Bob Dylan Awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature

I remember exactly where I was when I first heard  "Positively 4th Street" by Bob Dylan, a song that shocked me so much that I pulled my '59 VW to the side of the road to listen:  

You see me on the street, you always act surprised
You say "how are you?", "good luck", but ya don't mean it
When you know as well as me, you'd rather see me paralyzed
Why don't you just come out once and scream it

No, I do not feel that good when I see the heartbreaks you embrace
If I was a master thief perhaps I'd rob them
And tho I know you're dissatisfied with your position and your place
Don't you understand, its not my problem?

I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
And just for that one moment I could be you
Yes, I wish that for just one time you could stand inside my shoes
You'd know what a drag it is to see you

It was 1965 and KJR of Seattle played cutting edge stuff.  I'd been traveling on the Benson Highway between Renton and Kent, Washington when I heard a man sing honestly with anger.  In my naivete, I still remember saying to myself: "You can't tell someone they'd rather see you paralyzed.  We don't talk like that!"

But you can and Bob Dylan did in hundreds of equally honest, angry, touching, illuminating songs, poems, anthems, ballads.

My all-time favorite angry line comes from Bob's song, "Idiot Wind":

Idiot wind blowing every time your move your mouth
Blowing down the backroads heading south
Idiot wind blowing every time you move your teeth
You're an idiot babe
It's a wonder that you still know how to breathe

In 1963 Bob Dylan and Joan Baez joined Dr. Martin Luther King and 250,000 others for the March on Washington. Bob and Joan performed at the Lincoln Memorial before Dr. King gave his "I Have A Dream" speech.

Here is an excerpt from Bob's song, "Blowin' in the Wind":

How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?

How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind
The answer is blowin' in the wind.