Sandy, I like to think it's possible to enrich both your pocketbook and your soul. This may be an illusion, but I'd like to hang onto it anyway.

Dylan always seems to inspire strong feelings in people. Lots of people don't like his singing, and many feel he has too much "attitude". I also think that some folks resent his success, and there may be a touch of animosity lingering from his treasonous behavior at Newport. For myself, I love his voice, which I find very expressive, and find no fault with his attitude. He "made it big," and he pursued his own vision, and offers no apologies for either. There are a number of other singers and songwriters out there who would have liked to succeed as he has, but didn't. That doesn't mean they were more virtuous than he was, as comforting as that thought might be.

I love simple folk melodies, but let's be honest -- a lot of these tunes are pretty similar when you come right down to it, and it's sometimes hard to tell where one diatonic scale/three chord folk tune ends and another begins. In my humble opinion people should stop worrying about Dylan's use of building blocks from other songs -- unless and until he tries to prevent others from using the same building blocks he has used. If anyone has any evidence that he has tried to stop other people from borrowing tunes as he has, I'd love to hear it.