13 Songs Bob Dylan Will Sing When He Doesn't Win The Nobel Prize For Literature

The day before the official announcement, Bob Dylan was installed as UK betting company Ladbrokes' favorite to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

As we didn't think he had a harmonica's chance in hell of winning, we thought we'd helpfully come up with a playlist for the gravelly voiced folkmaster to sing as he copes with his sad defeat.

Was this a joke, or was he a serious contender for the prize? One of us must know (sooner or later). Tell us your thoughts in the comments as you singalong with Bob, perhaps one-day winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature!

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Oh Mercy

Freewheelin'

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UPDATE: This post was originally written before the announcement of the Nobel Prize winner. The text was subsequently updated to reflect the fact that Bob Dylan did not, in fact, win.

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Comments

[chrissouthe]

07:34 PM on 10/17/2011

Bob Dylan is Positively 4th Street!

[m320753]

10:31 PM on 10/16/2011

the album cover for oh! mercy is the cover from blonde on blonde

[mcinnisja]

02:51 PM on 10/14/2011

Zimmerman wrote some good stuff. I like it better when someone else performs it though.

[Fabini]

06:47 AM on 10/07/2011

Bob sings for himself:

October 6, 2011 - Dublin, Ireland

1. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
2. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
3. Things Have Changed
4. Tangled Up In Blue
5. Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
6. Spirit On The Water
7. The Levee's Gonna Break
8. Desolation Row
9. Highway 61 Revisited
10. Forgetful Heart
11. Thunder On The Mountain
12. Ballad Of A Thin Man
13. Like A Rolling Stone
14. All Along The Watchtower

[Edward Wilkes]

04:33 AM on 10/07/2011

Bob Dylan should have won the Nobel Prize in Literature many years ago; He is an American Certainly an American Icon as well as a great POET and SINGER. I love Bob Dylan---He preformed at LENA'S CAFE' in Saratoga Springs, New York long before he gained notoriety and fame. May Lena Spencer rest in peace. It was Lena that showed me a picture of Bob hanging on her Cafe' wall. Bob's picture hung among many other American Greats that preformed there, often more than once. That was 35years ago; when I was 17 and dating Frank Wakefield's Daughter. Frank is now 78 and still playing the Mandolin, singing and touring the Globe. Frank is most noted for New Camptown Races, which was one of many he wrote. I think America and the World should have a say in Bob not getting a Nobel Prize in Literature!

[Drew Puli Wolf]

07:28 PM on 10/14/2011

I guess like Bob Dylan, Frank Wakefield loves to plagiarize other artist’s work. Camptown Races was written by the famous American song writer Stephen Foster(1826-1864) first published in 1850.

[Edward Wilkes]

09:08 PM on 10/14/2011

Sorry I meant to say the Frank Wakefield wrote "New Camptown Races." Frank plays the mandolin and foster plays guitar! There is no similarity in the two. Go to Youtube and type in Frank Wakefield New Camptown Races then after you see and hear Frank type in Stephen Foster Camptown Races. After you compare the two, get back to me with your reply. Peace!

[BobLaughlin]

01:37 AM on 10/07/2011

If you aksed Dylan he might say, "It ain't me, babe. Nah, nah, nah, it ain't me, babe. It ain't me you're looking for, babe."

[Ira Meyers]

07:56 PM on 10/06/2011

I never care what his detractors say. He was a voice of a generation and will be remembered for that. I was eighteen when I saw him at the Cafe Wha in the village. He should be required reading to get a better prospective of the era.

[m320753]

10:51 PM on 10/16/2011

there are a number of universities that offer programs in literature and song devoted strictly to dylan. heard they're hard to get into. i first saw him in the park around 62 just pickin and singing a line or 2 . instantly became a fan, and have been ever since.the 1st concert it took my son to was at lake compounce , bristol, ct. it was pouring, and the place was overflowing with fans. dylan opened with subterrean homesick blues in a yankee hat and hooded sweatshirt under a single stage light which the rain diminished . with his 1st word my son actually gasped. there was some bonding that night

[NerdyStudent]

10:37 AM on 10/06/2011

If he were alive, I'd say Phil Ochs is a thousand times more the poet than Bob Dylan, and thus more deserving of the Nobel prize.

[Edward Wilkes]

04:39 AM on 10/07/2011

Well he is not alive; Bob is, and he deserves the Nobel Prize!

[NerdyStudent]

10:07 PM on 10/14/2011

Trolololo, get off my lawn grandpa hipster.

[m320753]

10:53 PM on 10/16/2011

but he isn't. he died they say out of despair as nothing he tried amused dylan

[3fingerbrown]

10:22 AM on 10/06/2011

It's unfair to set up Dylan as the butt of a joke about a situation in which he could only be the "loser."

The Nobel committee has never, and most likely will never, given its literature prize to a songwriter. They have a narrow definition of what poetry is, and song lyrics, no matter how brilliant or influential, aren't poems. They're song lyrics.

And I can't say I disagree.

The two disciplines share certain superficial features, but poetry in its modern sense (leaving aside sung poems in the ancient sense) and lyrics are two distinctly different arts, presenting distinctly different technical considerations to the author. No matter how sincere and well-meaning someone is when they try to elevate song lyrics by calling them poems, it's condescending. One is not "better" than the other, just different. Lyrics don't need the borrowed cachet of being called poetry to make them valid works of art.

To say Dylan "lost" the Nobel is like saying the Dodgers lost the Super Bowl. It was never his to lose.

[Edward Wilkes]

04:45 AM on 10/07/2011

Well then, they should create a Nobel Prize for the best poet/song writer who's lyrics touched and moved the world in a profound way! If they had this Type of Noble Prize, Bob, surely would have been the recipient, long-long ago!

[3fingerbrown]

06:11 AM on 10/07/2011

They should seriously consider it. The cultural landscape has shifted greatly since the Nobel categories were created.

[mpmc23]

09:26 PM on 10/12/2011

Very well put. For the record, though, Dylan would totally take the Dodgers if they faced off in the Super Bowl.

[Wookiee1972]

08:27 AM on 10/06/2011

What is with keeping this article so prominent? We get it - he didn't win. So what?

[m320753]

11:05 PM on 10/16/2011

well, to put it simply as possibly, we are talking about Bob Dylan. like Ali, the one word name Dylan is recognized the world over. don't get me wrong, Muhammed Ali's name is still recognized in places that never heard of Dylan but then again some of those places don't have electricity yet.

[AnaM]

02:37 AM on 10/06/2011

My respect for the Nobel will decrease if Dylan wins. God, can't handle listening to this man sing and he had to have been on some drugs to write some of the lyrics he has written.
As for the earlier assumption, in a comment, regarding books that (of winners) were not read, well not everyone has listened to every Dylan song and to presume this is quite naive.

[Edward Wilkes]

04:52 AM on 10/07/2011

If you had lived 35/45 years ago you would not say what you just said, I'm sure. Bob was once a prominent figure among other poets and loved by an American culture that you will never be able to identify with. Bob Dylan played at the original WOODSTOCK in upstate New York! Where have you played? In your sand box I presume!

[Tom Sutpen]

12:24 AM on 10/10/2011

Bob Dylan did not appear at the 1969 Woodstock festival, though he did turn in a memorable performance at the 1994 shindig.

[Drew Puli Wolf]

07:37 PM on 10/14/2011

Dear Tom for someone who doesn’t who the great 19th century American writer Stephen Foster was, or at least thinks his most famous song “Camptown Races” was written by someone else, You sure due a lot of bloviating about song writing and American Culture.

[Edward Wilkes]

11:39 AM on 10/07/2011

Nobody worth their weight cares what windbags like you think when it comes to one of America's all time Greats. Bob Dylan hails from a time, of which he had a very long list of followers. Other famous Poets thought very highly of Dylan. You live in a time when kids such as yourself think great poetry is Hip-Hop!

[AnaM]

02:06 AM on 10/08/2011

From what time? From the time when everyone was drugged out of their minds, taking trips on LSD?
FYI, I don't respect hip hop and no, I'm not a kid. I'm not a former drug child of the sixties either, with a warped view of literature (largely shaped by drugs).

[m320753]

11:32 PM on 10/16/2011

actually Bruce Springsteen when inducting Dylan in the Rock & rol hall of fame as a charter member said of Dylan, here is the man who wrote Like a Rolling Stone and made every song after it possible

[Wookiee1972]

10:52 PM on 10/05/2011

You know what? I hope he does win now.

[ChrisRoberts]

08:06 PM on 10/05/2011

The quality, emotive song writing is all for naught when this mutt of a singer takes the stage and sings. His mumbled, incoherent jumble of words come across like a homeless bum begging for change. Bob Dylan will win nothing.

[samuraifrog37]

08:45 PM on 10/05/2011

He's already won far far more then most people in the history of the world.I won't bother pointing any of that out to you. The fact that you hate on him so much I find odd...I would think he would care less.

[Citizen54]

09:54 AM on 10/06/2011

It's clear to us all now that you are a better writer than Bob Dylan.
I look forward to your new album.

[ChrisRoberts]

10:01 AM on 10/06/2011

Improper usage: "he would care less." That states he cares to a lesser degree. He *couldn't* care less emphasizes that he does not care at all.

[Binea]

07:41 PM on 10/05/2011

He should win it.
But,don't worry Dylan..You win with me...and that's all that matter's, to me anyway :)
It's just a prize of recognition,
what will it mean if the world last a thousand years from now ,and you or I or any here posting are long forgotten ? Actually,I don't you will be forgotten,prize or no prize.

[Binea]

07:49 PM on 10/05/2011

oooops..I forgot "think" between don't and you

[Tom Pumroy]

07:03 PM on 10/05/2011

As they might say on Second City TV; "Bob is scary good." He has my vote!