Hey Winston Smith thanks for positive comment.  It’s authentic.  It’s based on your “lived experience”.

 That’s the criterion of truth for the woke left!  

Seriously, it’s of interest to hear your own Dylan story.  Yes, I guess one’s age, to a certain extent, determines how this story goes. That’s how you explained it. “Too young to hear him in his early stage”  But now old enough to appreciate the full depth & span of his lyrics & singer-songwriting.

As for this ole man, I became hooked on Dylan in 1969.  I was then a young engineer working for the Oil & Gas Division of Australia’s largest mining company, BHP.  

I flew to Adelaide for the weekend to see my younger brother, who was working as a young exploration geologist for an American copper mining giant called ASARCO.  

Anyway to cut a long story story short, 4 young blokes met and went for a walk in the park after having a joint.   It was all new to me then. Remember that was back in the year of Woodstock.  It was in the midst of the Vietnam War.  

That evening, after a meal together, the 4 of us young blokes sat on the floor with our backs against the wall in an unfurnished and darkened room of an old rented house.  In front of us, sitting on a wooden chair, was one of those little portable record players that every student had in his room in those days, with his or her collection of 33 rpm LP records.  The young supervising geologist then started playing Dylan records.  

We sat there with our eyes closed and, in a mood of heightened awareness, soaked up the songs entering our ears.   It was like a religious experience. I’ve been hooked on Dylan ever since.  That’s 57 years.  Christ, I must be getting old. 

I can understand Dylan’s reticence in accepting the Nobel Prize for Literature, on my birthday as it turns out, in 2016. 

Clearly his music & songs were not made for fortune & fame, but rather done because he was born an artist.  

Maybe that’s a bit like a bloke being born gay.  There’s not a lot they can do to change their nature that has been dished out to them at birth. 

Regarding the Nobel Prize, Dylan would realize this meant nothing. His artistry was no doubt created independently and spontaneously, not done primarily for external judgement.   

He might have realized the Nobel Committee is a corrupt political organization.  This is evidenced by the award to Obama of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, to give him the legitimacy to do bombing & regime change in Libya, 2 years later in 2011.  

It is also evidenced by the award of the same Nobel prize to the exiled Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado in October 2025, to give legitimacy to the U.S. regime change operation against Venezuela 3 months later, in January 2026.   

I would not be surprised if AIPAC money influenced the Nobel committee, to give Dylan the coveted prize.  Remember Dylan put out the song Neiborhood Bully on his Infidels album that came out in November 1983. .  

Excuse my cynicism, but I must be getting old. 

https://youtu.be/mlvDXl0CM2k?si=98kPNzqCVNpn5_uR

In the recent biopic movie about Bob Dylan "A Complete Unknown" - there is a scene where Joan Baez says to Bob: "You know Bob, you're a bit of an asshole" - or something to that effect. Now, it's interesting in light of the fact that Dylan was closely involved in both the script writing and direction of this movie. We must therefore assume that he approved these lines.

It's interesting because there are many aspects of Bob Dylan's life history that do indeed indicate that he has been "a bit of an asshole". I will enumerate a few:

1. He repudiated his early anti-war leftist groupies when he wrote Maggie's Farm and stopped associating with anti-war protestors including Joan Baez.
2. He repudiated the folk music scene when he insisted on playing electric guitar at the '65 Newport Folk Festival.
3. He repudiated his entire generation when he refused to perform at the Woodstock Festival in '69 despite being a resident of Woodstock at the time and actually left the country to perform at the Isle of Wight while the festival was in progress.
4. He repudiated many people in his life symbolically in his songs like "Postively 4th Street" and "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Maggie's Farm".
5. He refused to attend his own Nobel Prize award ceremony in 2016.

These are just reflections. No judgement intended.

"You know Bob, you're a bit of an asshole"

Yes, it's clear that the boy named Robert, son of Mr & Mrs Zimmerman of Hibbing, Minnesota, and born on 24 May 1941, was always a little different. 

What actually is an asshole?

For one stab at an answer, see a Sep 9, 2025 post made to Fifth Estate Express headed TAXONOMY OF ASSHOLES.

It grappled with this question, in the light of Australian anti discrimination law & corporate HR departments heading in the direction of making neurodiversity into another protected attribute.

TAXONOMY OF ASSHOLES 
[Post brought to you by 5th Estate Press - the Citizen Journalism Platform]
https://5ep.net/posts/status-2025090937761
 
No judgement intended.