I saw Dylan in 1962 and marveled that this skinny, weird-looking little Bobby Zimmerman fellow from Hibbing, Minnesota, who couldn't sing a lick, was getting all this hype. He found a great gimmick with which to market himself; the shabby, down-at-the-heels garb and enigmatic and aloof demeanor, not to mention the adopting of Dylan Thomas' first name.

He was, and is, artfully mysterious and reticent. His poetry, in the form of his earliest songs, was markedly off-beat and, at times, beautifully written. But, with rare exceptions, he wasn't really ever a folk singer in the way Joan Baez was. He wasn't interpreting Child ballads, for example, nor terribly interested in the whole genre, for that matter. He was a composer of songs and a performer who created a gimmick and a persona - and a musical style and lyrics that resonated with young people at the onset of a time of social change in America. Whether he was actually instrumental in fueling that change, or merely pandering to a trend he foresaw is arguable.

As to comparisons with Baez, I have to say it is an "apples and oranges" argument. I have liked, and even performed, a few of his songs. I have never been an admirer, but have to give him his due for hanging around this long and influencing so many.