Le temps, they are a-changin.'

Bob Dylan, previously considered unworthy of France's highest award, the Legion d'Honneur, by at least some members of its council, has been nominated for the Legion's Chevalier rank.

Grand chancellor Jean-Louis Georgelin said in a statement sent to the newspaper Le Monde that Dylan is a "tremendous singer and great poet" and an "exceptional artist." While Georgelin declined to comment on why Dylan's nomination was initially tossed, speculation among French media is that it was over his opposition to the Viet Nam War, and possibly pot smoking.

Dylan has recently been anointed with two prestigious American honors. He was inducted into the U.S. Academy of Arts and Letters last month, and was awarded the Presidnetial Medal of Freedom, the country's higest civilian award, last year.

If he wins the French award, he will join generals George S. Patton and Mike Mullen, Miles Davis, Julia Child, Toni Morrison, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis and Jerry Lewis, among other Americans so bestowed.