he's certainly more worthy than many winners, and having given me countless hours of pleasure, I don't begrudge it a bit.
 
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fagin said:
You are still close to being a children. One day, my boy, one day....

Funny thing is I don't like poetry much, and truthfully have no idea what Bob is actually trying to say a lot of the time, but I do get weird mental images when I listen, which I enjoy. So that's all that counts.

But it's mainly the way he sings his own stuff that makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. Listen to something simple like I Threw It All Away from Nashville Skyline. Bridge is a bit corny, but if you've ever been in the same place, it's intensely moving.

Whether he's worth a Nobel, I have some doubts, but he's certainly more worthy than many winners, and having given me countless hours of pleasure, I don't begrudge it a bit.
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Which past winners is he more worthy than?
 
There is nothing wrong with a poet also being a songwriter.
There is nothing wrong with a poet winning the Nobel for Literature.

Dylan's lyrics have been influential and have had impact on the literary tradition of songwriting like none other. One metric would be the trivia facct that no artist has been covered more often than Dylan - and I daresay it's not because his music is so much better beyond every other composer's. Artists cover Dylan mostly because of the lyrics.

Having said that, I won't offer an opinion on how the quality and importance of his lyrics rank absolutely or relative to other, non-songing poets, as I am not much of a lyrics-appreciator.

I am not much surprised of the choice, and I approve.
 
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