I had a feeling that this thread would eventually degenerate into irrelevances about Dylan inventing myths ("I ran away 14 times and got caught and brought back all but once"), etc. (What about Ramblin Jack - a Jewish middle class "cowboy" from NYC).

The important thing about Dylan, what makes him so great and so special, is simple: he has written far more big songs han anyone else. That is of course a matter of opinion but many share it.