I bought Bob Dylan’s first album when it came out in the UK in 1962 and have subsequently bought most others over the years, so it’s fair to say I’m a fan even if sometimes a disappointed one. Anyway, his 80th birthday deserves a mention.

It took Bob ages to respond to the Nobel Prize offer and during that time when it seemed he might not accept I wrote No Belle For Bob (below). However, his speech, when it finally came, was eloquent and gracious. I reproduce an extract below:

‘Well, I’ve been doing what I set out to do for a long time, now. I’ve made dozens of records and played thousands of concerts all around the world. But it’s my songs that are at the vital center of almost everything I do. They seemed to have found a place in the lives of many people throughout many different cultures and I’m grateful for that.

But there’s one thing I must say. As a performer I’ve played for 50,000 people and I’ve played for 50 people and I can tell you that it is harder to play for 50 people. 50,000 people have a singular persona, not so with 50. Each person has an individual, separate identity, a world unto themselves. They can perceive things more clearly. Your honesty and how it relates to the depth of your talent is tried. The fact that the Nobel committee is so small is not lost on me.

But, like Shakespeare, I too am often occupied with the pursuit of my creative endeavors and dealing with all aspects of life’s mundane matters. “Who are the best musicians for these songs?” “Am I recording in the right studio?” “Is this song in the right key?” Some things never change, even in 400 years.

Not once have I ever had the time to ask myself, “Are my songs literature?”

It’s a question many critics have asked and which I for one say ‘yes’. If songwriting can ever be literature then Dylan’s songs (not all but many) must surely fall into that category. Much of his work is also rambling and inconsequential, but that’s because he is an innovator and always pushing boundaries and not everything is going to work. Nevertheless, he is without doubt head and shoulders above his peers, and certainly the most influential song writer since WWII.

My song is simply a compilation of song titles and certainly not worth any award, but it was fun to write.

 NO BELLE FOR BOB    Dylan’s Unacceptance speech

Hey Mr Nobel – afraid I must decline
Been standing at the gates of Eden, since the changing of the times.
Don’t need no rainy day woman, to see the man in me,
If you want somebody babe, no, no, no, it ain’t me – babe.

Hey Mr Nobel – there’ll be no belle for me,
It’s just one too many mornings, or a ballad in plain D,
For I threw it all away man just like a rolling stone,
In dreams of St Augustine – a long, long, way from home.

Hey Mr Nobel, still won’t work Maggie’s Farm,
And those visions of Johanna, ain’t going, going, gone.
Farewell Angelina, baby if not for you,
Call me the Jokerman all tangled up in blue.

Hey Mr Nobel, ain’t knockin’ on heaven’s door,
Yet nor am I with Isis, or your bloody masters of war.
All right ma I’m only bleeding, and I got the tombstone blues,
Don’t need no prize for literature, though it’s way, way, way overdue.

Hey Mr Nobel, can’t you see that old slow train?
You may have God on your side but I’ve got the hurricane.
Just one too many mornings makes me lonesome when you go,
Blowing in the wind around desolation row.

To hear track:

https://soundcloud.com/mauricebaker-1/no-belle-for-bob

Here’s my new book (£6.99 paperback or £1.99 e-book on Amazon) a collection of original animal-based stories, songs and poems, written over many years for all ages – some to inform or teach, but mostly just amuse and entertain. The animals featured include cats and dogs, rats and mice, chimps and gorillas, lions and tigers, camels, lizards, horses, magpies, bears and many others both real and mythical. If there is a theme it is to show life from the animal’s perspective, that their wisdom is often superior to our own. At a time when the natural world is threatened as never before, that isn’t a bad view to consider.

Animals have been used, abused, loved, hated, and even worshiped by humans for thousands of years. We depend on them for food, clothing, shelter, transport, medicine, sport and much more, so it’s no wonder they are woven into our culture as myths, legends, and folk tales, featured in numerous movies and TV shows, or used as corporate logos and in advertising, etc.

Often, animals are given human characteristics intended to teach lessons or point out some moral or other. Aesop’s Fables, Brer Rabbit and the Anansi tales are cases in point, though there are thousands more examples from around the world, and not meant just for kids.

In real life, of course, animals generally behave far better than we do, despite our use of words like ‘beast’, ‘swine’ and ‘dog’ as insults. Most animals do not kill unless necessary and even where cruelty occurs there is usually an instinctive survival mechanism at play. What’s more, animals would manage the natural world far better without us, given our poisoning and destruction of the environment with little or no thought for the consequences.

All poems, songs and stories are original, written over several years for both adults and young people. Most have not been published elsewhere, but a few are taken from previous works.

To hear songs from book click below:

https://soundcloud.com/mauricebaker-1/wild-animals