Bob Dylan - Nobel Prize for Literature

Lovely Bloke

Major surprise, with many "experts" predicting some liberal-pleasing minority winner.

Nope.

Bob Dylan.

I'm no fan of his music, but it's good to finally see a White Male being recognised.

stimpson

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

Major surprise, with many "experts" predicting some liberal-pleasing minority winner.

Nope.

Bob Dylan.

I'm no fan of his music, but it's good to finally see a White Male being recognised.

Absolutely. It has only been won by white males 11 times since 2000.

endacl

stimpson wrote: »

Absolutely. It has only been won by white males 11 times since 2000.

Shocking. Where did I leave my pitchfork...

Working class heroes

Slim shady next year so.

Jesus.

H.

Christ.

Jesus Christ.

Dylan wins a Nobel Prize and the message taken by the OP is the oppression of the white male.

GLaDOS

I'm assuming the OP is taking the piss

Shenshen

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

Major surprise, with many "experts" predicting some liberal-pleasing minority winner.

Nope.

Bob Dylan.

I'm no fan of his music, but it's good to finally see a White Male being recognised.

Finally, indeed!

Out of 110 winners to date, 77 are (or were, in many cases) white males. I'm sure they were feeling massively left out at this point.

Arghus

First class wind up there from the OP.

Either that, or he's crackers.

weisses

Ahh who gives a crap

He cannot sing anymore so Lets give the guy some award for his writing

Winterlong

Dont know much about the nobel prize for literature but I do know that these are the finest lyrics known to this man.

Idiot wind blowing every time your move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads heading 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

Red Kev

Well deserved, great lyricist, not the best singer, but I'd forgive him that.

Just look at the lyrics to 'Masters of War', he wrote that in 1962, could have written it last week as well, or any time in between.

Look up 'Bob Dylans 30th Anniversary Concert' on YouTube, some of the best covers of his songs that are out there, ( incidentally it's also the concert where Sinead O'Connor got booed off as it was a couple of weeks after she ripped up the picture of the Pope on TV).

Your Face

Cungratz Hun.

The Backwards Man

It was Wagon Wheel what won it.

RasTa

Lovely Bloke wrote: »

Major surprise, with many "experts" predicting some liberal-pleasing minority winner.

Nope.

Bob Dylan.

I'm no fan of his music, but it's good to finally see a White Male being recognised.

But he is a jew?

Pac1Man

Thought he was great in The Field.

murpho999

Red Kev wrote: »

Well deserved, great lyricist, not the best singer, but I'd forgive him that.

Just look at the lyrics to 'Masters of War', he wrote that in 1962, could have written it last week as well, or any time in between.

Look up 'Bob Dylans 30th Anniversary Concert' on YouTube, some of the best covers of his songs that are out there, ( incidentally it's also the concert where Sinead O'Connor got booed off as it was a couple of weeks after she ripped up the picture of the Pope on TV).

In fairness, he didn't win the award for singing. Even though I could not imagine his songs without his own distinctive voice.

Masters of War has amazing lyrics.

Great to see a lyricist get recognised as having literature merit.

This could open the flood gates, and I look forward to seeing Beyonce, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk,Taylor Swift and One Direction pick up awards in the future.

biko

How the **** can that guy win a Nobel Prize?

"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
my hole!

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

lertsnim

So long as it wasn't the Nobel prize for live performances.

murpho999

biko wrote: »

How the **** can that guy win a Nobel Prize?

"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
my hole!

So please enighten us with the songs/poems that you have created?

JimmyJabber

Freewheelin' Bob Dylan and Blood on the Tracks have some of the most impressive lyrics ever written in my opinion. Taking topics such as love and politics and making them extremely interesting to listen to, instead of the absolute mulch that is currently around.

Probably my favourite Bob Dylan lyrics...

"If you're traveling in the north country fair
Where the winds hit heavy on the borderline
Remember me to one who lives there
For she was once a true love of mine.

Well, if you go when the snowflakes storm
When the rivers freeze and summer ends
Please see for me if she's wearing a coat so warm
To keep her from the howlin' winds.

Please see from me if her hair hanging down
If it curls and flows all down her breast
Please see from me if her hair hanging down
That's the way I remember her best."

LuckyLloyd

biko wrote: »

How the **** can that guy win a Nobel Prize?

"for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".
my hole!

Written in 1963:

I ain't lookin' to compete with you
Beat or cheat or mistreat you
Simplify you, classify you
Deny, defy or crucify you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you

No, and I ain't lookin' to fight with you
Frighten you or uptighten you
Drag you down or drain you down
Chain you down or bring you down
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you

I ain't lookin' to block you up
Shock or knock or lock you up
Analyze you, categorize you
Finalize you or advertise you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you

I don't want to straight-face you
Race or chase you, track or trace you
Or disgrace you or displace you
Or define you or confine you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you

I don't want to meet your kin
Make you spin or do you in
Or select you or dissect you
Or inspect you or reject you
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you

I don't want to fake you out
Take or shake or forsake you out
I ain't lookin' for you to feel like me
See like me or be like me
All I really want to do
Is, baby, be friends with you

As a former literature student, Dylan winning a prize like this makes sense to me at least.

Ted111

I think he should try his hand at a murder mystery next.

MrDiyFan

Masters of war from the 1984 live album is incredible

Esel

Bob is a good rhymster.

Tin Foil Hat

Ted111 wrote: »

I think he should try his hand at a murder mystery next.

Lily, Rosemary, and The Jack of Hearts ?

Leonard Cohen is a much better songwriter. Has more variety - humour, wit, anger, the depths of pain and suffering and the heights of love. In terms of cultural and poetic richness Dylan is decidedly pedestrian in contrast.

Permabear

This post has been deleted.

murpho999

Deleted User wrote: »

Leonard Cohen is a much better songwriter. Has more variety - humour, wit, anger, the depths of pain and suffering and the heights of love. In terms of cultural and poetic richness Dylan is decidedly pedestrian in contrast.

In your opinion.....

MrDiyFan

Deleted User wrote: »

Leonard Cohen is a much better songwriter. Has more variety - humour, wit, anger, the depths of pain and suffering and the heights of love. In terms of cultural and poetic richness Dylan is decidedly pedestrian in contrast.

Morrissey or Elvis Costello were more deserving

Esel

It's a travesty, imo.

murpho999

murpho999 wrote: »

In your opinion.....

No, in the opinion of the entire world obviously. I look forward to you prefacing every post with "In my opinion", just in case we might think you could be speaking for somebody other than yourself.

Yamanoto

Paul Simon is every bit as talented a lyricist & his singing and guitar playing were so far beyond what Dylan was capable of.

JupiterKid

Well deserved IMO.

Dylan's influence on the genre of rock, folk and pop is difficult to fathom but is undeniably massive. I know people think he's overrated but I personally think Dylan really earned this accolade.

And I'm not even a huge Dylan fan.

Tigger

Obama won the peace prize so yeah they jumped the shark years ago

murpho999

Deleted User wrote: »

No, in the opinion of the entire world obviously. I look forward to you prefacing every post with "In my opinion", just in case we might think you could be speaking for somebody other than yourself.

No, because before today Bob Dylan was renowned as an exceptional song writer and lyricist and has been a major influence on music since.

Of course today he receives a reward and very predictably, somebody comes on to the internet to say how crap he is.

Your post came across completely arrogant to me and I don't see how you can call his work pedestrian when he just been recognised by a major international awards body.

murpho999

Yamanoto wrote: »

Paul Simon is every bit as talented a lyricist & his singing and guitar playing were so far beyond what Dylan was capable of.

Bob Dylan did not win this award for singing or guitar playing.

AckwelFoley

Well deserved. This may open the door for 2pac to get the recognition he deserves

Yamanoto

murpho999 wrote: »

Bob Dylan did not win this award for singing or guitar playing.

I didn't say he did.

andekwarhola

Enough people rate him for me to accept it but the appeal and worth just completely passes me over, despite periodic efforts to grasp it.

murpho999

Yamanoto wrote: »

I didn't say he did.

Well you compared their singing and guitar playing in the context of winning the Nobel prize so what else are people to infer from it?

juneg

murpho999 wrote: »

In fairness, he didn't win the award for singing. Even though I could not imagine his songs with his own distinctive voice.

Masters of War has amazing lyrics.

Great to see a lyricist get recognised as having literature merit.

This could open the flood gates, and I look forward to seeing Beyonce, Calvin Harris, Daft Punk,Taylor Swift and One Direction pick up awards in the future.

Shane mc Gowan maybe?

Yamanoto

murpho999 wrote: »

Well you compared their singing and guitar playing i the context of winning the Nobel prize so what else are people to infer from it.

That you're overly sensitive to criticism of Bob Dylan.

phelixoflaherty

Ricky-Ricardo wrote:

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He should get it for his Radio Programme.
Pitch perfect.

Dirty Dingus McGee

Cormac McCarthy still hasn't won this.

You'd think someone like him would be far more deserving than Bob Dylan.

juneg

I was wondering why there were so many Bob Dylan tracks being played on the radio today

Zaph

I wouldn't be a particular fan of Dylan, but I'm delighted to see that the committee are stretching their boundaries a little and not doing their usual of giving the award to some obscure writer who wrote a bunch of impenetrable novels about the human condition 30 years ago that nobody wants to read.

buried

Dirty Dingus McGee wrote: »

Cormac McCarthy still hasn't won this.

You'd think someone like him would be far more deserving than Bob Dylan.

Never going to happen. But probably better off. The Nobel Prize for Literature is nothing but a modern industry standard award to showcase what the mainstream industry deems safe and acceptable for the majority to look into now. Someone who wrote the genius of 'Blood Meridian' isn't going to get that. Same as writers such as Alan Moore will never get it in this current age either. Its years from now when those guys get the acknowledgement they deserve, and IMO that's going to be the greatest acknowledgement.

murpho999

Yamanoto wrote: »

That you're overly sensitive to criticism of Bob Dylan.

Not at all, would not even be a big fan of his music, not my style, but I do respect his talent and he had a huge impact in the 60s, which was his heyday as his music and social commentary had never been seen before.

Billy86

weisses wrote: »

Ahh who gives a crap

He cannot sing anymore so Lets give the guy some award for his writing

He never really could sing much to be honest, just his writing was so fecking good that it completely (and rightly) overshadowed that. He knew how to make a so-so-at-best voice work for him.

That said, I prefer Neil Young (apart from the coked up awful 80s phase).

Cee-Jay-Cee

The competition must have been poor when old 'stuffed sinuses' Bob wins the prize. His music is absolutely god awful dreadful rubbish made worse by his so called singing.

Isn't he dead though? could they not give it to someone living???