The Associated Press
The Nobel Prize in literature has been awarded to American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan, who first burst on the scene singing in Greenwich Village coffeehouses in the 1960s. The Swedish Academy said Dylan had “created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”
The prize came to Dylan as he continued what has been known as his “never ending tour” of live performances, which in recent years have included more than a smattering of songs long associated with Frank Sinatra along with his familiar blend of rock, country and blues tunes.
SIGNIFICANCE OF THE PRIZE
Dylan’s award marks a break with tradition as it is the first time the Swedish Academy has chosen someone seen primarily as a musician. Dylan was known first for his groundbreaking songs like “Blowin’ In the Wind” and others that had an impact on the civil rights struggle in the United States. He spearheaded a revival of folk music, then embraced rock ‘n’ roll as his songs became more personal and abstract.
In his long and varied career, Dylan has frequently referred back to the country blues tradition and paid homage to performers like Robert Johnson and Blind Willie McTell. One of his earliest songs was a tribute to singer and songwriter Woody Guthrie, seen as a major influence in his formative years.
Recently Dylan, 75, has had a radio show celebrating American roots music and embraced Frank Sinatra’s style even though he clearly lacks Sinatra’s vocal range. The prize is seen as recognition of the distinctive way he has built on and expanded the range of American music.
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WHAT ELSE DOES HE DO?
Dylan has branched out into other forms of art, winning plaudits for an autobiography titled “Chronicles: Volume 1” and directing several films that were not appreciated by critics. He has also exhibited several series of paintings and produced ironworks that have been shown in various galleries. His first book “Tarantula,” an experiment in prose poetry published in the 1960s, has not drawn much attention.
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OTHER AWARDS
Dylan was one of the original 1960s rebels, mocking authority at every turn, but lately he has been scooping up traditional honors, including a Pulitzer Prize and, in 2012, a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He kept his trademark sunglasses on as President Barack Obama placed the medal around his neck.
American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in literature Thursday, lauded for creating \”new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.\” Here are lyrics from just a few of the hundreds of songs that he has written over his career.
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, \’n\’ how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, \’n\’ how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they\’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin\’ in the wind,
The answer is blowin\’ in the wind.
— BLOWIN\’ IN THE WIND, 1962
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1962 Warner Bros. Inc
Renewed 1990 Special Rider Music
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Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don\’t stand in the doorway
Don\’t block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There\’s a battle outside
And it is ragin\’.
It\’ll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin\’.
— THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN\’
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1963, 1964 Warner Bros. Inc
Renewed 1991, 1992 Special Rider Music
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Oh, what\’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what\’ll you do now, my darling young one?
I\’m a-goin\’ back out \’fore the rain starts a-fallin\’,
I\’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner\’s face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I\’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I\’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin\’,
But I\’ll know my song well before I start singin\’,
And it\’s a hard, it\’s a hard, it\’s a hard, it\’s a hard,
It\’s a hard rain\’s a-gonna fall.
— A HARD RAIN\’S A-GONNA FALL
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1963 Warner Bros. Inc
Renewed 1991 Special Rider Music
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Wintertime in New York town,
The wind blowin\’ snow around.
Walk around with nowhere to go,
Somebody could freeze right to the bone.
I froze right to the bone.
New York Times said it was the coldest winter in seventeen years;
I didn\’t feel so cold then.
— TALKING NEW YORK
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1962, 1965 Duchess Music Corp.
Renewed 1990, 1993 MCA
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Far between sundown\’s finish an\’ midnight\’s broken toll
We ducked inside the doorway, thunder crashing
As majestic bells of bolts struck shadows in the sounds
Seeming to be the chimes of freedom flashing
Flashing for the warriors whose strength is not to fight
Flashing for the refugees on the unarmed road of flight
An\’ for each an\’ ev\’ry underdog soldier in the night
An\’ we gazed upon the chimes of freedom flashing.
— CHIMES OF FREEDOM
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1964 Warner Bros. Inc
Renewed 1992 Special Rider Music
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Maggie comes fleet foot
Face full of black soot
Talkin\’ that the heat put
Plants in the bed but
The phone\’s tapped anyway
Maggie says that many say
They must bust in early May
Orders from the D. A.
Look out kid
Don\’t matter what you did
Walk on your tip toes
Don\’t try \”No Doz\”
Better stay away from those
That carry around a fire hose
Keep a clean nose
Watch the plain clothes
You don\’t need a weather man
To know which way the wind blows
— SUBTERRANEAN HOMESICK BLUES
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1965 Warner Bros. Inc
Renewed 1993 Special Rider Music
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You raise up your head
And you ask, \”Is this where it is?\”
And somebody points to you and says
\”It\’s his\”
And you say, \”What\’s mine?\”
And somebody else says, \”Where what is?\”
And you say, \”Oh my God
Am I here all alone?\”
Because something is happening here
But you don\’t know what it is
Do you, Mister Jones?
— BALLAD OF A THIN MAN
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1965 Warner Bros. Inc
Renewed 1993 Special Rider Music
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You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain\’t no good
You shouldn\’t let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain\’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn\’t where it\’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal.
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
— LIKE A ROLLING STONE
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1965 Warner Bros. Inc
Renewed 1993 Special Rider Music
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She lit a burner on the stove and offered me a pipe
\”I thought you\’d never say hello,\” she said
\”You look like the silent type.\”
Then she opened up a book of poems
And handed it to me
Written by an Italian poet
From the thirteenth century.
And every one of them words rang true
And glowed like burnin\’ coal
Pourin\’ off of every page
Like it was written in my soul from me to you,
Tangled up in blue.
— TANGLED UP IN BLUE, 1974
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
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Someone\’s got it in for me, they\’re planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they\’d cut it out but when they will I can only guess.
They say I shot a man named Gray and took his wife to Italy,
She inherited a million bucks and when she died it came to me.
I can\’t help it if I\’m lucky.
People see me all the time and they just can\’t remember how to act
Their minds are filled with big ideas, images and distorted facts.
Even you, yesterday you had to ask me where it was at,
I couldn\’t believe after all these years, you didn\’t know me better than that
Sweet lady.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your mouth,
Blowing down the backroads headin\’ south.
Idiot wind, blowing every time you move your teeth,
You\’re an idiot, babe.
It\’s a wonder that you still know how to breathe.
— IDIOT WIND, 1974
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1974, 2002 Ram\’s Horn Music
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Oh, the gentlemen are talking and the midnight moon is on the riverside,
They\’re drinking up and walking and it is time for me to slide.
I live in another world where life and death are memorized,
Where the earth is strung with lovers\’ pearls and all I see are dark eyes.
— DARK EYES
(Words and Music by Bob Dylan)
1985 Special Rider Music
