Bob Dylan Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature
Bob Dylan Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature – A Personal Celebration!
Yes, it’s true. For my generation — us Boomers — most of our great writers are our Singer-Songwriters. They sang our lives.
So I cheered at the Announcement.
“Bob Dylan Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature.”
And a week later “the elusive, reclusive artist acknowledged his win” by adding “WINNER OF THE NOBEL PRIZE IN LITERATURE” on his website.
But what was all that indignant muttering about?
Some thought that Bob was just the wrong troubadour, is all — maybe it should be Leonard Cohen. Others thought that the choice of any singer-songwriter was someone just not “literate enough.”
Me, I cheered and sang a few legendary lines and said, “It’s about time. The next ten winners should be the Great Ones. Our Singer-Songwriters!” Leonard. Gordon, Buffy. John. Paul. Pete. Elton. Bruce. _______. _______. [1]
As I’ve said before, my heroes have always been writers.
Sir Charles G D Roberts, creator of the Realistic Animal Story, who I met in our elementary school readers. Edgar Rice Burroughs, creator of Tarzan, who I met everywhere else.
Then wilderness writers like Jack London and Grey Owl.
Later, Andre Norton, Will Henry, Ian Fleming, George Orwell, Edgar Pangborn, Farley Mowat, Pierre Berton, Ross Macdonald, Kurt Vonnegut…
Didn’t think of it at the time, but I was inspired by writers born before my time, men and women of our parent’s and grandparent’s generations. In the case of scribblers like Fielding and Dickens and Twain and Conan Doyle, even further back.
Then (for me) came Lightfoot. And Buffy Sainte-Marie. Dylan. Lennon and Jagger. Singing about my own life. Poets of our own time.
Actually, some of these weren’t Boomers, but War Babies. Some remembered the crump of bombings and the nightmare of firestorms. They wrote about it in differing ways. One was “born in a crossfire hurricane.” Another said “give Peace a chance.”
And Dylan. “Come gather ’round people wherever you roam and admit that the waters around you have grown…”
And then the younger Boomers. I’ll get on my knees and pray we don’t get fooled again. Old man look at my life, I’m a lot like you were. Who are you — what have you sacrificed?
YES! For our generation — us Boomers — most of our great writers are our Singer-Songwriters.
Dylan deserves noble prizes.
That very awarding acknowledges their Métier. They sang our lives. Hallelujah!
“Live Free, Mon Ami!” – Brian Alan Burhoe
==>> “The first artists to blow the old stuff off the airways for me, who I was aware of as speaking directly to me about my own life, our own times, were…” To read more go to Baby Boomer Generation Singer-Songwriters: Our Music of the Sixties & Later.
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Title: Bob Dylan Winner of Nobel Prize in Literature.
Keywords: Andre Norton, Bob Dylan, Boomer generation, Boomers, Jack London, Leonard Cohen, lyrics, my generation, Nobel Prize Literature, singer-songwriters, Willie Nelson.
