October 14, 2016

On October 13, the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden, awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in literature to the American composer, singer, and musician Bob Dylan “for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.” He became the first songwriter to win the award.

Nobel Prize medal (Credit: Nobel Foundation)

Dylan has been one of the most influential songwriters of the past 50 years. He called his early work “finger-pointing songs” aimed at what many people considered the wrongs of society. These early songs, often performed with acoustic guitar and harmonica, included “Blowin’ in the Wind” and “Masters of War” (both 1963) and “The Times They Are A-Changin’” (1964). These songs became anthems that helped galvanize the civil rights movement of the United States and captured the spirit of young American protesters who opposed the country’s involvement in the Vietnam War (1957-1975).

American singer, composer, and musician Bob Dylan won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature. Credit: © Valerie Wilmer, Camera Press/Redux Pictures

Dylan turned to electronic instruments in 1965, producing one of the greatest of all rock songs, “Like a Rolling Stone.” Dylan recorded many other popular songs, including “Mr. Tambourine Man” (1965), “Subterranean Homesick Blues” (1965), “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35″ (1966), “Just Like a Woman” (1966), “Lay Lady Lay” (1969), “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door” (from the soundtrack of the 1973 motion picture Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid), and “Tangled Up in Blue” (1975). Many other artists have recorded Dylan’s songs.

Dylan’s switch from acoustic to electronic music in 1965 angered some of his fans but won him many new ones. Dylan has shifted musical directions several times, such as turning to country music in the late 1960′s and Christian music in the early 1980′s. Today, Dylan continues to explore a variety of musical genres, drawing from folk, blues, country music, jazz, and early rock traditions.

Dylan was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 24, 1941. His real name was Robert Allen Zimmerman. After dropping out of the University of Minnesota in 1961, he moved to New York City to meet his idol, folk singer Woody Guthrie.

Dylan has won almost a dozen Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988. He won an Academy Award for his song “Things Have Changed” from the motion picture Wonder Boys (2000). Dylan received a Pulitzer Prize citation in 2008 for “his profound impact on popular music and American culture, marked by lyrical compositions of extraordinary poetic power.” He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, one of the nation’s highest civilian honors, in 2012.

Other World Book and Back in Time articles

• Popular music
• Back in Time: Popular music (1965)

January 28, 2014

Pete Seeger, one of America’s great troubadours, died on January 27 at the age of 94. Throughout his long career, Seeger performed his music for a wide range of audiences–children, college students, migrant workers, and presidents of the United States. He composed or helped compose such folk classics as “If I Had a Hammer” (1949), “Turn! Turn! Turn!” (1954), “Where Have All the Flowers Gone” (1961), and “Kisses Sweeter Than Wine” (1951). Seeger was also credited with popularizing “We Shall Overcome” in 1948, the song that became an anthem for the civil rights movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s. Seeger was a committed social activist, attacking racism, war, and the death penalty.

Seeger’s outspoken left-wing political opinions created controversy throughout much of his career. In 1955, Seeger refused to answer questions from the House Un-American Activities Committee regarding his political beliefs and associations. His refusal led to his conviction for contempt of Congress in 1961. An appeals court overturned the conviction in 1962, but for several years, Seeger was banned from network television appearances, and some organizations picketed his concerts.

Pete Seeger (Granger Collection)

Peter Seeger was born on May 3, 1919, in New York City. He became interested in folk music at a folk music festival in North Carolina 1935. He entered Harvard University in 1936 but left in 1938 and hitchhiked or rode freight trains around the country, singing and playing a long-necked, five-string banjo he designed. In 1940, Seeger helped organize the Almanac Singers. He gained increased popularity as a member of the Weavers quartet, founded in 1948 with Lee Hays, Ronnie Gilbert, and Fred Hellerman. The quartet recorded such hits as “Good Night Irene,” “Tzena, Tzena,” and “On Top of Old Smokey.”

Late in his career Seeger received many honors. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 as an early influence, and he was a Kennedy Center honoree in 1994. Seeger also received several Grammy Awards for his folk recordings.

Additional World Book articles:

• Alan Lomax
• Bob Dylan
• Bruce Springsteen
• Joni Mitchell
• Leadbelly
• Popular music
• Woody Guthrie