Interesting thoughts here--Susan Rotolo, who might know better than anyone what Dylan had in mind at the time that he wrote it, said that she understood why Van Ronk and Spoelstra might be upset about P. 4thSt.
Larry--The animosity that Dylan felt seems very deep, though he was once close to Phil, I am told that he never sent any condolences to the family after his death, and that he never dignified the invitations to play at Phil's Memorial with any response at all. If it was jealousy, it was one of the extreme cases!!
Judging by the quality of stuff he was writing in the last part of his career--"Chords of Fame" "Jim Dean of Indiana" and "Tape from California", he was way better than Dylan at growing, changing as a songwriter, and, especially, at anticipating where music was going--