Bob Dylan Gives His Nobel Prize Lecture Just Before Deadline

Legendary rocker produces 4,000-word speech recorded in 27-minute video.

June 6, 2017 1:04 pm
Bob Dylan Releases His Nobel Prize Lecture at the Last Minute
Bob Dylan (The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

Well, that was close. Bob Dylan had six months to produce a lecture for the Nobel Prize he won for literature, and he did so in perfect rock star style—sending it at the last minute.

(The prize was handed out on Dec. 10, which would make the deadline this Saturday.)

The lecture also happened to be the lone requirement for him receiving the $900,000 in prize money.

As noted by The New York Times, the lecture is just over 4,000 words in length, and was also recorded by Dylan on the video above. Clocking in at just over 27 minutes, the recording showcases Dylan’s lyricism. Dylan goes about searching for the connections between his body of work and literature—a point that some critics wondered out loud about when the prize was originally handed out. Of course, he never explicitly says what these connections are, but you’ll get a good idea of where he’s coming from by just listening to his words—which are set to soft jazz music.

Take a listen to his reasons above.

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