NP: Dylan's Acceptance Speech in Total: "Where am I going to get a human skull?"

[Allan Balliett]

Good evening, everyone. I extend my warmest greetings to the members of the
Swedish Academy and to all of the other distinguished guests in attendance
tonight.

I'm sorry I can't be with you in person, but please know that I am most
definitely with you in spirit and honored to be receiving such a
prestigious prize. Being awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature is
something I never could have imagined or seen coming. From an early age,
I've been familiar with and reading and absorbing the works of those who
were deemed worthy of such a distinction: Kipling, Shaw, Thomas Mann, Pearl
Buck, Albert Camus, Hemingway. These giants of literature whose works are
taught in the schoolroom, housed in libraries around the world and spoken
of in reverent tones have always made a deep impression. That I now join
the names on such a list is truly beyond words.

I don't know if these men and women ever thought of the Nobel honor for
themselves, but I suppose that anyone writing a book, or a poem, or a play
anywhere in the world might harbor that secret dream deep down inside. It's
probably buried so deep that they don't even know it's there.

If someone had ever told me that I had the slightest chance of winning the
Nobel Prize, I would have to think that I'd have about the same odds as
standing on the moon. In fact, during the year I was born and for a few
years after, there wasn't anyone in the world who was considered good
enough to win this Nobel Prize. So, I recognize that I am in very rare
company, to say the least.

I was out on the road when I received this surprising news, and it took me
more than a few minutes to properly process it. I began to think about
William Shakespeare, the great literary figure. I would reckon he thought
of himself as a dramatist. The thought that he was writing literature
couldn't have entered his head. His words were written for the stage. Meant
to be spoken not read. When he was writing Hamlet, I'm sure he was thinking
about a lot of different things: "Who're the right actors for these roles?"
"How should this be staged?" "Do I really want to set this in Denmark?" His
creative vision and ambitions were no doubt at the forefront of his mind,
but there were also more mundane matters to consider and deal with. "Is the
financing in place?" "Are there enough good seats for my patrons?" "Where
am I going to get a human skull?" I would bet that the farthest thing from
Shakespeare's mind was the question "Is this literature?"

When I started writing songs as a teenager, and even as I started to
achieve some renown for my abilities, my aspirations for these songs only
went so far. I thought they could be heard in coffee houses or bars, maybe
later in places like Carnegie Hall, the London Palladium. If I was really
dreaming big, maybe I could imagine getting to make a record and then
hearing my songs on the radio. That was really the big prize in my mind.
Making records and hearing your songs on the radio meant that you were
reaching a big audience and that you might get to keep doing what you had
set out to do.

Well, I've been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I've made
dozens of records and played thousands of concerts all around the world.
But it's my songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do.
They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout
many different cultures and I'm grateful for that.

But there's one thing I must say. As a performer I've played for 50,000
people and I've played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder
to play for 50 people. 50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with
50. Each person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto
themselves. They can perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it
relates to the depth of your talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel
committee is so small is not lost on me.

But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my
creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life's mundane matters.
"Who are the best musicians for these songs?" "Am I recording in the right
studio?" "Is this song in the right key?" Some things never change, even in
400 years.

Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, "Are my songs literature?"

So, I do thank the Swedish Academy, both for taking the time to consider
that very question, and, ultimately, for providing such a wonderful answer.

My best wishes to you all,

Bob Dylan


http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/entertainment/music/sd-et-music-dylan-nobel-20161210-story.html
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