Saturday 23 November 2019

“It ain’t the melodies that’re important, man, it’s the words.” (1971)




Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 2016 for "... having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." 

In 2007 the journal Oral Tradition dedicated an issue to the performance artistry of Bob Dylan. The issue is available free online - and the article by Gordon Ball called Dylan and the Nobel is a wonderful read (HERE). 

It is a clear and persuasive argument that Dylan fully deserves a Nobel prize in literature. Although it took nine more years for him to get the award, it seems right that there were people like Gordon Ball, and Allen Ginsberg, arguing passionately and cogently for the Nobel foundation to do what they thought was the right thing.