Dylan wins Nobel Prize in Literature

Inna:
There are many sublime lyrics. Too many to list. But to show just one of his many writing talents--- the depth of his ability to inhabit a foreign state of mind and write from that perspective, read the lyrics of "Every Grain of Sand" (google will do), a song written by a Jewish boy who turned Christian for a while (not sure if he still is). Can you imagine any artist who can switch religions, inhabit the new one for a short time and write about it with such grace?

Some songs are written meant to be sung pretty, others weren't-
Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Janis Joplin, Springsteen, & too many blues singers to name come to mind.
If I'm wanting to hear it pretty, I listen to Baez sing Dylan or Judy Collins sing Cohen.

Mapman, you forgot Louis Armstrong. In terms of influence alone, the rest of your list would not exist without Armstrong.

Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature.  Read his lyrics and his book, Chronicles Volume One and you'll see why. While his music helps put across his poetry (much as Elizabethan stagecraft helped convey Shakespeare's) his musical sensibilities are primitive, sometimes very effectively so. I don't see how this discussion veered off onto Dylan's vocal abilities or guitar skills. There is no Nobel Prize in guitar playing. If there were, Jeff Beck would win that.