Great posts, both dgarretson and Geoff, even if they come from divergent points of view. Though it’s true his lyrics were indeed considered almost the soundtrack for the counter-culture movement of the 1960’s, Dylan has stated (in the 60 Minutes interview with Ed Bradley I believe, as well as elsewhere. Perhaps in Chronicles Vol.1?) that he feels little connection with that culture. Though he was instrumental in it’s creation and development, he walked away from it in 1966 when he went into isolation in Woodstock, reappearing in ’68 with a Country music flavored album. Country, music of the "redneck" culture, the antithesis of the civil rights and counter-culture movements. Dylan was instrumental in the creation of not only the counter-culture, but also the counter-counter-culture! His partners in crime in that movement were The Band, who put a giant photograph of themselves surrounded by all their family members and relatives on the inside of the gatefold album cover of their 1968 debut album, Music From Big Pink. This at a time when the war between the generations was raging. They were having none of that.
Dylan’s speech at the Grammy Awards ceremony in which he accepted his Album Of The Year award (for Time Out Of Mind) is really, really funny. It is in typical somewhat abstract Dylan style, obtuse to those who don’t understand him. The point of the speech was that rewards (not awards) of this life may, if one allows them, corrupt one’s soul. The part starting with the line "Well, my Daddy, he didn’t leave me much....." is nothing less than spitting in the face of the Academy and it’s awards. It is a quite obvious reference to lines in the Bible, another thing that separates him from the generally atheistic belief base of the counter-culture and it’s members.