Horrors. Truly, the stuff of nightmares.
I know he's the pioneer who brought storytelling and purpose to pop/rock music, but I simply haven't been able to get beyond that voice and the lame lyrics. Yes, he occasionally hits on a phrase full of lyricism and sometimes captures a cheap moment, but literature?
The prize of Maria Vargas-Llosa, Yeats, Camus, Hemingway, Solzhenitsyn, Sartre, Neruda, Beckett, Shaw, O'Neill, Kipling, Bellow, Singer, Steinbeck, Pasternak, Pinter, Gide, Mann, Hesse, Faulkner (not my fave, but acceptable), Karfeldt, Naipaul, and Morrison (Toni, not Van although he's more deserving than Dylan). Obviously, the list goes on - 117 minus a few war years - but I can't fathom him among those greats.
DJKool Herc didn't win in his lifetime, but there are other rappers who could win or at least be considered for their body of work in verse.
What were they on when this decision was made?
Hell Yeah! Well deserved!
Desolation Row
Bob Dylan
They're selling postcards of the hanging, they're painting the passports brown
The beauty parlor is filled with sailors, the circus is in town
Here comes the blind commissioner, they've got him in a trance
One hand is tied to the tight-rope walker, the other is in his pants
And the riot squad they're restless, they need somewhere to go
As Lady and I look out tonight, from Desolation Row
Cinderella, she seems so easy, "It takes one to know one, " she smiles
And puts her hands in her back pockets Bette Davis style
And in comes Romeo, he's moaning. "You Belong to Me I Believe"
And someone says, "You're in the wrong place, my friend, you'd better leave"
And the only sound that's left after the ambulances go
Is Cinderella sweeping up on Desolation Row
Now the moon is almost hidden, the stars are beginning to hide
The fortune telling lady has even taken all her things inside
All except for Cain and Abel and the hunchback of Notre Dame
Everybody is making love or else expecting rain
And the Good Samaritan, he's dressing, he's getting ready for the show
He's going to the carnival tonight on Desolation Row
Ophelia, she's 'neath the window for her I feel so afraid
On her twenty-second birthday she already is an old maid
To her, death is quite romantic she wears an iron vest
Her profession's her religion, her sin is her lifelessness
And though her eyes are fixed upon Noah's great rainbow
She spends her time peeking into Desolation Row
Einstein, disguised as Robin Hood with his memories in a trunk
Passed this way an hour ago with his friend, a jealous monk
Now he looked so immaculately frightful as he bummed a cigarette
And he when off sniffing drainpipes and reciting the alphabet
You would not think to look at him, but he was famous long ago
For playing the electric violin on Desolation Row
Dr. Filth, he keeps his world inside of a leather cup
But all his sexless patients, they're trying to blow it up
Now his nurse, some local loser, she's in charge of the cyanide hole
And she also keeps the cards that read, "Have Mercy on His Soul"
They all play on the penny whistles, you can hear them blow
If you lean your head out far enough from Desolation Row
Across the street they've nailed the curtains, they're getting ready for the feast
The Phantom of the Opera in a perfect image of a priest
They are spoon feeding Casanova to get him to feel more assured
Then they'll kill him with self-confidence after poisoning him with words
And the Phantom's shouting to skinny girls, "Get outta here if you don't know"
Casanova is just being punished for going to Desolation Row"
At midnight all the agents and the superhuman crew
Come out and round up everyone that knows more than they do
Then they bring them to the factory where the heart-attack machine
Is strapped across their shoulders and then the kerosene
Is brought down from the castles by insurance men who go
Check to see that nobody is escaping to Desolation Row
Praise be to Nero's Neptune, the Titanic sails at dawn
Everybody's shouting, "Which side are you on?!"
And Ezra Pound and T.S. Eliot fighting in the captain's tower
While calypso singers laugh at them and fishermen hold flowers
Between the windows of the sea where lovely mermaids flow
And nobody has to think too much about Desolation Row
Yes, I received your letter yesterday, about the time the doorknob broke
When you asked me how I was doing, was that some kind of joke
All these people that you mention, yes, I know them, they're quite lame
I had to rearrange their faces and give them all another name
Right now, I can't read too good, don't send me no more letters no
Not unless you mail them from Desolation Row
Songwriters: Bob Dylan
Desolation Row lyrics © Bob Dylan Music Co.
Horrors. Truly, the stuff of nightmares.
I know he's the pioneer who brought storytelling and purpose to pop/rock music, but I simply haven't been able to get beyond that voice and the lame lyrics. Yes, he occasionally hits on a phrase full of lyricism and sometimes captures a cheap moment, but literature?
The prize of Maria Vargas-Llosa, Yeats, Camus, Hemingway, Solzhenitsyn, Sartre, Neruda, Beckett, Shaw, O'Neill, Kipling, Bellow, Singer, Steinbeck, Pasternak, Pinter, Gide, Mann, Hesse, Faulkner (not my fave, but acceptable), Karfeldt, Naipaul, and Morrison (Toni, not Van although he's more deserving than Dylan). Obviously, the list goes on - 117 minus a few war years - but I can't fathom him among those greats.
DJKool Herc didn't win in his lifetime, but there are other rappers who could win or at least be considered for their body of work in verse.
What were they on when this decision was made?
I could not disagree more with you. Bob's body of work is well deserving of this honor. And you think there are rappers who are more deserving? What were YOU on when you wrote that?
Yes, there's a huge division of opinion on this award. Were anyone to win for a body of work that brought new insight to the forefront, I think Leonard Cohen would be the better choice. In an unfortunate coincidence, an article about Cohen entitled "I'm Ready To Die" was published earlier today.
There are many types of literature. I consider lyrics and verse to be deserving, especially if the prize is given for a body of work. DJKool Herc was the first to spin urban verse into music. That's an accomplishment for his genre.
The main reason I posted here was because my friend who would have heard the news with even greater shock/horror died in September. I needed to tell someone whether they agreed or not.
Maria Vargas-Llosa, Yeats, Camus, Hemingway, Solzhenitsyn, Sartre, Neruda, Beckett, Shaw, O'Neill, Kipling, Bellow, Singer, Steinbeck, Pasternak, Pinter, Gide, Mann, Hesse, Faulkner (not my fave, but acceptable), Karfeldt, Naipaul, and Morrison (Toni, not Van although he's more deserving than Dylan).
Hendrix didn't cover any of their tunes, did he?
No, seriously, the problem with your comparison here is including all these prose writers. Dylan can easily share a shelf with poets like Yeats and Eliot. It is also a bit like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there are so many incredible writers that don't get the prize.
It is also totally subjective - you happen to dislike his poetry. I doubt most folks like Yeats either. I love Yeats, but try as I might I can't digest T.S. Eliot. When you think about it, Dylan introduced more boneheads to poetry via pop culture than any of the others ever did. Made poets of us all, even Axl Rose. Truly the People's Poet. Yeats didn't do that, or Eliot, or Kipling.
DJKool Herc a more deserving Nobel Prize winner than Dylan? Thanks, I haven't laughed that hard in a long time.
Hendrix didn't cover any of their tunes, did he?
No, seriously, the problem with your comparison here is including all these prose writers. Dylan can easily share a shelf with poets like Yeats and Eliot. It is also a bit like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there are so many incredible writers that don't get the prize.
It is also totally subjective - you happen to dislike his poetry. I doubt most folks like Yeats either. I love Yeats, but try as I might I can't digest T.S. Eliot. When you think about it, Dylan introduced more boneheads to poetry via pop culture than any of the others ever did. Made poets of us all, even Axl Rose. Truly the People's Poet. Yeats didn't do that, or Eliot, or Kipling.
Yes, it's completely subjective and the bright spot is that a singer-songwriter received the award. I just think it should have been Leonard Cohen given the choice. The headline of the article about Cohen today made it sound as though he heard Dylan had won the Nobel Prize and announced he was ready to die - as in now he'd heard everything.
I didn't include TS Eliot in my list of headliners. Like Proust, he's unreadable IMO.
And the REAL truth is that I simply cannot stand Dylan's voice. I can maybe listen to listen to 1 or 2 covers, but nothing by Dylan himself.
Hendrix didn't cover any of their tunes, did he?
No, seriously, the problem with your comparison here is including all these prose writers. Dylan can easily share a shelf with poets like Yeats and Eliot. It is also a bit like the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, there are so many incredible writers that don't get the prize.
It is also totally subjective - you happen to dislike his poetry. I doubt most folks like Yeats either. I love Yeats, but try as I might I can't digest T.S. Eliot. When you think about it, Dylan introduced more boneheads to poetry via pop culture than any of the others ever did. Made poets of us all, even Axl Rose. Truly the People's Poet. Yeats didn't do that, or Eliot, or Kipling.
Excellent post. I remember an interview with Warren Zevon when he was asked about Dylan and he replied something to the effect of, "How can I not love someone who invented my job!" Indeed. The singer/songwriter may have come before Bob, but he still invented it! I think this song alone should qualify him and I'll put it up against anything Yeats, Eliot (whom I do love), etc have done:
Darkness at the break of noon
Shadows even the silver spoon
The handmade blade, the child's balloon
Eclipses both the sun and moon
To understand you know too soon
There is no sense in trying.
Pointed threats, they bluff with scorn
Suicide remarks are torn
From the fool's gold mouthpiece
The hollow horn plays wasted words
Proves to warn
That he not busy being born
Is busy dying.
Temptation's page flies out the door
You follow, find yourself at war
Watch waterfalls of pity roar
You feel to moan but unlike before
You discover
That you'd just be
One more person crying.
So don't fear if you hear
A foreign sound to your ear
It's alright, Ma, I'm only sighing.
As some warn victory, some downfall
Private reasons great or small
Can be seen in the eyes of those that call
To make all that should be killed to crawl
While others say don't hate nothing at all
Except hatred.
Disillusioned words like bullets bark
As human gods aim for their mark
Made everything from toy guns that spark
To flesh-colored Christs that glow in the dark
It's easy to see without looking too far
That not much
Is really sacred.
While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have
To stand naked.
An' though the rules of the road have been lodged
It's only people's games that you got to dodge
And it's alright, Ma, I can make it.
Advertising signs that con you
Into thinking you're the one
That can do what's never been done
That can win what's never been won
Meantime life outside goes on
All around you.
You lose yourself, you reappear
You suddenly find you got nothing to fear
Alone you stand with nobody near
When a trembling distant voice, unclear
Startles your sleeping ears to hear
That somebody thinks
They really found you.
A question in your nerves is lit
Yet you know there is no answer fit to satisfy
Insure you not to quit
To keep it in your mind and not forget
That it is not he or she or them or it
That you belong to.
Although the masters make the rules
For the wise men and the fools
I got nothing, Ma, to live up to.
For them that must obey authority
That they do not respect in any degree
Who despise their jobs, their destinies
Speak jealously of them that are free
Cultivate their flowers to be
Nothing more than something
They invest in.
While some on principles baptized
To strict party platform ties
Social clubs in drag disguise
Outsiders they can freely criticize
Tell nothing except who to idolize
And then say God bless him.
While one who sings with his tongue on fire
Gargles in the rat race choir
Bent out of shape from society's pliers
Cares not to come up any higher
But rather get you down in the hole
That he's in.
But I mean no harm nor put fault
On anyone that lives in a vault
But it's alright, Ma, if I can't please him.
Old lady judges watch people in pairs
Limited in sex, they dare
To push fake morals, insult and stare
While money doesn't talk, it swears
Obscenity, who really cares Propaganda, all is phony.
While them that defend what they cannot see
With a killer's pride, security
It blows the minds most bitterly
For them that think death's honesty
Won't fall upon them naturally
Life sometimes
Must get lonely.
My eyes collide head-on with stuffed graveyards
False gods, I scuff
At pettiness which plays so rough
Walk upside-down inside handcuffs
Kick my legs to crash it off
Say okay, I have had enough
What else can you show me?
And if my thought-dreams could be seen
They'd probably put my head in a guillotine
But it's alright, Ma, it's life, and life only.
Cyclone88 how old are you? 12? I'm seriously trying to be nicer, more tolerant, kinder, gentler, etc. Not be so vitriolic in my response to asinine posts ... Dude you are entitled to your opinion; however, surely you couldn't have thought posting this here would have been very well received. Somebody has mentioned that possibly your reason might have been clouded. Remember drugs aren't for everyone and some drugs aren't for anyone. Not deserving of the Nobel for literature?They're about 5 decades late IMO. He was the voice of a generation. Easily one of the 10 most important figures in the 60's. I'm having a hard time thinking of a more important/better lyricist in contemporary music. DJKool Herc???(Is this an actual person?) Leonard Cohen for christsakes!!! You've got to be f'n kidding. Dylan is twice the singer and 100x the writer of either. I don't have the time to list all Dylan's accomplishments or all his songs which the lyrics qualify him as the American Poet of the Century. Without Bob modern music would sound like ... like ... DJKool Whodaphuck and Leonard Cohen. I'm not saying that without Dylan there wouldn't have been the Beatles. Just no Revolver album or any of the others after it. I can't think of a greater poet period. I am truly sorry for the loss of your friend. And I'm even more sorry for you especially if you actually feel this way .:(
[Edited on 10/13/2016 by Charlesinator]
Cyclone88 how old are you? 12? I'm seriously trying to be nicer, more tolerant, kinder, gentler, etc. Not be so vitriolic in my response to asinine posts ... Dude you are entitled to your opinion; however, surely you couldn't have thought posting this here would have been very well received. Somebody has mentioned that possibly your reason might have been clouded. Remember drugs aren't for everyone and some drugs aren't for anyone. Not deserving of the Nobel for literature?They're about 5 decades late IMO. He was the voice of a generation. Easily one of the 10 most important figures in the 60's. I'm having a hard time thinking of a more important/better lyricist in contemporary music. DJKool Herc???(Is this an actual person?) Leonard Cohen for christsakes!!! You've got to be f'n kidding. Dylan is twice the singer and 100x the writer of either. I don't have the time to list all Dylan's accomplishments or all his songs which the lyrics qualify him as the American Poet of the Century. Without Bob modern music would sound like ... like ... DJKool Whodaphuck and Leonard Cohen. I'm not saying that without Dylan there wouldn't have been the Beatles. Just no Revolver album or any of the others after it. I can't think of a greater poet period. I am truly sorry for the loss of your friend. And I'm even more sorry for you especially if you actually feel this way .
What I was thinking but much more eloquent and specific.
Cyclone88 how old are you? 12? I'm seriously trying to be nicer, more tolerant, kinder, gentler, etc. Not be so vitriolic in my response to asinine posts ... Dude you are entitled to your opinion; however, surely you couldn't have thought posting this here would have been very well received. Somebody has mentioned that possibly your reason might have been clouded. Remember drugs aren't for everyone and some drugs aren't for anyone. Not deserving of the Nobel for literature?They're about 5 decades late IMO. He was the voice of a generation. Easily one of the 10 most important figures in the 60's. I'm having a hard time thinking of a more important/better lyricist in contemporary music. DJKool Herc???(Is this an actual person?) Leonard Cohen for christsakes!!! You've got to be f'n kidding. Dylan is twice the singer and 100x the writer of either. I don't have the time to list all Dylan's accomplishments or all his songs which the lyrics qualify him as the American Poet of the Century. Without Bob modern music would sound like ... like ... DJKool Whodaphuck and Leonard Cohen. I'm not saying that without Dylan there wouldn't have been the Beatles. Just no Revolver album or any of the others after it. I can't think of a greater poet period. I am truly sorry for the loss of your friend. And I'm even more sorry for you especially if you actually feel this way .:(
[Edited on 10/13/2016 by Charlesinator]
I knew my viewpoint would be unique but not singular and had my friend been alive, I wouldn't have posted. This is when you miss people you've lost. You just want to wake them up and say "Can you believe this?????"
I recognize and applaud Dylan's place in American history. I just don't see him as Nobel Prize material.
I'm old enough to remember that guys easily lured girls by 1) singing Lay, Lady, Lay badly or at least no worse than Dylan or 2) playing the LP on what some may remember was called a turntable. I couldn't do it. i'd go with Elton John or James Taylor (other girl-attractions) rather than Dylan.
Hell Yeah! Well deserved!
I'm going to X2 on that! Congrats to Bob - a great writer .
Hope you're doing well, Billy!
I'm sorry I can't let it go. LEONARD COHEN !?!? Listening to Leonard Cohen is against the Geneva Convention. It's "cruel and unusual punishment" I'd much rather have someone pound on my nutz with a rubber mallet. If you just wanted to stir things up, why didn't you post something like "Gregg is Queer." ? You really couldn't have posted something more blasphemous ... 
Sorry about your friend cyclone88 - and thanks for starting some discussion here. I also don't agree with Dylan getting the Nobel for Literature. I like Dylan, like many of his songs quite a bit, appreciate the poetry of his lyrics, and respect his impact on music and pop culture. Certainly a giant in the music world.
But there are titanic writers still alive you have not received this honour who are better choices in my mind. Writers who have written some of the great novels of the last 100 years. Dylan is a very good poet and one that's had great impact in pop culture - but he's certainly not a giant in the field of 20th/21st century poetry within academia. He's studied sure - but this thread earlier mentioned guys like Yeats and Eliot - those are guys stratospheres removed from Bob Dylan as a poet.
I'd prefer the Nobel Prize in Literature honour some of the giants in the field who are still alive. I'm happy for Dylan and wish him well - but this is a bit of stretch by the commitee in my mind. Which is not to say they haven't stretched before - but I'm not on board with the choice here.
I
But there are titanic writers still alive you have not received this honour who are better choices in my mind. Writers who have written some of the great novels of the last 100 years. Dylan is a very good poet and one that's had great impact in pop culture - but he's certainly not a giant in the field of 20th/21st century poetry within academia. He's studied sure - but this thread earlier mentioned guys like Yeats and Eliot - those are guys stratospheres removed from Bob Dylan as a poet.
Please name even one of them, because I am at a loss to think of anyone more deserving or, gulp, better, than Dylan? Dylan is the top, and everyone else is just crawling over each other at the bottom. Years back I stood on line to buy Dylan tickets behind Ken Kesey, who also idolized Dylan and would be so proud of his friend for receiving this award. And imho, Ken's Sometimes a Great Notion is THE greatest American novel of the 20th century. So, please a couple of names...
If you see rock music as an art form worth considering, this award makes perfect sense.
If you think rock music is a load of hoey, this must be confusing.
Mr.Blastoff,
I hope you don't mind,I used your Desolation Row post on my Facebook page. I did credit you without asking you. I hope it's ok, but it is a stellar version of Mr. Dylan's artistry.
[Edited on 10/14/2016 by PalmHead]
But there are titanic writers still alive you have not received this honour who are better choices in my mind. Writers who have written some of the great novels of the last 100 years. Dylan is a very good poet and one that's had great impact in pop culture - but he's certainly not a giant in the field of 20th/21st century poetry within academia. He's studied sure - but this thread earlier mentioned guys like Yeats and Eliot - those are guys stratospheres removed from Bob Dylan as a poet.
Please name even one of them, because I am at a loss to think of anyone more deserving or, gulp, better, than Dylan? Dylan is the top, and everyone else is just crawling over each other at the bottom. Years back I stood on line to buy Dylan tickets behind Ken Kesey, who also idolized Dylan and would be so proud of his friend for receiving this award. And imho, Ken's Sometimes a Great Notion is THE greatest American novel of the 20th century. So, please a couple of names...
Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy, Milan Kundera, Kazuo Ishiguro, Phillip Roth, Salman Rushdie, John Barth, Robert Coover...
Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy, Milan Kundera, Kazuo Ishiguro, Phillip Roth, Salman Rushdie, John Barth, Robert Coover...
Joan Didion is at the top of my list and light years above anyone else. Harper Lee and Umberto Eco both died in February and lost their eligibility.
I would also include Michael Ondaatje, Paulo Coelho, Donna Tartt, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Tom Stoppard, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Amos Oz, Joyce Carole Oates, Khaled Hossein, and Peter Hoeg.
If they were feeling frisky, Stephen King for his body of work. I'm not a fan, but I appreciate the quantity, quality, and legitimacy he's brought to the horror genre.
I am NOT with the contingent saying awarding the Nobel Prize to an "American Celebrity Folksinger" is blasphemous and proof that Americans are incapable of writing books of depth, scope, and brilliance and there was a reason no American had won in 25 years.
I applaud the committee for not only considering but awarding the prize to a singer-songwriter. Given that decision, I've been hard pressed to come up with ANY living lyricist who is less offensive than Dylan other than Leonard Cohen who inspires apoplectic responses here. Certainly not the much touted Springsteen. I can't even get behind McCartney. There might be a country writer, but I don't know enough about that genre to comment. Too bad Guthrie, Seeger, Lennon, and Jim Morrrison are deceased.
No doubt some decision with which I would disagree prevented Chekhov, Nabokov, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and Frost from winning.
Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy, Milan Kundera, Kazuo Ishiguro, Phillip Roth, Salman Rushdie, John Barth, Robert Coover...
Joan Didion is at the top of my list and light years above anyone else. Harper Lee and Umberto Eco both died in February and lost their eligibility.
I would also include Michael Ondaatje, Paulo Coelho, Donna Tartt, Ngugi Wa Thiong’o, Tom Stoppard, Julian Barnes, Ian McEwan, Amos Oz, Joyce Carole Oates, Khaled Hossein, and Peter Hoeg.
If they were feeling frisky, Stephen King for his body of work. I'm not a fan, but I appreciate the quantity, quality, and legitimacy he's brought to the horror genre.
I am NOT with the contingent saying awarding the Nobel Prize to an "American Celebrity Folksinger" is blasphemous and proof that Americans are incapable of writing books of depth, scope, and brilliance and there was a reason no American had won in 25 years.
I applaud the committee for not only considering but awarding the prize to a singer-songwriter. Given that decision, I've been hard pressed to come up with ANY living lyricist who is less offensive than Dylan other than Leonard Cohen who inspires apoplectic responses here. Certainly not the much touted Springsteen. I can't even get behind McCartney. There might be a country writer, but I don't know enough about that genre to comment. Too bad Guthrie, Seeger, Lennon, and Jim Morrrison are deceased.
No doubt some decision with which I would disagree prevented Chekhov, Nabokov, Henry James, Virginia Woolf, and Frost from winning.
cyclone - your mix of advocating for actual literary heavyweights but then also throwing in DJKool Herc and Stephen King is delightfully unusual. I would completely support lots of the names you cite above - but can't follow you out on to the Herc and King limb. Once again though thanks for starting this topic - a lively literary debate on the ABB board - I did not see this coming.
cyclone - your mix of advocating for actual literary heavyweights but then also throwing in DJKool Herc and Stephen King is delightfully unusual. I would completely support lots of the names you cite above - but can't follow you out on to the Herc and King limb. Once again though thanks for starting this topic - a lively literary debate on the ABB board - I did not see this coming.
The forum is usually thoughtful and most of all, passionate. The noise is relegated to the WP. I post there, too.
Now that the Nobel committee has signaled its willingness to expand its definition of literature (there was a 60 year gap for playwrights in the late 20th century), it will eventually include screenwriters. Woody Allen would be my #1 choice. He's an American screenwriter with an unrivaled voice and enormous body of work. I love your tagline that quotes him: "We shouldn't count songs off in this band, we should have a starting pistol."
As fond as I am of the ABB, I can't do all ABB all the time.The music matures and experiments. Sadly, the lyrics don't. I'm one who'd love to hear something new and GA's blues-y release wasn't it.
cyclone - your mix of advocating for actual literary heavyweights but then also throwing in DJKool Herc and Stephen King is delightfully unusual. I would completely support lots of the names you cite above - but can't follow you out on to the Herc and King limb. Once again though thanks for starting this topic - a lively literary debate on the ABB board - I did not see this coming.
The forum is usually thoughtful and most of all, passionate. The noise is relegated to the WP. I post there, too.
Now that the Nobel committee has signaled its willingness to expand its definition of literature (there was a 60 year gap for playwrights in the late 20th century), it will eventually include screenwriters. Woody Allen would be my #1 choice. He's an American screenwriter with an unrivaled voice and enormous body of work. I love your tagline that quotes him: "We shouldn't count songs off in this band, we should have a starting pistol."
As fond as I am of the ABB, I can't do all ABB all the time.The music matures and experiments. Sadly, the lyrics don't. I'm one who'd love to hear something new and GA's blues-y release wasn't it.
I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually award to a screenwriter as well - though again I'd prefer they recognize some of the great novelists I mentioned first.
My sig quote is actually ABB bassist Allen Woody - but I am a big Woody Allen fan too. I would feel a lot better about liking Woody Allen's work if I was sure the allegations of child molestation levied against him by Mia & Dylan Farrow were false and the result of Mia coaching her young daughter in the heat of a bitter and bizarre break up. I personally think that's what happened, but I also readily admit I have no way of ever really knowing the truth. I am quite capable of separating the artist from the art - but if the claims are actually true I will not feel good about supporting the work of the scum of earth for so long. Anyway, I'm now getting wildly off topic - so I'll wrap this up.
Thomas Pynchon, Don DeLillo, David Mitchell, Haruki Murakami, Cormac McCarthy, Milan Kundera, Kazuo Ishiguro, Phillip Roth, Salman Rushdie, John Barth, Robert Coover...
Some excellent writers, even some of my favorites (and one or two overrated, imho) and I think Kesey, whom I mentioned, is up there with them, as well. But A) none of them are poets, and B) none of them have had 1/100 the influence or the following of Mr. Zimmerman. He is not only more well known, but his output has been heard by more people. And while I understand that popularity doesn't make him more deserving, the influence does. I think his output is in every way just as deserving as these writers. I would put up Bob's work against any of these mentioned. Of course, it's hard to compare "Potrnoy's Complaint" or "The Road" or "Underworld" to "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" or "Master's of War". Easier is the comparison to poetry, but none the less-relevant. Abbie Hoffman once said, "Jews don't have saints, but every now and then we have Ginsberg's and Dylan's". I can't think of a better person to be granted the Nobel Prize in Literature than Bob and I think the committee agreed with me, 🙂
Some excellent writers, even some of my favorites (and one or two overrated, imho) and I think Kesey, whom I mentioned, is up there with them, as well. But A) none of them are poets, and B) none of them have had 1/100 the influence or the following of Mr. Zimmerman. He is not only more well known, but his output has been heard by more people. And while I understand that popularity doesn't make him more deserving, the influence does. I think his output is in every way just as deserving as these writers. I would put up Bob's work against any of these mentioned. Of course, it's hard to compare "Potrnoy's Complaint" or "The Road" or "Underworld" to "Like a Rolling Stone" or "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" or "Master's of War". Easier is the comparison to poetry, but none the less-relevant. Abbie Hoffman once said, "Jews don't have saints, but every now and then we have Ginsberg's and Dylan's". I can't think of a better person to be granted the Nobel Prize in Literature than Bob and I think the committee agreed with me, 🙂
Only living writers are eligible so Kesey couldn't be considered.
I interpreted the question you posed to mean who are great novelists that have yet to receive recognition. I don't think anything Philip Roth has written is remotely in the Nobel category.
I agree that the category of literature has become very fluid. The committee may have to create new categories just as they separated journalism from literature.
I wouldn't be surprised if they eventually award to a screenwriter as well - though again I'd prefer they recognize some of the great novelists I mentioned first.
My sig quote is actually ABB bassist Allen Woody - but I am a big Woody Allen fan too. I would feel a lot better about liking Woody Allen's work if I was sure the allegations of child molestation levied against him by Mia & Dylan Farrow were false and the result of Mia coaching her young daughter in the heat of a bitter and bizarre break up. I personally think that's what happened, but I also readily admit I have no way of ever really knowing the truth. I am quite capable of separating the artist from the art - but if the claims are actually true I will not feel good about supporting the work of the scum of earth for so long. Anyway, I'm now getting wildly off topic - so I'll wrap this up.
WOW, I got that wrong. Apologies to Allen Woody. It's a great line.
Woody Allen's body of work is forever tainted by the child abuse allegations leveled by Mia Farrow after he dropped her. I don't believe them based on the court documents I've read. He was never convicted of anything. He doesn't seem to have a problem finding actors to work with him and the Academy regularly includes and awards his work.
And well OT, the first adjective that now comes to mind re Brad Pitt is child abuser given that the investigation launched was leveled by 2 independent third parties and not his wife. I'll stop now before we end up in WP territory.
BEST POST EVER.
Who is DJKool?
Forever Young, Bob.
His show at desert trip 2(this past Friday) was one of his best since the late 90's....in great voice,great set list.
Bob was inside the songs,playing to the band-they and Bob were utter transcendant,creative perfection...in the zone...
Congrats on the award,Mr. Dylan.A noble achievement...Levon mighta called it righteous...indeed.
[Edited on 10/16/2016 by dadof2]
So far of all the responses I have seen to this, I think I like Bob's best : None.
It's all over national news, but will post link to article anyway:
"The Nobel Prize committee has given up trying to reach Bob Dylan, five days after he became the first musician awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.
Dylan, 75, is yet to respond to the accolade, which was announced on Thursday."
