Bob Dylan (L), Jack Nicholson (R)
GRAMMY Rewind: Watch Bob Dylan Accept His GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award In 1991
Bob Dylan has a long history of accepting awards in an offbeat fashion, but his acceptance of the GRAMMY Lifetime Achievement Award in 1991 has to be his most inscrutable—and memorable.
As a starstruck Jack Nicholson introduces him, a purple-suited, fedoraed Dylan anxiously undulates in place; when he receives the honor, he stares at it for several seconds, thought after incredulous thought flashing across his visage.
"Well, um, all right—yeah," he finally allows. "Well, my daddy, he didn't leave me too much, you know? He was a very simple man and he didn't leave me a lot. But what he did tell me was this. He did say, 'Son…' He said..." (An awkward silence, a few scattered giggles.) "He said so many things, you know?" (Uproarious laughter.)
The yuks don't last long. "He said, you know, it's possible to become so defiled in this world that your own mother and father will abandon you," Dylan deadpans. "And if that happens, God will always believe in your own ability to mend your own ways. Thank you!"
What did that paraphrase of Psalm 27:10 mean in the context of the GRAMMYs? Bob knows. Watch the classically weird and profound Dylan moment above and check out more GRAMMY Rewinds here.
