The Times They Are A Changin’
The Nobel Committee announced last week that the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature would go to Bob Dylan. Although many comments on the web were unfavorable, I feel the choice was a good one. Although the man himself was not blessed with the world’s best singing voice, the songs themselves are striking, meaningful and poignant. And, yes, poetic. And the success of his songs was due, more than anything else, to his lyrics. To illustrate the power of these lyrics, I’ll give one short excerpt, from Mr. Tambourine Man:
To dance beneath a diamond sky
With one hand waving free
Silhouetted by the sea
Circled by the circus sands
With all memory and fate
Driven deep beneath the waves
Let me forget about today until tomorrow.
>Pretty powerful lyrics, indeed! So, in the last analysis, I believe it was an excellent choice in Stockholm. But there is a side story here that’s worth mentioning.
>After the Nobel Committee announced their choice, it was reviewed in the VATICAN NEWSPAPER, no less! It seems that the L’Osservatore Romano, was UNHAPPY with the choice of Bob Dylan! Apparently, L’Osservatore felt that, while Mr. Dylan posses “great talent”, song lyrics should not be placed on equal footing with novels because, according to the Vatican, lyrics don’t require as much work and effort as novels do, and, in effect, are EASIER to produce.
>Doesn’t such a review strike anyone as STRANGE? Should the high offices of the Catholic faith be doing entertainment reviews? What’s next, a Papal review of Fast and Furious VIII? An analysis of X-Men?
>Now it’s not clear whether this review came directly from Pope Francis himself or from a staff writer. If it was from Pope Francis, we should ask whether it was “ex cathedra”. If so, the doctrine of Papal Infallibility, would certainly trump the Nobel Committee’s judgement, relegating Mr. Dylan to inferior status for eternity! If, instead, it was from a staff writer, it would appear, at the very least, that there has been quite an “evolution” in the Vatican culture of late. The times, certainly, ARE a changing!