When the dust settles, one man, at least, will still be standing.
He might only stand five feet seven inches in his socks (Eminem is, and Kerouac was, five-eight, a precursor and an heir), but Alexander Pope, one of the dozen or so greatest English poets of all time, was four feet six inches tall. (Pope died in 1744 at the age of 56.)
And Bob Dylan has more than a little of Pope’s verbal resources, great heart, wild intelligence, deep soul, artistic energy. If “Eloisa to Abelard,” by Pope, doesn’t break your heart and make you want to go on living, nothing will.
The Drifter has compiled seven reasons why, with their flipsides, Bob Dylan deserves his Nobel Prize. The reasons are brief and they are meant for quick reading in a busy world; but they are also meant to be pondered upon and thought about more later for any and all who are interested. (And meant to be USED.)
ONE: He both does, and does not, care what he looks like, and he looks like it.
TWO: He has done a lot of drugs but hasn’t done so many drugs that he isn’t still going strong at 84. The life of the artist, any artist, is a balancing act.
THREE: He puts out material at a relentless pace as if this were the most important thing in the world, and then does little to promote it.
FOUR: His “style” of life and work are ancient and modern.
FIVE: His work can exist “on the page” or in the air.
SIX: He does, and does not, care/s about “quality.”
SEVEN: He goes out into the world – while wearing disguises.
(Afterthought: Those last two should be hung out with like zen koans…)
Saragun Springs 
Hi DWB
I hope I did not cross up the photos! The header is brilliant but is it in the right article?
Regardless, Bob is the first big name from the 60’s to eschew the castles and his almost pathological honesty, recorded by his many changes, is a rare charm indeed. He and Bowie are the great shapechangers. Bob goes on, sort of like an ancient prophet, going from age to age finding new people whom he asks eternal questions.
Leila
LikeLike
Leila
Yes, the pictures are with the right article, thanks!
I love the phrase “almost pathological honesty.” It shows up in everything he does (or everything public he does).
Bowie changed just as rapidly and profoundly as Dylan, I agree with you. A few days ago I saw a clip of him on Soul Train. He was dressed like one of the Bee Gees or someone from Saturday Night Fever (hair included), was clearly wasted out of his mind, and was dancing like a disco queen. It might seem like he was ripping off the scene if you didn’t know who he was, because he changed again right after that and turned into a right wing fascist called The Thin White Duke who, in turn, only lasted for the space of about one album (and who he even apologized for being later, blaming it on the cocaine and the diet of nothing but peppers, milk, and nonstop cigarettes). And those are just two of the changes in turn. There were millions of ’em with him! If anything, even more than Dylan. He probably deserved a Nobel Prize too (as Leonard certainly did). How many people would hit it so big with a character like Ziggy Stardust and then kill the character off almost immediately? Who could effectively portray the Elephant Man on stage without even wearing a costume, other than him? (And he played the Elephant Man almost naked onstage, indicating the deformities with the positionings of his body only.)
The snow is flying in Chicago Land! Supposed to get a foot or more…
Dale
LikeLike
Hello Dale
Just read a comment by David Henson on LS about the wather. I bet Boo and co. will be deliriously overjoyed.
It’s the arists who always change that continue to grow. Not to be mean, Paul McCartney only changed once, with the Beatles. For the past fifty-five or so he has been a nostalgia act. There is nothing at all wrong with that, but Lennon was already doing odd things like quitting for five years. Some people find their comfort zones, others are restless.
Great new look at Bob.
Leila
LikeLike
Dale,
Yours is a fine list and seven is supposed to be a good number. I wouldn’t want to suggest adding an eight or a nine, but I’m curious on whether you had any candidates that didn’t make the final list? Maybe something on Dylan’s mercurial moves forward, while not being afraid to take a backward glance?? bw mick
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hi Mick
Thanks! You’ve provided a perfect number 8.
Of course, the list could go on and on with Dylan.
Coleridge said this about Shakespeare: “stupendous power that attracts all forms and things to himself, into the unity of his own ideal…Shakespeare becomes all things, yet forever remaining himself.” (It can be seen in Macbeth with the witches, for example.) And (almost) the same thing/s can be said about Dylan, I do believe. (And about Coleridge, too.)
Thanks again!
Dale
LikeLike
You’re a generous reader, Dale. Glad you too think Dylan’s changes were important, the more so because he never left the old Dylan behind. I was listening to Salman Rushdie being interviewed on the radio recently. He reminisced about going to a New York Dylan concert a few years ago: said that, for the third encore, Dylan came back and literally screamed ‘Blowing in the Wind.’
Looking forward to your Coleridge piece. mick
LikeLiked by 1 person