[Shaun J. Russell]

I have nothing new to add to this thread other than to say that I think Dylan's win is well deserved. I can think of few singer-songwriter-poets who have had a more wide-ranging influence. Leonard Cohen is the only one who comes close, and I suspect many who question Dylan's win wouldn't question a Cohen win quite so much...

Despite having a background in music and generally being a music collector and audiophile, I've never owned anything by Dylan (excluding covers, of course), yet there is no question in my mind that he deserves the top prize for literature, however broadly defined.

[James Brancheau]

Didn't want to slight the 80's. Maybe the Nobel will go to Morrissey some day. A vibrant underground.

[Mark McDonnell]

Now you're talking, James..

[Roger Slater]

I'm a big Leonard Cohen fan, but I don't think he's Nobel material like Dylan.

Good Dylan/Bad Dylan?

Off the top of my head, his late-career bests for me include Trying to Get to Heaven Before They Close the Door, and Mississippi. But I also love "Standing in the Doorway." I'm sure I'm missing some others that come close. On that album, Make You Feel My Love is the weakest. And Highlands is a lot of fun, though a different sort of experience (and also shows that Dylan was indeed influenced by Burns).

His recent Sinatra covers? Not great. But unlike many, I do like his voice a lot.

Some of you may not know about his Theme Time Radio series. It's really a wonderful series of about fifty one-hour shows in which he chats about and introduces songs that he likes by others, each show involving a different theme. He's wonderfully knowledgeable about music history and brings many great anecdotes and songs you may not have heard before. He also tells some very cheesy jokes along the way.

[Don Jones]

No one can get away with expressing deep indignation the way Dylan can. He can be a haranguing prophet. Someone mentioned satire. With “Idiot Wind,” one of my favorites of his, he lets it out so clearly and so heart-breakingly that the fact he manages never to sound self-indulgent is all the more incredible for the force of his rage. But it is also quite sad. The language is bald but artful. Unforgettable lyrics. You don't want to be in this man's cross hairs.

This song could most surely apply to our contemporary From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol.

Idiot Wind

Someone's got it in for me
They're planting stories in the press
Whoever it is I wish they'd cut it out quick
But when they will I can only guess
They say I shot a man named Gray
And took his wife to Italy
She inherited a million bucks
And when she died it came to me
I can't help it if I'm lucky
People see me all the time
And they just can't remember how to act
Their minds are filled with big ideas
Images and distorted facts
Even you, yesterday
You had to ask me where it was at
I couldn't believe after all these years
You didn't know me better than that
Sweet lady
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your mouth
Blowing down the back roads headin' south
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe
I ran into the fortune-teller
Who said beware of lightning that might strike
I haven't known peace and quiet
For so long I can't remember what it's like
There's a lone soldier on the cross
Smoke pourin' out of a boxcar door
You didn't know it, you didn't think it could be done
In the final end he won the wars
After losin' every battle
I woke up on the roadside
Daydreamin' 'bout the way things sometimes are
Visions of your chestnut mare
Shoot through my head and are makin' me see stars
You hurt the ones that I love best
And cover up the truth with lies
One day you'll be in the ditch
Flies buzzin' around your eyes
Blood on your saddle
Idiot wind
Blowing through the flowers on your tomb
Blowing through the curtains in your room
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe
It was gravity which pulled us down
And destiny which broke us apart
You tamed the lion in my cage
But it just wasn't enough to change my heart
Now everything's a little upside down
As a matter of fact the wheels have stopped
What's good is bad, what's bad is good
You'll find out when you reach the top
You're on the bottom
I noticed at the ceremony
Your corrupt ways had finally made you blind
I can't remember your face anymore
Your mouth has changed
Your eyes don't look into mine
The priest wore black on the seventh day
And sat stone-faced while the building burned
I waited for you on the running boards
Near the cypress trees, while the springtime turned
Slowly into autumn
Idiot wind
Blowing like a circle around my skull,
From the Grand Coulee Dam to the Capitol
Idiot wind
Blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot, babe.
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe
I can't feel you anymore
I can't even touch the books you've read
Every time I crawl past your door
I been wishin' I was somebody else instead
Down the highway, down the tracks
Down the road to ecstasy
I followed you beneath the stars
Hounded by your memory
And all your ragin' glory
I been double-crossed now
For the very last time and now I'm finally free
I kissed goodbye the howling beast
On the borderline which separated you from me
You'll never know the hurt I suffered
Nor the pain I rise above,
And I'll never know the same about you
Your holiness or your kind of love
And it makes me feel so sorry
Idiot wind
Blowing through the buttons of our coats
Blowing through the letters that we wrote
Idiot wind
Blowing through the dust upon our shelves
We're idiots, babe
It's a wonder we can even feed ourselves.

[Max Goodman]

Anyone know how to find the Academy's citation the news reports refer to and quote? I've done a web search and visited nobelprize.org, but I haven't found it.