"Dylan is not much of an inspiration to anyone trying to write melodies and Suzanne Vega is incomparably worse."

That's an interesting point - something I was thinking about myself recently. To an extent it's a bit of a red herring as far as Dylan's concerned, because I don't think he was ever massively interested in writing particularly ambitious melodies. Dylan's at his best for me when he's at his closest to his most elemental influences: country blues, Sun Studios-era rock'n'roll, and Guthrie-style balladry. The best Dylan songs only have about 3 chords. It's all about lyrics, the voice, the sound.

Suzanne Vega, on the other hand, I've just never understood at all. If you're gonna do folk/pop you've gotta have tunes, and I've never really heard one from her. The best song I ever heard from her was that dance remix of 'Tom's Diner'.