When I first received this Nobel
Prize for Literature, I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to
literature. I wanted to reflect on it and see where the connection was. I'm
going to try to articulate that to you. And most likely it will go in a roundabout
way, but I hope what I say will be worthwhile and purposeful.
If I was to go back to the
dawning of it all, I guess I'd have to start with Buddy Holly. Buddy died when
I was about eighteen and he was twenty-two. From the moment I first heard him,
I felt akin. I felt related, like he was an older brother. I even thought I
resembled him. Buddy played the music that I loved – the music I grew up on:
country western, rock ‘n' roll, and rhythm and blues. Three separate strands of
music that he intertwined and infused into one genre. One brand. And Buddy
wrote songs – songs that had beautiful melodies and imaginative verses. And he
sang great – sang in more than a few voices. He was the archetype. Everything I
wasn't and wanted to be. I saw him only but once, and that was a few days
before he was gone. I had to travel a hundred miles to get to see him play, and
I wasn't disappointed... ...
Read Bob Dylan's complete speech at the Official Website HERE
The YouTube version of Bob's lecture, recorded on 04 June 2017, can also be accessed, HERE.
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