BBC names 12 more songwriters worthy of the Nobel Prize in Literature as Bob Dylan wins

US singer Bob Dylan has been awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize for Literature, becoming the first songwriter to win the prestigious award.

The 75-year-old rock legend received the prize "for having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition".

The balladeer, artist and actor is the first American to win since novelist Toni Morrison in 1993.

Best known as a folk singer, the 75-year-old Dylan cruised past prominent US novelists of his age range such as Don DeLillo and Philip Roth -- to say nothing of late, quintessentially 1960s writers such as Jack Kerouac -- to be the first American to win literature's most prestigious prize in more than two decades.

Dylan's other honours include the Presidential Medal of Freedom he received in 2012. Photo: AFP

Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in 1941 and began his musical career in Minnesota before heading for New York.

Much of his best-known work dates from the 1960s, when he became an informal historian of America's troubles.

Blowin' in the Wind and The Times They are A-Changin' were among anthems of the anti-war and civil rights movements.

His move away from traditional folk songwriting, paired with a controversial decision to "go electric" proved equally influential.

Few experts, though, expected the academy to extend the award to a genre such as folk rock music.

Former Poet Laureate Sir Andrew Motion is among those to have previously praised Dylan's lyrics, saying his songs "work as poems".

"They have often extremely skilful rhyming aspects to them," he told the BBC. "They're often the best words in the best order."

Books by and about US songwriter Bob Dylan who was announced the laureate of the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature are displayed at the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, Sweden. Photo: AFP

What makes a man who has only ever written three books a suitable winner of the Nobel Prize for literature?

Bob Dylan arguably made the lyrics more important than the music.

The result also demonstrates a real change for the prize. In 112 years, no songwriter has ever won before.

The decision elevates song lyrics to being on a critical par with literature, poetry and playwriting. It's a big step away from the self-perpetuating intellectualism and elitism for which the award had been criticised.

Sara Danius, permanent secretary of the Swedish Academy, said Dylan had been chosen because he was "a great poet in the English speaking tradition".

"For 54 years now he's been at it reinventing himself, constantly creating a new identity," she told reporters in Stockholm.She argues: “If you look far back... you discover Homer and Sappho. They wrote poetic texts that were meant to be listened to, performed, often together with instruments, and it’s the same way for Bob Dylan. We still read Homer and Sappho, and we enjoy it. Same thing with Bob Dylan – he can be read and should be read.”

Now that the remit has widened, which other songwriters deserve the honour? Here are some suggestions.

Smokey Robinson

Smokey Robinson. Photo: bbc.com

Whether or not Dylan really called Smokey Robinson “America’s greatest living poet”, his exquisite songwriting has become a benchmark of the classic soul canon and beyond. Aside from his own sweetly-sung Motown hits with The Miracles (The Tracks Of My Tears; I Second That Emotion), Robinson penned finely-tuned killer tracks for the likes of The Temptations (My Girl; Get Ready), The Marvelettes (The Hunter Gets Captured By The Game), Marvin Gaye (Ain’t That Peculiar), and many more. And Paul McCartney definitely did say: “Smokey Robinson was like God in our eyes”.

Morrissey

Morrissey. Photo: bbc.com

The bleakly beautiful paeans and acid ripostes of this Manchester indie anti-hero have seized the hearts of generations, from The Smiths’ classics including There Is A Light That Never Goes Out and This Charming Man to Morrissey’s solo hits such as Everyday Is Like Sunday (1988). Admittedly, Moz is more likely to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for his song lyrics than his fiction effort, the widely-panned 2015 novella List Of The Lost.

Kate Bush

Kate Bush. Photo:bbc.com

Ever since Kate Bush’s youthful breakthrough with Wuthering Heights in 1978, her lyrics have had a consciously literary character. Whether she is channeling Emily Brontë or James Joyce, or spinning purely from her own imagination, from 1985’s Cloudbusting to 2005’s King Of The Mountain, Bush is an extraordinary, vivid storyteller.

Besides the singers above, Chuck D, Caetano Veloso,Gulzar,Patti Smith,Joni Mitchell,Nick Cave,Kanye West,Leonard Cohen,Stephen Sondheim are also in the list.

(APD)