STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
When Bob Dylan was once honored back in the 1960s, he was asked by a reporter if he saw himself as a singer or a poet. And he responded, I think of myself as more of a song and dance man. As of today, Bob Dylan is a singing, dancing Nobel laureate.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN'")
BOB DYLAN: (Singing) And you better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone. Oh, the times, they are a-changin'.
INSKEEP: Dylan was awarded that honor by the Nobel Committee. He's always had that voice - Unbearable to some but powerful in expression because of what he had to say - sometimes poetry, sometimes stream of consciousness, always making you think.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "A HARD RAIN'S A-GONNA FALL")
DYLAN: (Singing) And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.