Bob Dylan, now a Nobel Laureate

[wyverary]

In giving the literature prize to Mr. Dylan, the Nobel committee may also be recognizing that the gap has closed between high art and more commercial creative forms.

“It’s literature, but it’s music, it’s performance, it’s art, it’s also highly commercial,” said David Hajdu, a music critic for The Nation who has written extensively about Mr. Dylan and his contemporaries. “The old categories of high and low art, they’ve been collapsing for a long time, but this is it being made official.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/14/a...o-spot-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news

Growing up on the music of Bob Dylan, and discovering his vast œuvre over the years, I'm totally on board, and excited for the new precedent his award has set.

What are your thoughts? Are you a Dylan fan? If so, post your favorite song of his. I know it's hard to find a lot of them on YouTube, but live performances or just the title is fine.

 

[grommet]

Thank you for the interesting topic.

I have always found people's love of him very interesting, something that makes me curious each time I see it.

I have never understood the appeal of this man's music. I do not find good poetry in his lyrics or wisdom or keen observation. I do not see any novel places in his music, his tone seemed of a pop kind of it's day. I do not think he has any kind of talent in singing but perhaps there is something there I cannot comprehend. To end, I do not dislike Bob Dylan but I have never seen any special talent in him beyond that of anyone who can perform and make it their living.

 

[Nitro]

Don't Think Twice It's All Right - Bob Dylan

 

[nowwhat]

I have to admit, I'm a fan. I love so many of his songs from so many periods. Not sure he deserves a Nobel, but damn, he deserves something for his incredible body of work.

Blood on the Tracks and Highway 61 Revisited are my favorite albums of his, though songs beloved to me are scattered throughout his catalog.

 

[puzzlingbill]

You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

 

[IContainMultitudes]

This articulates a bit of what I feel as someone who's not personally a great fan of Bob Dylan (and would be more excited by Cormac McCarthy winning the Nobel for literature) but still recognizes his significance:

http://www.johnhodgman.com/post/151764341013/no-one-should-want-my-opinion-on-bob-dylan

There are occasional songs of his that I do like though:

 

[wyverary]

and would be more excited by Cormac McCarthy winning the Nobel for literature

Him, and Haruki Murakami. I would be delighted to see them both awarded in the next few years.