Bob Dylan The Nobel Lecture

Dylan is such an enigmatic figure in history. Even a pivotal figure. Transforming culture and music icon through anthems meant to be messages to his generation to question, to rise up and be a person of conscience. The right person in the right time. The world was going through revolutionary upheaval in thought, music, fashion, and redefining freedom. He had the perquisite cool aloof dangerousness needed for breaking barriers and exposing impolite society ready for change.

He became a deliberate spokesman for the marginalized and was proactive such as setting political prisoners free by writing hit songs to draw attention to the plight of the railroaded. But that isn’t what this book/lecture is about. It’s about his own trials and struggling to find his voice. Thinking about his lifelong work, Dylan is humbled by great international acclaim but not from an audience but by scholars. And forced himself to be reflective how he got there.

He studied. He broke down the components of what a singer-songwriter-performer has to do. He learned the genres used to blend together that made up a new sound reverberating around the world. He understood what stage presence is suppose to sound and look like after watching and listening Buddy Holly live as a teenager. He was a sponge and it all provided the foundation to the work. He stood on the shoulders of the greats of the times. He had a social consciousness. He had a gift but he listened carefully melodies and lyrics to craft his own sound after getting to his core and delivering “what’s it’s all about.”  The words and melodies then tumbled out of him once he put his own puzzle together.

Artistry is rare as so many things need to happen to get it right as an internal dialogue intersects with every experience and every thought an artist ever had. Dylan delivers purposefully quiet introspective telling who, why and what he is and the path that got him there. He had a lot of inspiration and without any part of it he is someone lost in the shadows. Just as he puts verse to melody, this time he puts the light on himself through self-examination and lays down revealing answers what he was searching for and how he found it.

For a brief moment, he bares his bones in a world where self-truth story-telling is more story than telling. He transcends the perennial iconoclastic troubadour caricature. A lifelong artist that has serious thoughts and treats them respectively, places a high premium on getting thoughts and words right. He followed the hard path believing a search for truth was a noble cause. And he provides a reminder to present and future generations to be authentic, to look around, to be a change agent, finding your true self, and to be an example by doing the hard work not through the power of hate or mindless ambition but through the power words, work and love.