DYLAN GETS PULITZER

And now the Pulitzer Prize !

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AND THE WINNER IS...

Bob Dylan has been awarded an honorary Pulitzer Prize at this years New York ceremony, being the first rock artiste to receive the accolade. The award citation spoke of his "profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power".I came late to Dylan and for years had been badgered by a friend who raved about the American folk singer with the whine in his voice. Anytime I casually listened I could hear the ‘whine’ clearly enough but little else. That was until one Sunday morning when I heard a track from a new Dylan album on the radio, The song was ‘I Believe In You’ and the just released album was ‘Slow Train A Comin’.The song stopped me in my tracks as the lyrics were so powerful and relevant to my own situation at the time. Dylan had converted to Christianity and in the song he espoused the difficulty of walking by faith in an unsympathetic world, but his own belief sustaining him through it all. The voice angelically whined from the radio set…’I Believe in you even through the tears and the laughter, I believe in You even though we be apart…I believe in You even on the morning after, Though the earth may shake me…And my friends forsake me….’ For the first time Bob Dylan had my complete and undivided attention as song after song poured out like prophesy doing my soul good. That was back in 1979 and it opened up the door to a whole back catalogue of music that had escaped me, each album confirming Dylan’s status as the supreme wordsmith of the folk and rock genre. Another favourite is ‘Forever Young’…’May God bless and keep you always, May your wishes all come true, May you always do for others ,And let others do for you…May you build a ladder to the stars, And climb on every rung….And may you stay forever young.’ I connected with the majesty of songs like ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ and ‘The Times They Are Changin’ and the gentle and evocative love ditty ‘Sarah’. Not to mention the mysterious ‘Isis’ and that number from his post Christian period ‘Precious Angel’… Precious angel, under the sun, How was I to know you'd be the one, To show me I was blinded, to show me I was gone, How weak was the foundation I was standing upon ?Now there's spiritual warfare and flesh and blood breaking down, Ya either got faith or ya got unbelief and there ain't no neutral ground, The enemy is subtle, how be it we are deceived, When the truth's in our hearts and we still don't believe ?’ Later I learned that as a young unknown singer in Greenwich village Dylan spent a lot of time listening to an Irish folk group ‘The Clancy Brothers’ and had adapted many of their traditional ballad tunes for his own compositions, like ‘The Patriot Game’ becoming ‘With God On Our Side’ In fact only recently I listened to the last surviving member of that group, Liam telling yarn after yarn about those heady days (and nights!) in Greenwich village. So I salute Bobs Pulitzer Prize award and long may he reign as the Chronicler of Wasted Time.

Gerard O'Shea