The Nobel Committee Got it Right

Awarding the Nobel Prize for Literature to Bob Dylan was exactly the right thing to do.  He's a great singer-songwriter, whose songs touched millions and influenced generations of musicians and composers.  He richly deserved the prize.  Equally important, the Nobel Committee recognized that literature isn't just a dry, narrowly defined collection of dusty texts appreciated only by tweedy, dust-covered obscurants.  It's an organic, dynamic concept that evolves and grows over time.  Stories are told in many ways and today's troubadours are among the modern world's best story tellers.  There's a lot of literature to be found in smoke-filled bars smelling of stale beer and cut rate whiskey, a lot of story telling set to the simple chord progressions of the blues and rock and roll.  The Nobel Committee could have a great time selecting future prize winners from the vast literature of popular music, rocking out instead of plowing through another snoozer of a book.

Who might be eligible for the Prize in today's new, expanded literature?  There are plenty of potential nominees.  How about:

Bill Haley and His Comets.  Rock Around the Clock was the song that start the rock and roll revolution.

B.B. King.  The King of the Blues brought the blues out of the honky tonks into the larger world.  Sweet Sixteen is one of his finest ballads.

The Rolling Stones.  Among the greatest of the rock and roll literati, the Stones give us so many choices.  Honky Tonk Women is a gem.

Mountain.  The Nobel Committee sometimes looks at works of the less well-known.  One of the hardest rocking bands of the 60's and 70's was Mountain, four guys who created a bigger sound than ten other guys could and inspired generations of hard rockers to follow.  Their best song is Mississippi Queen.