Wow. Well deserved.

Interesting choice, but good for him. One of the best songwriters of the 20th Century.

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

i would have chosen Dan Bernstein

That's kind of ridiculous. Bob Dylan wins the Nobel Prize....not Joyce Carol Oates. Or almost any other writer.....sometimes they make choices like this, like when they gave it to Winston Churchill.

Not saying he's a bad writer or anything remotely close to that.

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Seems more of a lifetime achievement award to me. He hasn't written anything very significant musically for about 10 years ( Modern Times album ).

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Flew too close to the sun on wings of pastrami

I wondered about this as well so I looked it up. The literature Nobel is a lifetime award not a single thing like other Nobel prizes.

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Elections have consequences.

I'm a fan of Jakob Dylan and the Wallflowers.

They have recorded some great music.

Great Album:

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

I wish I could get a Nobel Prize for mumbling.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

I'm up for an Emmy.

You say you've lost your faith, but that's not where its at
You have no faith to lose, and ya know it

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Loved those Dr. Phibes movies he used to make.

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favrefan said:"Chris Coghlan isn't gonna pay your rent, Jimmy."

Local or national? You deserve both, Ken.

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Is there anyone better--or even close to being as good? Dylan's catalog is staggering.

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For the second half of the century, Elvis Costello, Tom Waits, and Neil Young would probably come the closest. David Bowie, but I don't think of him as a pure songwriter per se. Fagen/Becker should be considered among the best as well. The first half is a little harder to suss out because you start getting into songwriting versus composition.

John Darnielle should be considered one of the best of the 21st.

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Rock lyrics aren't literature. Divorced from the music most of them are pretty goddamned dumb, even the intelligent ones.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

Agreed. They're closer to poetry than literature, and even then, well, what you said.

I read somewhere that there's more poetry being published than there is being read. I can't tell whether this means the artform is very much alive or very much dead.

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poetry is literature

dylan was outstanding, and if there was a Nobel for songwriting, he'd get one. his lyrics work as poems, no doubt. but is he a better writer than cormac mccarthy?

awards like this are often political or motivated by other factors, anyway.

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Unless you get into Rock operas and concept albums, Rock music doesn't lend itself to writing about much more than heartbreak, alienation, defiance, and Patty Melts.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

I don't really think so. And I'm not bashing Dylan. Dylan is great. But take a great song like "It's Alright, Ma". It's emotional as hell. People like my wife who complain about his voice are missing the point. Robin Zander is a great vocalist, but he couldn't put that song over in the same way. It can't really be improved upon. And with the spare chords and the emotion, the lyrics are powerful. But if you read them on the page by themselves they sound like they were written by a pretentious freshman English major.

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

I like Bob Dylan. He is one of the few older acts I like.

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You do not talk to me like that! I work too hard to deal with this stuff! I work too hard! I'm an important member of the CSFMB! I drive a Dodge Stratus!

Chicks and cars and partyin' hard!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAOoDS9-R4M

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Ecclesiastes 5:8

I agree. Calling song lyrics poetry negates much of the art of singing, performing, and music-making more broadly.

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First of all, bless CH for the Dan reference.

Here's the problem with the question about 'best songwriter' ever. People forget about things like jazz or even Tin Pan Alley, I suppose in the same way people might know who Phil Spector is but not have one clue about The Wrecking Crew. Like music didn't start until, shit I don't know, Buddy Holly or something. It's gotta be somehow rock related or nobody ever talks about them.

What about Rodgers and Hart? Duke Ellington? George Gershwin? Hell, staying within the artificial confines of vaguely rock related, I suspect at least 75% of the people that agree (rightly) with Dylan's prize win couldn't pick Woody Guthrie out of a lineup.

I suppose my overall point is "WOOOO CUBBIES!"

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

Bob Dylan

As overrated as the Beatles.

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The Bulls haven't done anything wrong, and they're not going to do anything wrong.

In that case, may I offer a preemptive congratulations to Geezer Butler for his Nobel Prize for Bass.

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I don't remember half the time if I'm hiding or I'm lost

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

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Power is always in the hands of the masses of men. What oppresses the masses is their own ignorance, their own short-sighted selfishness.
- Henry George

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Good people drink good beer - Hunter S. Thompson

<º)))><

Waiting for the time when I can finally say
That this has all been wonderful, but now I'm on my way

Oh come on, my hatred of the Beatles is well documented around here. I respect their influence, but I think their music sucks.

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