On This Day in 2004: Bob Dylan Honored by the University of St Andrews — And This Time, He Smiled
#BobDylan | June 23, 2004 | St Andrews, Scotland
On June 23, 2004, legendary singer-songwriter Bob Dylan walked quietly into the hallowed halls of the University of St Andrews, Scotland’s oldest university, not with a guitar or harmonica — but to accept an honorary doctorate in music.
The moment marked a rare public recognition of Dylan’s profound cultural and artistic impact, not just as a musician, but as a poet, thinker, and provocateur who had shaped generations. And unlike some earlier brushes with academia, this time… he seemed at ease.
🎓
A Legend Among Scholars
Dylan, now in his early sixties, was honored for his “outstanding contribution to musical and literary culture.” The ceremony took place in the university’s historic Younger Hall, where a full choir performed his classic “Blowin’ in the Wind.”
According to Professor Neil Corcoran, who was present at the event, Dylan was quietly gracious, even playful. He waited backstage accompanied by only two people, “both manifestly enjoying the occasion,” Corcoran recalled. As the choir sang, Dylan didn’t just endure the tribute — he listened intently, and even applauded.
When Corcoran joked, “Do you ever sing it like that?” Dylan smiled and replied, “I do, I do sing it like that.” Of course, Dylan never sang it like that — and the remark, dry and playful, felt like a rare compliment from the famously elusive artist.
🪶
A Stark Contrast to Princeton, 1970
This wasn’t the first time Dylan had received such an honor. Thirty-four years earlier, in June 1970, he had accepted an honorary degree from Princeton University — an experience that left him deeply unsettled.
That event became the subject of his cryptic song “Day of the Locusts,” where he described the ceremony as eerie and surreal:
“Darkness was everywhere, it smelled like a tomb… Sure was glad to get out of there alive.”
In his memoir, Chronicles: Volume One, Dylan later reflected that the Princeton moment forced him to confront his evolving public image — not as a rebel or outsider, but as someone being slowly absorbed by the establishment.
*“Every look and touch and scent of [the degree]
Be the first to comment