‘If a song moves you, that’s all that’s important’
Bob Dylan credits classic literature in his long-awaited Nobel lecture
A reflective Bob Dylan finally released his Nobel lecture Monday, after winning the Nobel Prize in literature back in October.
Dylan’s speech, released by the Nobel Foundation, clocked in at about 4,000 words or about 27 minutes in audio form, and focused on his major influences:
1.
It all started with Buddy Holly. The speech began with one of the fathers of rock ’n’ roll. “Buddy died when I was about 18 and he was 22,” Dylan said. “From the moment I first heard him, I felt akin. I felt related, like he was an older brother ... He was the archetype. Everything I wasn’t and wanted to be.”
2.
Or was it Leadbelly? A day or two after Holly’s plane went down, Dylan said someone he’d never seen before handed him a Leadbelly record with the song Cottonfields on it. “And that record changed my life right then and there. Transported me into a world I’d never known. It was like an explosion went off. Like I’d been walking in darkness and all of the sudden the darkness was illuminated. It was like somebody laid hands on me. I must have played that record a hundred times.” And so began Dylan’s journey into the world of folk and blues.
3.
He doesn’t take his education for granted. “The folk lingo” was the only vocabulary Dylan knew when he started writing songs, but thanks grammar school for his “principals and sensibilities and an informed view of the world.” He said themes from the classic books he read during those school years worked their way into many of his songs.
4.
Three books stuck with him the most. Dylan credited MobyDick, All Quiet on the Western Front and The Odyssey as his biggest literary influences, and they have knowingly and/or unintentionally inspired his music.
5.
Ultimately, it’s all about the music, man. “If a song moves you, that’s all that’s important,” said Dylan, stressing the importance of his music conveying emotions rather than making sense. “I don’t have to know what a song means. I’ve written all kinds of things into my songs. And I’m not going to worry about it — what it all means.”
I don’t have to know what a song means. I’ve written all kinds of things into my songs. And I’m not going to worry about it — what it all means.