You win. Again. All you bastards with your linear narratives. All you male bastards, writing entire worlds out of existence.
I’m not going to offer reasons. I think the reasons are clear: needless reinforcement, redundancy, over-familiarity, bad grammar, tuning, contempt of the mainstream for the outlying reaches, the curse of ‘authenticity’ (not sure Dylan ever claimed that for himself, fair play), tired tropes and rhetoric, school teachers and academics, the male gender… the Nobel Prize award is is the equivalent of David Cameron saying he likes The Smiths. A pathetic, shallow attempt to engage with the Great Unwashed. A reaffirmation of the place of the babyboomer in this cursed world of ours (right on top of the pile, baby, right on top of the pile!). Whatever. Others have and will say it more eloquently than me. Me? I just never want to hear these song – and so I offer a few meagre alternatives.
Oh, and they ain’t giving Dylan a Nobel Prize for his fucking wordsmithery whatever you choose to believe. They’re giving him it for being a performer. All awards are popularity contests, Nobel Prizes triply so.
The Times They Are a-Changin’
Blowin’ In The Wind
Mr Tambourine Man
Like A Rolling Stone
Just Like A Woman
Knockin’ On Heaven’s Door
Maggie’s Farm
All Along The Watchtower
It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
Masters Of War
The title for this piece btw comes from here.
[…] ADDENDA I’ve written a follow-up blog entry. 10 Bob Dylan songs you should die before you hear […]
There are lots 1/ every grain of sand 2/ for ever young 3/ up to me . 4/ desolation Row 5/ tomorrow is a long time.6 my back pages 7/ Blowing in the wind 8/ Its not Dark yet 9/ Rosemary Lilly and the Jack of hearts 10 /Shelter from the Storm
Okay, prizes are shit. Not sure though about you identifying with the “great unwashed” and then having a problem with Dylan’s bad grammar and dodgy tuning. I mean, ooh the ‘stablishment! But ya gotta speak like they told ya. Right??
It was a reference to myself and similar commentators on Dylan, not Dylan himself.
[…] and “everything about the age, ethnicity and gender of the Nobel Prize for Literature judges.” Another article on True’s WordPress site scurrilously rips into the singer’s commendations from the Nobel […]