#AtoZ Dylan – “Z” is for Robert Zimmerman

“All I can do is be me, whoever that is.” ~ Bob Dylan

What better way to end this series than with the man himself? One of the most prolific and talented songwriters of our generation, Bob Dylan has been a major cultural icon for six decades. He has received ten Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award. He’s in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the Minnesota Music Hall of Fame, the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In 2008, the Pulitzer Prize jury awarded him a special citation for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture.” In 2012, President Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and in 2016, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.”

When I learned of his Nobel Prize, I wanted to do an A to Z Challenge on Bob Dylan. But then he decided not to accept the prize. There was some controversy (you can read about it here if you want), but he did eventually accept the award.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed these post and videos. I deliberately did not go into a lot of detail about Dylan or his songs, knowing that your time is precious, and you can always read the lyrics at your leisure. The fact that so many of Dylan’s songs have been covered, by so many diverse artists, is testament to his influence, even nearly sixty years later.

So I will conclude with a song by Bob Dylan (how to pick just one??!)

8 thoughts on “#AtoZ Dylan – “Z” is for Robert Zimmerman”

This series was fun, and I got to listen to a lot of musicians I had never heard of before. Nice work, Martha!

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Nice way to end, Zimmerman and Tangled.
By the way, did you see Patti Smith accept the Nobel Award on Dylan’s behalf. In a moment of sheer humanity, she flubbed the lyrics, something she never does. She stopped and asked the conductor to begin again and did fine. She was devastated but I thought he handled it with grace.

Thanks for this fun ride. It was a blast.

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Martha Reynolds says:

April 30, 2019 at 5:35 pm

I did, Connie! Thank you 💚

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I learned Bob Dylan was quite a good writer. Great job! Thank you, Leslie

Sent from my iPhone

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Congrats for finishing! Woohoo–what an accomplishment.

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Fun fun fun! i can’t decide if my favorite part was reading his lyrics or hearing others performs his songs. You always come up with a winner for the A to Z Challenge!

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