Photo Credit by: Boston Lynn Schulz
There was much excitement building towards the Nobel Prize Awards, it was scheduled that legendary singer/songwriter Bob Dylan would be performing in honor of receiving the prestigious award in literature. However, according to The Fader, on December 10th, the known-flake Bob Dylan did not attend the ceremony to receive his award, nor was he there to perform any song, Dylan only sent his warm regards in the form of a acceptance speech given by the United States Ambassador to Sweden Azita Raji, at the Nobel Banquet, and a performance of his song “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” by Dylan’s dear friend and musical legend Patti Smith.
Accompanied by the Philharmonic, Smith performed her rendition of Dylan’s tear-jerking song, singing the passionate lyrics oh so tenderly, Patti Smith got slightly overwhelmed, which resulted in a minor lapse of memory regarding the lyrics, to which she addressed, confessing to the audience “I’m sorry, I’m so nervous,” but managed to recover, start over, and finish off beautifully.
The Nobel Laureate in literature is awarded “to the person who shall have produced in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction.” These guidelines, written by Alfred Nobel himself, established the lofty and open-ended framework for selecting a winner, to which allowed the songwriter to become a candidate, and eventual winner of a very high honor.
Even though he was not there, he did write thank you speech that was read at the ceremony, ” I’m sorry I can’t be with you in person, but please know that I am most definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a prestigious prize. Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is something I never could have imagined or seen coming” he continued “I don’t know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for themselves, but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play anywhere in the world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It’s probably buried so deep that they don’t even know it’s there.If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I’d have about the same odds as standing on the moon. In fact, during the year I was born and for a few years after, there wasn’t anyone in the world who was considered good enough to win this Nobel Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare company, to say the least,” and writes on to finish ” But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life’s mundane matters. “Who are the best musicians for these songs?” “Am I recording in the right studio?” “Is this song in the right key?” Some things never change, even in 400 years. Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, “Are my songs literature?” (Full Speech)