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title: Bob Dylan Gives Deep Nobel Prize Lecture
description: Bob Dylan has recorded a 27-minute long speech following being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature.
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author: Ashley Hoffman
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article:published_time: 2017-06-05T19:55:14.000Z
article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:44:12.126Z
article:section: Entertainment
og:title: Bob Dylan Gave a Very Deep Lecture About His Nobel Prize
og:description: He ponders the question raised about his prize: are his lyrics literature?
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twitter:title: Bob Dylan Gave a Very Deep Lecture About His Nobel Prize
twitter:description: He ponders the question raised about his prize: are his lyrics literature?
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![](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted5e98db9ccc20e4/6988d030a988ca34b46bc897/gettyimages-462898048.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9)


# Bob Dylan Explores Whether Song Lyrics Are Literature in Nobel Prize Lecture

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by 

[Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/)


## Ashley Hoffman


Jun 5, 2017 7:55 PM UTC

![MusiCares Person Of The Year Tribute To Bob Dylan - Show](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blted5e98db9ccc20e4/6988d030a988ca34b46bc897/gettyimages-462898048.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=3:2)

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Honoree Bob Dylan speaks onstage at the 25th anniversary MusiCares 2015 Person Of The Year Gala honoring Bob Dylan at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 6, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. The annual benefit raises critical funds for MusiCares' Emergency Financial Assistance and Addiction Recovery programs. For more information visit musicares.org. (Photo by Michael Kovac/WireImage)

LOS ANGELES, CA - FEBRUARY 06: Honoree Bob Dylan speaks onstage at the 25th anniversary MusiCares 2015 Person Of The Year Gala honoring Bob Dylan at the Los Angeles Convention Center on February 6, 2015 in Los Angeles, California. The annual benefit raises critical funds for MusiCares' Emergency Financial Assistance and Addiction Recovery programs. For more information visit musicares.org. (Photo by Michael Kovac/WireImage)Michael Kovac—WireImage

by 

[Ashley Hoffman](https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/)


## Ashley Hoffman


Jun 5, 2017 7:55 PM UTC

[Bob Dylan](http://time.com/4597291/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-speech/) has delivered a lecture for his Nobel Prize the way he’s lived his life: on his own terms.

The announcement that the legend had [won the Nobel Prize](http://time.com/4550250/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-interview/) in literature last October met with mixed reactions. Members of the literary community [debated](https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/09/bob-dylan-doesnt-need-to-win-the-nobel-prize/310477/) whether the lyrics to popular music deserve to be honored by the same award that has recognized writers like Toni Morrison, Saul Bellow and Ernest Hemingway. Now, in a 27-minute speech recorded on Sunday and released on Monday by the Nobel Foundation, the artist ponders that very question.

The talk comes in just under the wire: Dylan’s deadline to present a lecture, at the risk of losing [his prize money](http://ew.com/books/2017/06/05/bob-dylan-nobel-prize-literature-acceptance-speech/), was June 10.

“I got to wondering exactly how my songs related to literature,” he begins in the recording. “I wanted to reflect on it and see where the connection was.”

After speaking about some of his early influences, including Buddy Holly, the award winner discusses the ways in which three classics, _Moby-Dick_, _All Quiet on the Western Front_ and Homer’s _The Odyssey_ influenced his work. He then offers some insight into what set his music apart. “Folk lingo was the only vocabulary that I knew, and I used it,” he says. “I had principles and sensibilities and an informed view of the world.”

But does his contribution to the American songbook qualify as literature? Though he doesn’t offer a definitive answer, he doesn’t hesitate to point out one important distinction.

“Songs are unlike literature. They’re meant to be sung, not read,” he says, asking listeners to experience his lyrics “the way they were intended to be heard: in concert or on record or however people are listening to songs these days.”


Listen to the lecture above.

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