Category: Jam Session
Any thoughts on Dylan failing to acknowledge the Nobel prize?
I don't want to argue whether songs are literature, to me it's obvious. But if you can get
past that bit, for the sake of discussion, anyone have thoughts on the silence from him
this week?
My feeling, based on what I know of his music and his life, is Dylan might well be angry.
I can imagine him saying, well fuck all. I didn't write this shit to be acclaimed. I wrote it to
open eyes and soften hearts, to silence cannons and invest in peace. And 55 years on,
you powerful, self congratulating bastards keep killing and raping and stealing health
and happiness from the lives of others. How many times....?. Until something changes,
stick the statue in your ass.... I could be wrong, but that's my version of Dylan.
I can't say I know much about him except for some interviews (well, calling them interviews is stretching it a bit-more snippets from his disdaining just about everything) so from what I know it fits. His voice is absolutely grating to me so I fail to recognize his talents unless someone else covers his work. In those cases, it is clearer to me, but his attitude has always turned me off of him.
Nonetheless, I appreciate the idea of the Nobel being awarded to him in the broad sense.
I think he was just a musician who wrote songs that appealed to people.
Offten times a musician won't believe what they sing about.
They are entertainers, so entertain.
VH, I agree he is a lousy singer. Dylan came out of the NYC (Greenwich Village) folk
music scene just when the Beatles and Stones etc hit the broader scene. He shocked
them by going electric, etc. He reminds me of Woodie Guthrie, a great lyricist and
composer who never wasted money on voice lessons. For decades I ignored his singing
because with my hearing it was awful and impossible to understand unless either I read
along or someone covered the tune. Hearing aids help me understand him, but it's not
always pleasant.
But a review of his body of work is breathtaking. The man wrote so many songs that
gave voice to dissent in America and beyond for 50+ YRS. " Blowin in the wind " was
sung on the mall in DC before MLK spoke, and by freedom riders...... So yeah, early on
Dylan cast himself as a Guthrie disciple and lived and breathed the civil right movement.
I find it ironic that this year, with the focus on cops vs black men, etc, Dylan gets this
nod. I suspect maybe he does too.
I came from that era. The guy sang through his nose, the guitar helped him get through his songs, but his lyrics appealed to people.Why a prize for that I have no idea.
I'm not a hippie, I came of age in the 80s / early 90s. One of those infamous '20 somethings' in the 90s. My attitude is this: Yes, Dylan did try to do all you describe. But I think he should accept the prize, because going down in the annals of history that way only further solidifies what he tried to do. Sure, it hasn't been wholly successful, but much of it has.
I'm old enough to remember the "generation gap," my grandparents raised during the depression, upset by such normalities as the term Ms. instead of Mrs. and Miss. I have a mother who was upset at the introduction of Martin Luther King, Jr. education when I was in high school. Well, started in Junior high but solidified as a day and series of events when I was in high school.
Dylan is in part responsible for these changes. Changes nobody talks about anymore, sure. In this era of micro-aggressions, doxxig, and all the rest of what's mass-marketed and produced now, much has been lost that Dylan and others did. He wrote a lot about the human condition, a lot of problems these new easily-offended wonderbred whites have never faced. Hell, a lot of things I never saw.
I wish he would accept the Nobel prize to be honest. The prize is for him, but also demonstrates how important his poetry was.
I believe he has now accepted.
Rather, I believe he has said he will accept.
I agree that his singing is awful. However, I think he had valid points. I guess what he does, is up to him.
Blessings,
Sarah
The way I see it, without his voice, Bob Dylan as known by the world, would not exist, in the same way Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Earl Jones, Morgan Freeman, and any other famous person with a one of a kind voice, would not exist if their voice were tinkered with. Removing that quality would diminish the character of their work.
Many of his songs are masterpieces. Now, while masterpieces can be reproduced, reinterpreted or borrowed from - it's been done since time immemorial in all areas of art - their uniqueness is immortal.