'Bringing It All Back Home': Bob Dylan Wins Nobel Prize For Literature

Bob Dylan nobel prize

By Jacques Slavoj , Parent Herald Oct 13, 11:08 am

Announced today at Stockholm, the prestigious prize was given to the 75-year-old rock legend "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition." His words, both lyrical and poetic in quality, became part of everyday American vocabulary in the decades since his career began.

With culturally relevant and politically upheaving songs like "Blowin' in the Wind", "The Times They are A-Changin' and "All Along The Watchtower", to name a few, Bob Dylan's music became anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements, documenting sporadic periods of social unrest and fragmentation. Born Robert Allen Zimmerman to a small Jewish community during a tumultuous decade of persecution (1941), young Bob began making music in 1959, busking in the streets and playing gigs at coffee shops in early Minnesota.

The 1966 Live Recordings:
36 CD set to be released on Nov. 11.
Pre-order: https://t.co/IRaMpRLnbm

— bobdylan.com (@bobdylan) 28 September 2016

Dylan's was at his prime during the 1960s counterculture, with his best-known work reaching massive audiences and narrating the struggles of working-class America. Controversies in the music scene arose after his experiments with other genres such as rock and blues, having been first known for his folk instrumentations. His decision to tap on the electric guitar went on to influence generations of musicians. Dylan's other accolades for over half a century of musical and poetic production includes 12 Grammy Awards, the 2000 Academy Award for Best Original Song (for "Things Have Changed," the track for the film "Wonder Boys"), the 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom, and a special citation from Pulitzer, among others.

The last American to receive the Swedish prize was Toni Morrison, with a gap of over two decades since the novelist won. Nobel Prize's permanent secretary Sara Danius says that Dylan is "a great poet in the English tradition." The prize will be formally presented to the rock legend and other winners on December 10.

Always humble and grounded, this video clip below records Dylan joking about the prize. What is your top Bob Dylan song?