# Bob Dylan just won the Nobel Prize for literature **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 13, 2016, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405 "2016-10-13T11:11:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tnetennba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7993a0/32.png) [@tnetennba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tnetennba)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/1 "2016-10-13T11:11:12Z")
> **[Nobel prize in literature won by Bob Dylan – as it happened](https://www.theguardian.com/books/live/2016/oct/13/nobel-prize-in-literature-2016-liveblog)** > > The American singer songwriter Bob Dylan has won the 2016 Nobel prize for literature I don’t know if they’ve ever given it to a lyricist before. Feeling giddy. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/2 "2016-10-13T11:19:14Z")
Just heard about this. Even though I’m not a fan of all of his records, I can’t think of a more deserving person in rock/pop. Congrats Bob! ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/3 "2016-10-13T11:41:10Z")
> [@](#): > > ``` > Just heard about this. Even though I'm not a fan of all of his records, I can't think of a more deserving person in rock/pop. > > ``` Funny. I can think of at least 10 more deserving persons in… you know… literature. Oh well :rolleyes:. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/4 "2016-10-13T11:41:50Z")
Yes, you just know that Katy Perry is going to win one in 2046 now. :eek: As it is, I think they saved o bunch on band for the Nobel Dinner this year. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/5 "2016-10-13T11:43:53Z")
And few have deserved it more IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/6 "2016-10-13T11:47:56Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > Funny. I can think of at least 10 more deserving persons in… you know… literature. Oh well :rolleyes:. [Poetry](http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets_nobel_prize.html) is considered literature. And Dylan was/is a poet. ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/7 "2016-10-13T11:54:35Z")
Yay, Bobby!! “Darkness at the break of noon…” ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/8 "2016-10-13T12:07:50Z")
Quite a tumultuous year for Minnesotan musical icons! ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/9 "2016-10-13T12:21:35Z")
You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/10 "2016-10-13T12:25:12Z")
His book Chronicles Volume 1, a memoir of how he found his voice as a songwriter, is pretty much the best I’ve read. Nothing like a straight-up autobiography - Keith Richards’ is an amazing example - but truly compelling writing and insights. Yay Bobby! He does deserve it, even while I can see other writers - Philip Roth, say - who should have won years ago going unrecognized. Folks are joking about Katy Perry winning. But think of other songwriters who might look at this and think “hey, I have a shot!” **Sting** - I am looking at you, buddy. And no, you don’t. Someone like **Paul Simon** , **Bruce Springsteen** or **Leonard Cohen** (just wonderfully profiled in The New Yorker) might be considered, but now that the Nobellians have picked Dylan, I doubt they will go back to songwriters anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/11 "2016-10-13T12:25:45Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Yes, you just know that Katy Perry is going to win one in 2046 now. :eek: I haven’t before now heard anything by Katy Perry but I am reliably informed this is from her biggest hit: _You’re so supersonic Wanna feel your powers Stun me with your lasers Your kiss is cosmic Every move is magic_ OK, so you think by 2046 they will think that to be a worthy successor to: _Though I know that evenin’s empire has returned into sand Vanished from my hand Left me blindly here to stand but still not sleeping My weariness amazes me, I’m branded on my feet I have no one to meet And the ancient empty street’s too dead for dreaming._ If your judgment is correct, I hope I’m dead before 2046 rolls around. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/12 "2016-10-13T12:26:23Z")
I’m happy to hear it. I’ve just been going through the list of past winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, to see if any previous winner was a songwriter. I don’t think they were. But the thing I noticed is that a bunch of the names from the first couple of decades are completely unrecognizable to me. And actually, even among the recent winners, I’ve never read most of them. So I’m glad they chose someone with popular appeal, and who might be known to people a hundred years from now. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/13 "2016-10-13T12:26:38Z")
I’d rate Dylan as one of the greatest American songwriters of all time (tied with Springsteen and Woody Guthrie), so I’d say this award was well-deserved. - Come gather ‘round people, wherever you roam And admit that the waters around you have grown And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone If your time to you is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’\* ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/14 "2016-10-13T12:29:38Z")
“I’m a poet I know it Hope I don’t blow it.” What a great decision. 100 years ago and more people quoted poetry all the time. Today people quote Dylan lyrics. The Nobel committee, with this year’s award and last year’s too, seems to have broken its usual boundaries. ---
**Author:** ![Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/les_espaces_du_sommeil/32/308_2.png) [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Les_Espaces_Du_Sommeil)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/15 "2016-10-13T12:48:13Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Poetry](http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets_nobel_prize.html) is considered literature. I know that, thanks. However, > [@running\_coach](#): > > And Dylan was/is a poet. I’ll just quote David Crystal: > [@](#): > > "Almost anything > > Can be made to look > > Poetic, > > As long as it is > > Written in lines." ---
**Author:** ![SaharaTea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@SaharaTea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SaharaTea)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/16 "2016-10-13T12:58:00Z")
This is so cool. No other artist had a bigger impact on my life than Dylan. I did laugh at this Facebook comment: > [@](#): > > Yo it’s 2016. You can NOT have headlines that start “Bob Dylan, Titan of American Music”…We’ve lost enough this year, you’re gonna give people a panic attack ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 12:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/17 "2016-10-13T12:59:13Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > I’m happy to hear it. I’ve just been going through the list of past winners of the Nobel Prize in Literature, to see if any previous winner was a songwriter. I don’t think they were. > > But the thing I noticed is that a bunch of the names from the first couple of decades are completely unrecognizable to me. And actually, even among the recent winners, I’ve never read most of them. So I’m glad they chose someone with popular appeal, and who might be known to people a hundred years from now. Kipling wasn’t a songwriter, but his poetry was a major factor in the decision to award him the Nobel prize in 1907. > **[The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907](https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/1907/ceremony-speech/)** > > The Nobel Prize in Literature 1907 was awarded to Rudyard Kipling "in consideration of the power of observation, originality of imagination, virility of ideas and remarkable talent for narration which characterize the creations of this world-famous... ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/18 "2016-10-13T13:00:04Z")
I know it’s an unusual award, but I’m pleased. Some of Dylan’s lyrics really are quite good. Three of my favorites: [http://bobdylan.com/songs/highway-61-revisited/](http://bobdylan.com/songs/highway-61-revisited/) [http://bobdylan.com/songs/desolation-row/](http://bobdylan.com/songs/desolation-row/) [http://bobdylan.com/songs/things-have-changed/](http://bobdylan.com/songs/things-have-changed/) ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/19 "2016-10-13T13:02:21Z")
> [@Les\_Espaces\_Du\_Sommeil](#): > > I’ll just quote David Crystal: I agree but then IMHO Bob’s stuff does more than _look_ like poetry. To paraphrase Captain Redbeard Rum, opinion is divided on the subject of whether Bob Dylan’s lyrics are poetry; everybody else thinks they are, you think they aren’t 😉 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2016, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405/20 "2016-10-13T13:11:01Z")
_The times they are a-changin’!_ Go on you, Mr. Zimmerman! I was shocked, and thrilled, to see this on my news feed this morning. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bob-dylan-just-won-the-nobel-prize-for-literature/768405.md?page=2)