Bob Dylan wins Nobel Literature Prize

[Daniel M]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37643621

http://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/1575D/production/_91910978_dylan1_afp.jpg

US singer Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.


The 75-year-old rock legend received the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".


The balladeer, artist and occasional actor is the first songwriter to win the prestigious award.


The performer - who took his stage name from the poet Dylan Thomas - is the first American to win the award since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.


Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said Dylan had been chosen because he was "a great poet in the English speaking tradition".


"For 54 years now he's been at it reinventing himself, constantly creating a new identity," she told reporters in Stockholm.


Dylan had long been tipped as a potential prize recipient, but few experts expected the academy to extend the award to a genre such as folk rock music.

When I saw Bob Dylan trending on Twitter and Facebook this morning I panicked a little, but this is fantastic news, and very much deserved in my opinion. Probably the greatest songwriter of all time, I always considered him to be my favourite poet :D

[Camo]

OMG! That's amazing. I've heard Alan Moores name thrown around for it before and i always thought that was weird, no way would i have ever guessed this was coming. Great choice. Really need to listen to him more, i've heard plenty of his songs but the only albums i've heard in full are Blonde On Blonde and Highway 61 Revisited.

[Daniel M]

Weird timing for me because although I've always loved him, I hadn't listened to his stuff in a while, then this week I started listening to loads again. Amazing how many songs he has that I can relate to all sorts of situations so powerfully, some of his lyrics are just genius and it's amazing the age which he wrote some of them. How does someone write songs like "Don't Think Twice It's All Right" at 21 years old?

[Yoda]

Dylan can be pretty great and all, but I'm having a hard time thinking of song lyrics as "literature."

The obvious retort is "lyrics can be poetry, and poetry can be literature, therefore..." But I think we lose something with the "can be" in each case, and once it's compounded on itself we end up pretty far afield from actual literature.

[Mr Minio]

Next thing we see is some Japanese artist loved by Guap wins the prize for his mangas.

[Daniel M]

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/oct/13/bob-dylan-deserves-to-win-nobel-prize-literature

[Chypmunk]

Lyrics most certainly merit the accolade - and about bloody time too imo!

[Yoda]

Serious question: would anyone think his lyrics merited inclusion if read without the music? It seems unlikely. The article you link to, Daniel, says basically the same thing: "Essentially, in the work of Bob Dylan, the words and the music cannot be separated." If this is true (and I think it definitely is), it would seem that otherwise unremarkable poetry can get a boost, as it were, from the mental association we make with the music its sung to. Which kind of seems like an advantage (or at least a categorical difference) with, say, a novel.

[Daniel M]

Serious question: would anyone think his lyrics merited inclusion if read without the music? It seems unlikely.

Personally, I would say yes.

[Guaporense]

Super biased. Why not give the prize to musicians outside the English speaking word for a change? Its like the Swedes are not even aware that there exists a world outside of Europe and the US.

[Yoda]

Personally, I would say yes.
We'll never really know, of course, because the music and the words are inextricably linked. Pretty clear he wouldn't have won without the music part, regardless of whether or not you find the words to be meritorious on their own.

[TONGO]

I sang this at karaoke alot, great fun, and yeah he still is ahead of his time. Seriously, what songwriter today even can reach Dylans lyrics?

You know what I think is his secret? He cant sing. Not his fault as hes mostly deaf, but his lyrics arent melodic. Youre not gonna hear Adele singing a Bob Dylan song. The fact he cant sing it somehow it all magically comes together. Incredibly unique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3eE9g4z5gk

[matt72582]

The lyrics sung on record are very rhythmic!

[Swan]

Have to respectfully disagree with Yoda. Lyrics can, and in fact are, poetry, and I don't really buy the "linked to the music" thing either. I think anyone with sense to them can separate the two and decide whether or not lyrics are in fact powerful poetry on their own. I don't listen to much Bob Dylan to be honest, but I read some of his lyrics when I was trying to improve my own lyricism skills, mostly because he is renowned for his lyricism, and yes he is an incredible poet. I think the prize is warranted.

[TONGO]

Quick disclaimer to my post, I wasnt meaning to be too critical when saying he cant sing. Just trying to articulate why hes so unique. ;)

[Mr Minio]

At least it wasn't a rapper who won this.

[Camo]

Vanilla Ice 2017!1

[earlsmoviepicks]

Well deserved, especially when you consider how many people covered his songs!

[Chypmunk]

Vanilla Ice 2017!1
Is there a Nobel Prize category for desserts then? :eek:

[Daniel M]

Not his fault as hes mostly deaf, but his lyrics arent melodic. Youre not gonna hear Adele singing a Bob Dylan song.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0put0_a--Ng

;)

[TONGO]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0put0_a--Ng

;)
:blush:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXJ8tKRlW3E

[banality]

And the Nobel Physics Prize goes to my cousin for blowing an 8 foot bubble

[mark f]

Aside from Dylan's lyrics being fantastic in and of themselves, what's hard to separate them from isn't really the musical accompaniment but the singing. The lyrics and his voice are one.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwSZvHqf9qM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuykAzh6HNs

[Kaplan]

Super biased. Why not give the prize to musicians outside the English speaking word for a change? Its like the Swedes are not even aware that there exists a world outside of Europe and the US.

Is this your idea of humor, or are you just profoundly ignorant?

Anyhow, congrats to Bob Dylan.

[Camo]

Is this your idea of humor, or are you just profoundly ignorant?

Anyhow, congrats to Bob Dylan.

I read that comment three times thinking about responding to it because i really couldn't tell if it was a joke or not.

[the samoan lawyer]

I love Dylan so I'm delighted he got this. Firmly in the 'lyrics can be poetry' camp. Biassed? Probably.


For what its worth, my favourite album is Blood on the Tracks, with Lily Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts my favourite song.

[banality]

At least it wasn't a rapper who won this.

Nas won a Pulitzer

[hownos]

I love Dylan but I thought this was strange.

[Stirchley]

I love Dylan but I thought this was strange.

Why?

[Citizen Rules]

Joni! Joni!

[hownos]

Why?

I don't think songwriting is literature and we have the Grammy Awards,

[Citizen Rules]

I don't think songwriting is literature and we have the Grammy Awards,I agree songs aren't literature, they're songs.

Johnny's in the basement
Mixing up the medicine
I'm on the pavement
Thinking about the government

[Stirchley]

I don't think songwriting is literature and we have the Grammy Awards,

Literature is written works. That applies to songwriting too. I always say that I’ve learned & memorized more poetry from Beatles songs than any poet I’ve ever studied.

As to Dylan, if his songs aren’t poetry I don’t know what is.

[hownos]

Literature is written works. That applies to songwriting too. I always say that I’ve learned & memorized more poetry from Beatles songs than any poet I’ve ever studied.

As to Dylan, if his songs aren’t poetry I don’t know what is.

In that case, there are a lot of songwriters who should have the Nobel Prize.

[Stirchley]

In that case, there are a lot of songwriters who should have the Nobel Prize.

No doubt.