The Swedish Academy has just today awarded the Nobel Prize in Literaure to Bob Dylan, the American song writer and musician!
The Academy gave him the prestigious Prize for having created new poetic expressions within the great American Song tradition!
Bob Dylan Nobel in Literature
It was last May when we first talked about Bob Dylan here.
It was May 25th 2016, on his 75 birthday!
Bob Dylan is widely recognized for a number of songs
you too probably know, songs like Blowing in the wind, Mr. Tambourine Man,
Like a rolling Stone, Knocking on heaven’s door, The Times they are A
‘changing, A hard rain’s gonna fall, Masters of War, Hurricane, Just Like a Woman and many
others that became an anthem long ago.
But if you dive into Bob Dylan´s Lyrics you
will also find surrealistic lyrics as in
Desolation Row,
All along the watchtower or
Stuck inside the Mobile,
Or shocking crude lyrics like The Ballad of
Hollis Brown, love charged lyrics as in Sara, Simple Twist of
fate, Girl from the North country, the impressionist Visions of
Johanna, storytelling as in Tangled up in Blue or Joey, Tale
songs, like Black Diamond Bay or The Ballad of Frankie Lee and
Judas Priest, or some conscience shakers as The Lonesome Death of
Hattie Carroll, Oxford Town or Death of Emmett Till among many
others.
The essential list for Bob Dylan is a never
ending list, because there are several masterpieces such as
It’s alright Ma (I’m only bleeding),
I shall be released, Jokerman,
The Changing of the Guards
The list could go on and on . . . I bet if you
take a look on Dylan’s work you will complete the list with your favorite ones.
It is not only that his songs are good stories,
it is more than that, each song represents its own world, in a few sentences he
invents a universe that embodies the reality he is describing.
For an impressive list of Dylan´s songs, lyrics and guitar chords, (more than six hundred songs), please check the following link;
It is always a good time to explore Bob Dylan´s
work, but now with the Nobel Prize, you have no excuse! Bob Dylan is a part of our collective mind!
Positively 4th Street (Outtake)
You got a lotta nerve
To say you are my friend
When I was down
You just stood there grinning
You got a lotta nerve
To say you gota helping hand to lend
You just want to be on
The side that's winning
You say I let you down
You know it's not like that
If you're so hurt
Why then don't you show it
You say you lost your faith
But that's not where it's at
You had no faith to lose
And you know it
I know the reason
That you talk behind my back
I used to be among the crowd
You're in with
Do you take me for such a fool
To think I'd make contact
With the one who tries to hide
What he don't know to begin with
You see me on the street
You always act surprised
You say, "How are you?", "Good luck"
But you don't mean it
When you know as well as me
You'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once
And scream it
No, I do not feel that good
When I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief
Perhaps I'd rob them
And now I know you're dissatisfied
With your position and your place
Don't you understand
It's not my problem
I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment
I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time
You could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is
To see you
