Bob Dylan becomes first singer-songwriter to win Nobel for literature
Stockholm — Bob Dylan, regarded as the voice of a generation for his influential songs from the 1960s onwards, has won the Nobel Prize for Literature in a surprise decision that made him the only singer-songwriter to win the award. The 75-year-old Dylan — who won the prize for "having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition" -now finds himself in the company of Winston Churchill, Thomas Mann and Rudyard Kipling as Nobel laureates. The announcement was met with gasps in Stockholm’s stately Royal Academy hall, followed — unusually — by some laughter. Dylan’s songs — such as Blowin’ in the Wind, The Times They Are a-Changin’, Subterranean Homesick Blues and Like a Rolling Stone — captured a spirit of rebellion, dissent and independence. More than 50 years on, Dylan is still writing songs and is often on tour, performing his dense poetic lyrics, sung in a sometimes rasping voice that has been ridiculed by detractors. Some lyrics have resonated for decades...
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