And the Nobel prize for literature goes to ...

[Lee_M]

Linda Cosgrave kissed me
It almost made me sick
I wasn't even looking
oh what a beastly trick
Her mouth was wet and greasy
and her sticky little lips
were full of salt and vinegar
she'd been eating fish and chips
I told her she was yucky
and she went off in a huff
if that's what kissing girls is like
I'm going to be a puff


2017 Nobel Prize for Literature

 

[coffeejo]

Linda Cosgrave kissed me
It almost made me sick
I wasn't even looking
oh what a beastly trick
Her mouth was wet and greasy
and her sticky little lips
were full of salt and vinegar
she'd been eating fish and chips
I told her she was yucky
and she went off in a huff
if that's what kissing girls is like
I'm going to be a puff


2017 Nobel Prize for Literature

What's a puff?

 

[Lee_M]

What's a puff?

It's an inappropriate disparaging term used colloquially when the poem was written in about 1973.

But it's the only poem I can ever remember,

but it's still better than Dylan

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Linda Cosgrave kissed me
It almost made me sick
I wasn't even looking
oh what a beastly trick
Her mouth was wet and greasy
and her sticky little lips
were full of salt and vinegar
she'd been eating fish and chips
I told her she was yucky
and she went off in a huff
if that's what kissing girls is like
I'm going to be a puff


2017 Nobel Prize for Literature

And you rate that shite above...

Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a gypsy queen
Wiggle wiggle wiggle all dressed in green
Wiggle wiggle wiggle till the moon is blue
Wiggle till the moon sees you.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle in your boots and shoes
Wiggle wiggle wiggle you got nothing to loose
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a swarm of bees
Wiggle on your hands and knees.

Wiggle to the front wiggle to the rear
Wiggle till you wiggle right out of here
Wiggle till it opens wiggle till it shuts
Wiggle till it bites wiggle till it cuts.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a bowl of soap
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a rolling hoop
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a ton of lead
Wiggle you can raise the dead.

Wiggle till you're high wiggle till you're higher
Wiggle till you vomit fire
Wiggle till it whispers wiggle till it hums
Wiggle till it answers wiggle till it comes.

Wiggle wiggle wiggle like satin and silk
Wiggle wiggle wiggle like a pail of milk
Wiggle wiggle wiggle all rattle and shake
Wiggle like a big fat snake !

 

[Lee_M]

And you rate that shite above...

Wiggle (snipped loads of tripe)

Seems about the same rating to me

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Seems about the same rating to me

Seriously though do you not at least acknowledge that he might have strung a few words together into something remotely resembling a half decent lyric?

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I'm with @srw here. I think Dylan is great at what he does (or has been great, over a long period that was now some time ago). However, I wouldn't call what he did primarily 'literature'. What he does is popular songwriting and performance. He has certainly been partly responsible for the making the popular song into an art form, but that's not only about 'writing', before we get on to the question of whether all 'writing' is 'literature' or whether Dylan is really a poet. I don't think he is, or at least if he is, then he's not a great one. Without his words being thought of as lyrics, as part elements of a song, they don't stand up on their own, including the one @User cited, even if it is about St Augustine... If there was a Nobel Prize for Song or Popular Music, then I'd be delighted for him. And it's not that I'm not offended by the choice or anything like that, I just think it's a misguided attempt at populism by the Committee, when there were great writers like Ismail Kadare who had been floated this year.

And yes, I am also just 'some bloke on the Internet', but what this means is that my argument stands or falls on its own merits. It is, in that sense, no different from that of any member of the Committee.

 

[dellzeqq]

I'm surprised he got the nod ahead of Fairport Convention

I'm surprised he got it ahead of Morrisey, or Bernie Taupin, or Smokey Robinson, or John Prine or Jackson Browne, or Gillian Welch, or anybody.

Don't get me wrong - I love the songs, but they're really not a lot more than mawkish doggerel. Great mawkish doggerel, but, still and all..........

I invite you to recite 'Lay Lady Lay' without having to curl your toes.

 

[User169]

And it's not that I'm not offended by the choice or anything like that, I just think it's a misguided attempt at populism by the Committee, when there were great writers like Ismail Kadare who had been floated this year.

Sighs of relief in arts sections of newspapers all around the world. Many years it must be "Where can we find someone that's actually read any of this persons work?".

 

[threebikesmcginty]

It's only when the Nobel bunch do anything slightly away from the norm that people remember they actually exist, Bobby don't need a Nobel but they probably need him, or people like him.

 

[Haitch]

I invite you to recite 'Lay Lady Lay' without having to curl your toes.

Especially as it should be 'Lie, Lady, Lie'.

 

[dellzeqq]

Especially as it should be 'Lie, Lady, Lie'.

I've just found it.....

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Whatever colors you have in your mind
I'll show them to you and you'll see them shine.

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day, let me see you make him smile
His clothes are dirty but his hands are clean
And you're the best thing that he's ever seen.

Stay, lady, stay, stay with your man awhile
Why wait any longer for the world to begin
You can have your cake and eat it too
Why wait any longer for the one you love
When he's standing in front of you.

Lay, lady, lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead
I long to see you in the morning light
I long to reach for you in the night
Stay, lady, stay, stay while the night is still ahead.
.....

 

[Levo-Lon]

Good ole Bob..he wont give a toss , he has wrote some brilliant songs

 

[Smokin Joe]

It's a travesty that Dylan got the award while people like Jeffery Archer and Jackie Collins are yet again ignored.

 

[MarquisMatsugae]

John Prine

This'll do fine.
Particularly good when singing with Iris DeMent.