He reflects on the sense in which his songs can be construed as literature. He discusses the three literary works that have left the biggest impression on him: Moby Dick, All Quiet on the Western Front, and The Odyssey. (Who knew? Has anyone noticed the influence of any of these works before?)
His whole speech–required to receive the $923,000 prize–is a literary performance in itself. An excerpt, bringing together imagery and lines from the folk music tradition:
“You know that Stagger Lee was a bad man, and that Frankie was a good girl, you know that Washington is a bourgeois town and you heard the deep-pitched voice of John the Revelator and you saw the Titanic sink in a boggy creek and you’re pals with the wild Irish rover and the wild colonial boy. You heard the muffled drums, the fifes that played lowly, you’ve seen the lusty Lord Donald stick a knife in his wife, and a lot of your comrades have been wrapped in white linen.”
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