Bob Dylan was awarded America’s highest civilian award, the Medal of Freedom earlier today (May 29, 2012).
Bob Dylan
As reported by Noise11.com earlier, Dylan was presented the Medal at The White House by the President of the United States, Barack Obama.
At the presentation, the President said, “Bob Dylan started out singing other people’s songs. But, as he says, “There came a point where I had to write what I wanted to say, because what I wanted to say, nobody else was writing.” So born in Hibbing, Minnesota — a town, he says, where “you couldn’t be a rebel — it was too cold” — (laughter) — Bob moved to New York at age 19. By the time he was 23, Bob’s voice, with its weight, its unique, gravelly power was redefining not just what music sounded like, but the message it carried and how it made people feel. Today, everybody from Bruce Springsteen to U2 owes Bob a debt of gratitude. There is not a bigger giant in the history of American music. All these years later, he’s still chasing that sound, still searching for a little bit of truth. And I have to say that I am a really big fan. (Laughter.)”
“I remember reading “Song of Solomon” when I was a kid and not just trying to figure out how to write, but also how to be and how to think. And I remember in college listening to Bob Dylan and my world opening up because he captured something that — about this country that was so vital”.
In total, 13 recipients received the award at the White House today. Amongst them, astronaut John Glenn, Toni Morrison, the first African American to receive a Nobel Prize and Madeleine Albright, the first female Secretary of State.
Bob Dylan has finished work on his 35th album. The album, due in September, will contain at 14 minute epic about Titanic.
