Bob Dylan awarded Medal of Freedom. What does that say about US?
President Obama awarded Bob Dylan the coveted Presidential Medal of Freedom on Tuesday. Twelve other deserving Americans got the medals, too 鈥� as we wrote yesterday, US presidents can give them to anyone they want. But we鈥檙e focusing on Dylan today because he seems to have attracted the most attention of the awardees 鈥� and because there鈥檚 something about his prize we believe has been overlooked.
No, it鈥檚 not the sunglasses he wore to the ceremony. Lots of folks have commented on those. Nor is it his overall demeanor. We鈥檒l agree he seemed uncomfortable, like a boy forced to wear a suit and stand up in front of strangers, if that boy were over 70 years old and had written more immortal songs than anyone alive in the US today.
It鈥檚 this: Bob Dylan is the first rock and roll star to win the Medal of Freedom. Ever. As far as we can tell.
We admit we鈥檙e creating some arbitrary definitions here so that we can make this statement. First, is Mr. Dylan a rocker, per se? He started as a folkie, went electric, and now has settled into a kind of bard-like phrase, where he reinterprets old blues tunes and Confederate poems and things like that. What he really is, is a musical magpie.
鈥淭here is not a bigger giant in the history of American music,鈥� said Mr. Obama, when hanging the medal around Dylan鈥檚 neck.
Anyway, called Dylan a 鈥渞ock and roll pioneer鈥� in their story on the award.聽 That鈥檚 good enough for us. Even if it鈥檚 a publication whose name came from a Dylan song.
Second, we鈥檙e labeling B.B. King a blues guitarist. Bill Clinton awarded Mr. King a Medal of Freedom in 2006.
Yes, King is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But his nickname is 鈥淜ing of the Blues,鈥� so that鈥檚 what we鈥檙e going with. Mr. Clinton also gave Aretha Franklin the award, in 2005, but we feel safe in saying she鈥檚 not rocker either.
After them, the popular musicians who have won the Presidential Medal of Freedom are mostly from eras past. They are singers such as Frank Sinatra (1985) and bandleaders such as Count Basie (1985). Presidents have also bestowed the award on many classical musicians, such as Pablo Casals (1963) and Van Cliburn (2003).
Given all this, we think Dylan鈥檚 award says something about the country as well as Dylan himself. The tumultuous political and musical era in which Dylan became a generation鈥檚 bard is now far enough in the past to be safely memorialized.
We鈥檙e not sure that Dylan himself, as an artist, would be happy about that. 鈥淪afe" isn鈥檛 something he ever set out to be. Maybe that accounts for the slightly strained look he had in the East Room yesterday.
Of course, to a certain extent he looks that way on stage too. Until he starts to sing.
