Vinyl Spins - Bob Dylan and The Prize

Celebrating the announcement of Bob Dylan’s winning the Nobel Prize for Literature by spinning some Dylan on vinyl. Starting off with the two greatest hits albums released in 1967 and 1971 before moving on to Blonde On Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, Blood On The Tracks, Desire, Basement Tapes, etc, etc.

Every year some folks howl at the choice of the Nobel Prize for Literature. The Nobel prizes and in particular the prize for literature has been embroiled in controversy since the very beginning. Alfred Nobel was very clear that the award would be for a recipient’s body of work that emphasized the idealism of championing human rights. This subjective criteria would lead to the ongoing selection controversies and generate a list of world renowned writers not awarded such as Tolstoy, Ibsen, Chekhov, Proust, James Joyce, Henry James,

  

Mark Twain, etc, etc. When John Steinbeck won the prize people screamed that he wasn’t a “real” writer and should never have been considered. I think Bob Dylan probably fits the original intent of the prize and certainly brought his writing to a broad audience but he’s certainly not the best writer in the world today. There would need to be a different award for that honor.