4 ms·

>the lyrics by themselves don't have anything like the impact (on me at least) of top-notch poetry To you they don't, to me and others they do. To the current

by sfifs 10y ago

>the lyrics by themselves don't have anything like the impact (on me at least) of top-notch poetry To you they don't, to me and others they do. To the current Nobel committee they did this year. At the end, Nobel prizes are highly subjective and people dependent recognitions - so arguments of the form of X deserves and Y does not are not too meaningful.

4ad 10y ago
> Nobel prizes are highly subjective Literature and Peace, yes. Science? No. People will disagree on whether some person who didn't get the price really should have gotten it, but no scientist disputes the value and importance of the work of the people who did get the prize. In science, perhaps there are people who should have gotten the Nobel prize but they didn't. However, few people would say that the people who did get the prize didn't deserve it. With Peace and Literature, people do this all the time.
- jhbadger 10y ago
  Even in science there is a fair amount of subjectivity to the prizes. It was fairly questionable to give a Nobel to Kary Mullis for PCR, for example (the technique is certainly useful, but maybe not that deep scientifically and Mullis is kind of a nutjob who has used his fame to promote pseudoscience), not to mention prizes to work that hasn't held up well -- frontal lobotomies are not considered a great solution to mental illness anymore despite Egas Moniz's 1949 prize for it.
circlefavshape 10y ago
> To you they don't, to me and others they do Really? I've spent pretty much all my spare time and money on music for the last 30 years, but no lyrics by themselves have ever had the effect on me that, for example "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" has had ... but then maybe I'm looking at this wrong, and the prize is being awarded for the songs rather than just the lyrics. If that's the case then I guess the prize is well-deserved
- stinkytaco 10y ago
  Tambourine Man definitely struck me in a similar way to Prufrock. In fact, I don't think songwriting gets the credit it really deserves. Dylan is verbose, but most great songwriting is better equated to a sonnet than Prufrock. And an album to a sonnet sequence. One example I might offer on the same line as Prufrock is Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel. From "Save the Life of My Child" all the way to "At the Zoo" we follow a life (or many lives) and its roller coaster. "America" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" are particular favorites. (as an aside, one of my favorite lyrics of all time is by Gordon Lightfoot in his excellent "Black Day in July" - "And then the tanks go rolling in To patch things up as best they can" Talk about summing up so much in a few words.)
- RodericDay 10y ago
  If it's because of music, Bob Dylan is not the best musician. If it's solely because of lyrics, Bob Dylan is not the best lyricist. It's a weird comfort-food-like pick either way.

by sfifs 10y ago

4ad 10y ago

> Nobel prizes are highly subjective Literature and Peace, yes. Science? No. People will disagree on whether some person who didn't get the price really should have gotten it, but no scientist disputes the value and importance of the work of the people who did get the prize. In science, perhaps there are people who should have gotten the Nobel prize but they didn't. However, few people would say that the people who did get the prize didn't deserve it. With Peace and Literature, people do this all the time.

jhbadger 10y ago
Even in science there is a fair amount of subjectivity to the prizes. It was fairly questionable to give a Nobel to Kary Mullis for PCR, for example (the technique is certainly useful, but maybe not that deep scientifically and Mullis is kind of a nutjob who has used his fame to promote pseudoscience), not to mention prizes to work that hasn't held up well -- frontal lobotomies are not considered a great solution to mental illness anymore despite Egas Moniz's 1949 prize for it.

circlefavshape 10y ago

> To you they don't, to me and others they do Really? I've spent pretty much all my spare time and money on music for the last 30 years, but no lyrics by themselves have ever had the effect on me that, for example "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" has had ... but then maybe I'm looking at this wrong, and the prize is being awarded for the songs rather than just the lyrics. If that's the case then I guess the prize is well-deserved

stinkytaco 10y ago
Tambourine Man definitely struck me in a similar way to Prufrock. In fact, I don't think songwriting gets the credit it really deserves. Dylan is verbose, but most great songwriting is better equated to a sonnet than Prufrock. And an album to a sonnet sequence. One example I might offer on the same line as Prufrock is Bookends by Simon and Garfunkel. From "Save the Life of My Child" all the way to "At the Zoo" we follow a life (or many lives) and its roller coaster. "America" and "Hazy Shade of Winter" are particular favorites. (as an aside, one of my favorite lyrics of all time is by Gordon Lightfoot in his excellent "Black Day in July" - "And then the tanks go rolling in To patch things up as best they can" Talk about summing up so much in a few words.)
RodericDay 10y ago
If it's because of music, Bob Dylan is not the best musician. If it's solely because of lyrics, Bob Dylan is not the best lyricist. It's a weird comfort-food-like pick either way.