You'd be surprised, "Bob", what I know about Mr Dylan after a lifetime of very keen interest in him and his works. I'm not going to waste my time explaining how and why, because it would be a kind of long story.

Yes, I did live in the USA during the civil rights struggle and most of the Vietnam War.

The atrocities committed by the South Vietnamese would never have happened in the first place if the USA had not gone in there with CIA and military people even before the French pulled out, because the frikkin' Catholic South Vietnamese corrupt joke of a USA puppet government would never even have come into being in the first place, and there would have been NO Vietnam War after the French left. Vietnam was one country before the French, it was one country during the French colonial rule, and it would have been one country afterward if the CIA and the US military had left it bloody well ALONE and allowed national elections to occur (as was planned and agreed upon on paper) after the French left! They chose not to. They chose to divide that country and prevent those elections from occuring. They and the Vietnamese people paid the price. At least a million people died in that war for absolutely nothing...except to get the USA out of that country.

It is now one country again.

Regarding the 2 songs: "Forever Young" by Dylan was written and recorded in '74. Here's the lyric:

May God bless and keep you always,
May your wishes all come true,
May you always do for others
And let others do for you.
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous,
May you grow up to be true,
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you.
May you always be courageous,
Stand upright and be strong,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy,
May your feet always be swift,
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift.
May your heart always be joyful,
May your song always be sung,
May you stay forever young,
Forever young, forever young,
May you stay forever young.


"Forever Young" as recorded by Rod Stewart a decade or so later was written, supposedly, by him and 2 other people. Here are the lyrics:

May the good lord be with you
Down every road you roam
And may sunshine and happiness
Surround you when youre far from home
And may you grow to be proud
Dignified and true
And do unto others
As youd have done to you
Be courageous and be brave
And in my heart youll always stay
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young

May good fortune be with you
May your guiding light be strong
Build a stairway to heaven
With a prince or a vagabond

And may you never love in vain
And in my heart you will remain
Forever young, forever young
Forever young, forever young
Forever young
Forever young

And when you finally fly away
Ill be hoping that I served you well
For all the wisdom of a lifetime
No one can ever tell

But whatever road you choose
Im right behind you, win or lose
Forever young, forever young
Forever young ,forever young
Forever young, forever young
For, forever young, forever young


Now, as you can see, there's more than a passing resemblance between the lyrics, but the Dylan lyric is far better organized in a structural sense, and its got a bit more content. Anyone who knows the 2 songs well, and I do, can hardly escape noticing that the Rod Stewart song is a deliberate imitation of the Dylan song. It's not a direct copy of it, but it is an imitation, and not a very good one.

If you're going to imitate a song that closely, you might as well at least do a good job while you're at it. I think the people who wrote the Rod Stewart one figured that 95% of the public wouldn't even remember the Dylan one...and they're probably right about that. After all, the attention span is getting pretty short out there these days.