Bob Dylan wins Nobel Literature Prize

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Daniel M's Avatar
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10-13-16
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-37643621



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
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10-13-16
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's Avatar
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10-13-16
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?



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10-13-16
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.



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Sorry if I'm rude but I'm right
10-13-16
Next thing we see is some Japanese artist loved by Guap wins the prize for his mangas.
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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.



Chypmunk's Avatar
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10-13-16
Lyrics most certainly merit the accolade - and about bloody time too imo!



Yoda's Avatar
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10-13-16
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.



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10-13-16
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's Avatar
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10-13-16
Originally Posted by Daniel M
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.



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10-13-16
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.




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10-13-16
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.



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10-13-16
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.



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10-13-16
Originally Posted by Camo
Vanilla Ice 2017!1
Is there a Nobel Prize category for desserts then?

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