Charles Dharapak/AP Photo
President Obama presenting Bob Dylan with the Medal of Freedom at the White House on Tuesday.
President Obama awarded Bob Dylan the Medal of Freedom at the White House this afternoon, along with former astronaut Senator John Glenn, former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and 10 others. Always the rock star, he didn't forget his favorite pair of shades while accepting the nation's highest civilian honor.
As the Daily Beast points out, only 29 musicians have received the honor since 1963 — one year after the singer released his first album with Columbia Records. President Obama commended Dylan for "re-defining not just what music sounded like, but the message it carried and how it made people feel." He said, "Today everybody from Bruce Springsteen to U2 owes Bob a debt of gratitude. There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music."
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I have always held great admiration for Bob Dylan. The truth that is found in his poetic, lyrical genius places him at the pinnacle of musical art. Well deserved recognition.
Bob Dylan a rock star? Hardly. Maybe the god of poetry.
We were angry about war and murder in Nam. We were shaken awake from the early 1960's to witness the death of heros like the Kennedys and we saw corruption in our government clearly. We could no longer hide from racism and believe all was well inside our country. Bob Dylan's voice and his genius is a symbol of those times. God Bless Bob.
Dylan's comeback from a lapse of fan support was mounted on the backs of Dire Straits musicians, as I recall, which gave him some claim to "rock and roll" fame, with his rearrival with the hit "Sultan's of Swing". Prior to that, he was primarily recognized as a folk music artist, and when he first went electric, he did so with the disapproval of a large number of his followers!
Still, he is an American hero. He captured the 60s, and he persevered! And he didn't die of a drug overdose or get shot in the hood! That's saying something!
Dylan was what with Dire Straits? Sultans of Swing was a hit when Dylan asked Knopfler to work with him on Slow Train Coming, but that's all. To say he piggy-backed on that group's fame is assinine.
He was already an icon, and his songs were readily adapted to the rock beat of the Byrds as well as Jimi Hendrix. I'm guessing it'll come as news to you that he wrote All Along the Watchtower.
And Like a Rolling Stone routinely finds the number five sport on "Rock and Roll's Greatest Hits of All time." That one came out in 1965.... He may have had a following in the folk singing world, but that song and the Byrd's rendition of Mr. Tambourine Man cemented his credentials. But hell, he went on to piss some people off when he got together with Johnny Cash and did some country stuff.
I think Dylan is addressing guys like Grandpa with Idiot Wind, and it's clear Fuzzie is one of the one's who tries to hide what he don't know to begin with....
Just setting the historical record straight.
Obsessively following me around on the blog, even on these no political issues. You are one sick puppy, but then that's your personality disorder showing trrough. It's been some months now when you first bragged that you were going to use you "superior intellect" as you stated it to "destroy" me. And what do we have but your incessant stroking of yourself everytime you get, and what do you have when you are finished Cab Driver? Nothing more than the sticky mess you always have on your hands as you cling to grandiose pumped up vision of your self worth, when what you show yourself to be is a pompous arse with the whole bag of personlity disorders usually accomanying the addicted personality disorder.
When sre you going to see your obsessive compulsive following me around on this blog is losing you any credibility you might have ordinarily had if you just went about making contributions here, instead of spending all your pitiful efforts seeking to refute any that I might make? In other words, try to GET A LIFE!
Long live Dylan; long live the king.
I never cared much for Dylan's voice. To me it always sounded abrasive, and much of his early, folky and highly politicized music was unintelligible to me because he seemed to mumble all the lyrics instead of singing them. Part of this problem (something I learned from people who actually worked with him) may have been due to his studio behavior - he apparently hates rehearsing, and this gives a lot of his studio albums a raw, rough sound. Apparently the best way to approach Dylan's music is to catch him live after he's been touring with the same backup players for a while so that the songs are a little more practiced and polished.
I can't deny or ignore his contributions to American music, but I find much of his material, particularly his earlier works, considerably more listenable when someone else covers them.