Yesterday, it was announced that Bob Dylan had been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature; the first musician to ever achieve such a feat. My reaction as a huge Dylan fan? (Evident in the title of my Blog!) It’s been a long time coming.
I bought my first Bob Dylan album at the age of seventeen. It was a hot summers morning, already above twenty degrees, and I was suffering from a steaming hangover, the kind where any sudden movement of the head reduces you to a retching mess. I’d stayed at a friends the night before, after a mid-week gig in Portsmouth. Back in those merry days, I had the luxury of a college bus pass. This thing could rescue you from any situation (providing you were located in the Hampshire region). On my way home that morning, I stopped off at Commercial road to peruse the shops. This was during the golden age of EMA (Education Maintainence Allowance), where the government paid students from less well-off families £20 a week so they could afford books and travel etc. I already had a job which earned me enough, so I spent my EMA on booze and CDs. On that fine morning, waiting for my connecting bus, I went into HMV and made the most of their 2 for £10 offer. I bought Arctic Monkeys’s Favourite Worst Nightmare, a band most of my generation were (and still are) in love with, and Dylan’s seminal Blonde on Blonde. I got home just before midday, set up a deck chair in the garden, and fed Dylan’s album into the CD player. From that moment on, I was obsessed.
At university I studied English literature and Creative Writing. One of my first assignments was to do a presentation on my favourite writer. Whilst others picked novelists such as Nick Hornby and J.K Rowling, I chose Bob Dylan. My lecturer thankfully approved and my obsession intensified, as I started to write my own songs in his early ballad-esque style.
For me, what makes Dylan stand out is the fact that his songs operate on a dual level. On the one hand, they are artefacts of popular music culture, symbols of a time and a generation, which play a vital role in the reflective identity construction of decades such as the sixties. However, once you take away the context, the notion of time, even the music itself, his songs are still able to stand alone as pieces of exceptional poetry. For this reason, the Nobel academy selected Dylan as the worthy winner of the 2016 award for Literature.
When I first started listening to Bob Dylan, I was obviously aware of his main hits: ‘Like a Rolling Stone’, ‘Blowing in the Wind’, ‘Mr Tambourine Man’, etc. However, the real joy in getting to know an artist’s work is in discovering the lesser-known jewels hidden amongst their extensive musical output. For this reason, I have compiled a short list of ten Bob Dylan songs that, if you haven’t heard already, you absolutely must listen to.
- ‘Girl from the North Country’ – The Freewheelin (1963)
- ‘With God on Our Side’ – The Times They Are A-Changin’ (1964)
- ‘My Back Pages’ – Another Side of Bob Dylan (1964)
- ‘One of us Must Know’ – Blonde on Blonde (1966)
- ‘Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands’ – Blonde on Blonde (1966)
- ‘I Threw it all Away’ – Nashville Skyline (1969)
- ‘The Man in Me’ – New Morning (1970)
- ‘Shelter from the Storm’ – Blood on the Tracks (1975)
- ‘Baby Stop Crying’ – Street Legal (1978)
- ‘Jokerman’ – Infidels (1980)
I was tempted to write a little review of each song, but I thought it’d be better for you to make up your own mind about them. So go ahead and check them out! Discover for yourself the brilliance of Bob Dylan. Long may it continue.
To the future then. Bob Dylan is the first musician and songwriter to be awarded the Nobel Prize, yet he will not be the last. Once again, at the age of 75, Dylan has shown the way for others to follow. Now, only one question remains. Who will do so?
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