Scheuer musician? Bob Dylan did not accept the Nobel Prize at the official award ceremony on December 10, 2016. Instead, he was given the price on a small scale and without media presence in spring 2017. In April 2017 he met with representatives of the Swedish Academy in Stockholm when he played two concerts there. He was personally handed over to the Nobel certificate and the medal – without photographers or press.
The reluctance is surprising because Bob Dylan has received many less honors in the course of his life. Here is a review of 12 of them.
Tom Paine Award, 1963
A few weeks after the murder of John F. Kennedy by an assassin, the Emergency Civil Liberties Union Bob Dylan presented the Tom Paine Award. This was the highlight of his protest song phase. And a dutiful speech was expected. That was not what they got.
“I have to admit that the man who shot president Kennedy, Lee Oswald, I don’t know exactly where – what he thought he was doing. But I have to honestly admit that I saw something from myself,” he said. “I don’t think it would have gone so far. I don’t think it could go so far. But I had to get up. And say that I saw things in me that felt – not that far and shoot.” Shortly afterwards he was forced to give up an explanation in which he made it clear that he did not really identify with Oswald.
Princeton University, 1970
Bob Dylan broke his studies at the University of Minnesota in 1959 after just one semester. But eleven years later he found himself together with his buddy David Crosby in Princeton to accept an honorary title. According to Crosby, Dylan was familiar with there on the way. And almost pinched when he found out that he had to wear a hat and a valley.
He finally went into a compromise by attracting the Talar, but taking the hat. The school was affected by cicadas this summer. Dylan immortalized this crazy day in his song “Day of the Locusts” from 1970. “I took off my valley and took my diploma in hand,” he wrote. “I took my loved one by the hand and we drove/go right into the hills, the black hills of Dakota/I was really happy to get out of life.”
The Grammys, 1980
If you have your little role in the album “Concert for Bangladesh” Not counting, Bob Dylan only won a Grammy in 1980. And when he received the price for the best male rock performance for his evangelical hymn “Gotta Serve somebody”. A less important person might have stayed at home after Highway 61 revisited,, Blonde on blonde,, Blood on the Tracks And everything else he had done in the past 18 years. But Dylan appeared and even played the song on the show.
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 1988
Bob Dylan appeared in 1982 when he was included in the Songwriters Hall of Fame. But since there is no video on the Internet, we jump directly to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame six years later. It was a big evening on which the Beatles, the Supremes, the Drifters and the Beach Boys were also recorded. Mike Love made half the big names of the skirt that night.
Whereupon Dylan referred to in his own speech. “I want to thank Little Richard, who is sitting over there,” he said. “I don’t think I would have started Richard without a little. I would like to thank Mike Love for not mentioning me.”
The Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, 1991
The Gulf War had just started when Bob Dylan was awarded a lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys. Before playing the radically revised “Masters of War”, Dylan came to the podium after an exuberant speech by Jack Nicholson.
“Well, my daddy didn’t leave me too much,” said a nervous Dylan. ‘He was a very simple man. He didn’t leave me much. But he told me: ‘Son … it is possible that you will be so dirty in this world that even your parents leave you. And if that happens, God will always believe in your ability to find your way. Thanks.”
The Kennedy Center Honors, 1997
In 1997 Bob Dylan was awarded the Kennedy Center Honors together with Lauren Bacall, Charlton Heston, Jessye Norman and Edward Villella. Traditionally, he did not speak and performed himself. But he was sitting next to Bill and Hillary Clinton. And watched how Bruce Springsteen played “The Times They Are A-Man”. “When the longing of people exploded for a more open and just society, Bob Dylan had the courage to put himself in the fire and caught the sound of this explosion,” said Springsteen. “This song remains a wonderful call to the weapons. The echo of this explosion lives on in the fight for social justice in America, which continues so violently to this day.”
The Grammys, 1998
It took 36 years in which he continuously did brilliant work. But in 1998 Bob Dylan was finally awarded a Grammy for the album of the year. That evening, Soy Bomb interrupted his performance by “Love Sick” with a bizarre dance performance. But Dylan didn’t let it spoil the mood when he accepted the price.
Seven years after his strange speech about his life’s work, he was a little more grounded when he thanked everyone who was involved in the recording. “I just wanted to say that when I was 16 or 17 years old, I saw Buddy Holly playing in the Duluth National Guard Armory,” he said towards the end. “I was a meter away from him. And he looked at me and I just had such a feeling, I don’t know how or why. But I know that he was with us when we made this plate in any way.”
The Oscar Awards 2000
Dylan’s success series also stopped in 2000 when he was an Oscar for the best original song for “Things have changed” from the soundtrack Wonder Boys won. He was on tour in Australia at that time. But despite the enormous time difference, he played the song live by satellite. And took the award later at night.
“My God, that’s incredible,” he said with a broad smile. “I would like to watch all my friends and my family out there, who are watching hello. The members of the academy who were brave enough to give me a prize for this song, which obviously does not try to talk around the hot porridge or ignore human nature. God bless you all with peace, calm and benevolence.” A week earlier, he personally took part in the Golden Globes to accept a prize for the same song.
The Polar Music Prize, 2000
He may not be ready this year to travel to Sweden for the Nobel Prize. But in 2000 he took the time to the Polar Music Prize of King Carl XVI in the same country. To accept Gustaf. He didn’t have to do much except standing on stage. To listen to a speech. And to hold up a badge and a bouquet of flowers. The Nobel Prize requires that you give a speech. What could be a reason that he decides to go against it.
Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2012
The government of George W. Bush had Dylan neither awarded a price for eight years nor invite you to the White House. But in 2010 he appeared there at a civil rights concert with “Blowin ‘in the Wind”. Two years later, Obama presented him with the Medal of Freedom. He never took off his sunglasses. But managed to pull the eyebrows up when President Obama put the medal around his neck.
The order of the Legion of Honor, 2013
This great honor is usually reserved for members of the French establishment, and many were outraged when an American rock singer received one with a long history of drug use. But the French held together. And Dylan appeared in November 2013 to accept it. “I am grateful and proud,” he said. “That’s all.”
Musicares of 2015
The annual gala for the appointment of the musicar of the year always takes place in the Grammy Week when many of the biggest names of the music scene are in Los Angeles. In 2015, Eddie Vedder, Jack White and Neil Young Bob Dylan honored by covering his songs. Towards the end of the event, Bob Dylan came to the podium. And gave an unforgettable 30-minute speech that nobody had expected.
He thanked early supporters such as John Hammond and Artie Mogul. Praised icons such as Mavis Staples and Nina Simone. And then mentioned the obscure country singer Tom T. Hall and his song “I love” from 1973.
“I will never reduce another songwriter,” he said. “I won’t do that. I’m not saying that it’s a bad song. I’m just saying that it might be a little boiled over.” Hall’s wife had died just a few weeks earlier. And he refused to give the press of any kind of answer.