Back in the 60s there were any number of politicians who would
have been delighted to hang something on Bob Dylan–and they tried, oh, HOW they tried! Back then it would have been hard to imagine that when a president finally got a chance to hang something on Dylan it would be the Medal of Freedom. The times they have-a changed. At least in some ways.
At the ceremony last night, President
Obama said, "There is not a bigger giant in the history of American
music," and that the "unique gravel-y power" of Dylan’s voice
helped define "not just what music sounded like, but the message it
carried and how it made people feel."
When it was announced that Dylan would be
one of the year’s recipients the White House issued a statement saying that the
rock 'n' roll icon had "considerable influence on the civil rights
movement of the 1960s and has had significant impact on American culture over
the past five decades."
To which I say: You bet your boots!
