Big Pink Lad - You are an odd fellow. You've just quoted an original song lyric, by Bob Dylan, written around 1974...and a wretchedly piss poor and vague imitation of it which was "written" (by 3 people!!!) and performed at a much later date and sung by Rod Stewart.

The Dylan lyric is economical, well crafted, and has some fine phrases in it.

"May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift." is a particularly neat couple of lines.

The Rod Stewart song is one of the most blatant and shoddy attempts I have ever seen to remake an existing song without even acknowledging it. They must have figured everyone had forgotten the Dylan song when they did that. It in no way resembles the Dylan song musically. That it does resemble it lyrically is largely due to the fact that they were so shamelessly ripping off lines from the original that they might as well have just run it through Babelfish about 4 times (English-German-Swedish-English), then cut the result up with a pair of scissors, and remixed the pieces at random, and then made up about 5 more lines just so they could say they did something! It's clumsy. It sucks. It's a joke.

I've played the Dylan song about a hundred times or so. I would be embarrassed to play the Rod Stewart song. They are NOT the same song.

But go ahead, man...just tell yourself it is the same song, and your ego can go safely to bed tonight saying, "As usual, I was right again, as I always am."

Hey, I will even pay you a buck not to play the Rod Stewart one if we ever meet!

Bill - Perhaps Bob was imbued with the careless arrogance of youth so common in those days. We actually (many of us) thought we were in a war against the older generation, and that honesty and truth were ours alone to hold! We felt so noble. Does anyone else remember just how arrogant many of us were at the time about being young? I do. It's a bit embarrassing in retrospect, but it has ever been so. Every young generation seems to go through a stage when they have little or no respect for their elders. I guess maybe they need that to get out of the nest. Anyway, it's not surprising, considering what a youngster is subjected to, against his will (like the whole school gulag we are forced into, the political system, the money game, the fame game, the utter nonsense of it all). Later on, we get a different take on the whole thing. We sober up. I guess Bob sobered up too, after a bit. After all, he had 5 kids to raise. That can sober you up soon enough. You begin to realize that your parents simply did the best they knew how...same as you. And they suffered...same as you.

Bob wrote a song about that. It's called "Tears of Rage". It speaks eloquently of the sorrow of parents who are regected and cast aside by their children, shunted off to the dusty corners of life, incarcerated in old age homes. He got it. He wrote that song in '68, when he was only about 27, married and raising his children. He had definitely moved past the arrogance of youth by then.

"Tears of Rage"

We carried you in our arms
On Independence Day,
And now you'd throw us all aside
And put us on our way.
Oh what dear daughter 'neath the sun
Would treat a father so,
To wait upon him hand and foot
And always tell him, "No"?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Why must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so alone
And life is brief.

We pointed out the way to go
And scratched your name in sand,
Though you just thought it was nothing more
Than a place for you to stand.
Now, I want you to know that while we watched,
You discover there was no one true.
Most ev'rybody really thought
It was a childish thing to do.
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so low
And life is brief.

It was all very painless
When you went out to receive
All that false instruction
Which we never could believe.
And now the heart is filled with gold
As if it was a purse.
But, oh, what kind of love is this
Which goes from bad to worse?
Tears of rage, tears of grief,
Must I always be the thief?
Come to me now, you know
We're so low
And life is brief.

Copyright © 1968; renewed 1996 Dwarf Music

Here's an interesting link about the Tom Paine speech:

Dylan's acceptance of Tom Paine award, etc..

He explains himself in a letter at the end. People were reacting to what they thought he meant. They did not get what he meant. They just reacted to the first thought that hit their minds. That happens a lot...which is why you have to be damned careful what you say in public. Specially when you are well known.