Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter and poet who is regarded as one of the most influential figures in popular music. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016 for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.

Early Life

Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota, and grew up in Hibbing. He was interested in music from an early age and played in rock and roll bands.

He moved to Minneapolis and then to New York in 1961. He performed in the folk clubs of Greenwich Village and became part of the folk revival.

He took the name Bob Dylan, possibly in honour of the poet Dylan Thomas. He was signed by Columbia Records and released his first album in 1962.

The Folk Years

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, released in 1963, established him as a leading voice of the protest movement. The album includes Blowin' in the Wind and A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall.

The Times They Are a-Changin' and Another Side of Bob Dylan followed. The songs addressed civil rights, war, and social change.

He was associated with the civil rights movement and performed at the March on Washington. He was influenced by Woody Guthrie and by the blues and the folk traditions.

The Electric Period

Dylan provoked controversy at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965 by performing with an electric band. The move alienated many of his folk fans.

The albums Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited, and Blonde on Blonde are among the most influential of the period. The songs include Like a Rolling Stone and Just Like a Woman.

The lyrics combined surreal imagery with social commentary. The style influenced the development of rock music and of popular songwriting.

Later Career

Dylan continued to change his style through the decades. The albums Blood on the Tracks and Desire are among his most admired works.

He became a Christian in the late 1970s and released a series of gospel albums. He returned to secular music and continued to tour.

He has released many albums of original songs and of traditional material. He has received numerous awards, including the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The Nobel Prize and Legacy

Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2016. The award was controversial, and some questioned whether a songwriter should receive it.

He accepted the prize and delivered a lecture on literature and on music. He is the first musician to receive the award.

He is regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time. His influence on music, on poetry, and on culture has been immense.

The Songwriting

Dylan's songwriting transformed the popular song and brought literary ambition to the form. He wrote about politics, about love, and about the human condition.

The songs include The Times They Are a-Changin', Like a Rolling Stone, and Tangled Up in Blue. The lyrics are complex and allusive and draw on the Bible, on the poets, and on the folk tradition.

He was influenced by the ancient ballads and by the blues and the country music of the American tradition. He adapted the forms to contemporary concerns.

The Covers and the Tradition

Dylan recorded many traditional songs and many songs by other writers. He paid tribute to Woody Guthrie, to Blind Willie McTell, and to many others.

He wrote and performed songs that became standards, recorded by many other artists. The Byrds, Jimi Hendrix, and Adele are among those who recorded his songs.

He was a student of the American songbook and of the folk and blues traditions. He contributed to the revival of interest in the early forms.

The Never Ending Tour

Dylan has toured continuously since the late 1980s. The Never Ending Tour has taken him throughout the world.

He rearranges his songs and performs them in new versions. The concerts are celebrated for their unpredictability.

He has played more than three thousand shows on the tour. The band and the set list have changed over the years.

The Visual Art and the Writing

Dylan is a painter and has exhibited his drawings and paintings. He published a collection of his art, Drawn Blank.

He wrote Chronicles: Volume One, a memoir of his early years. The book was praised for its style and for its evocation of the period.

He wrote a collection of prose poems, Tarantula, published in 1971. He has also written songs for films.

The Awards and Honours

Dylan has received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the French Légion d'honneur, and the Nobel Prize in Literature. He has won numerous Grammy Awards.

He was awarded the Polar Music Prize, the Pulitzer Prize special citation, and the Kennedy Center Honors. The awards recognise his contribution to music and to culture.

The Nobel citation praised him for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition. He is the first musician to receive the prize.

He is regarded as one of the most influential figures in popular music. His influence on the culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries has been immense.

See also

• Folk music
• Rock music