Huge congratulations to American songwriter, singer, artist, and writer Bob Dylan, who earlier today, in Stockholm, Sweden, was awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature.
Described today by the Swedish Academy as “having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition”, Dylan most certainly brought a form of beauty and feeling to life’s greatest tragedies and during more than six decades his poetic songs have reflected his thoughts on death, betrayal, war and heartbreak, with each deserving of being read in their own right as simply a poem.
“Visions of Johanna” – words by Bob Dylan
“Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind.”
Born Robert Allen Zimmerman in May 24th, 1941; at the age of 20 years Dylan was playing at clubs around Greenwich Village befriending many folk singers and musicians including the “The Clancy Brothers” from Carrick-on-Suir, Co. Tipperary.
“Blowin’in the Wind” (Video shown above – Words possibly more relevant today than in the 1960’s), and “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall” were songs that established Dylan as the voice of his mid 20th century generation and demonstrated his unique understanding of how concerned American youth felt about issues like nuclear disarmament and the then fast growing movement for civil rights.
Dylan in his lifetime to-date has already and deservedly won many awards throughout his long career. These include: – eleven ‘Grammy Awards’, one ‘Academy Award’, one ‘Golden Globe Award’ and the ‘Polar Music Prize’, latter from Sweden’s King Carl XVI. He has been inducted into: – the ‘Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’, ‘Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame’, and ‘Songwriters Hall of Fame’. Dylan received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in May 2012, and in February 2015, he accepted the ‘MusiCares Person of the Year award’ from the National Academy of Recording Arts.
Thank you for the music.
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