Popeye's influence on our times can hardly be overrated, Bill. ;-) He was an unsung zen master.

Slag, you said: "if you are looking for salvation, I would look beyond Dylan"

I do, my good sir! I definitely do look beyond Dylan! Dylan is just a stepping stone on the way, a road sign as it were, but not the final one.

Steve and Ed, I think you may be taking my remarks about Mr Dylan just a tad too seriously.... ;-)

Yes, his early performing accent was definitely derived from Woody Guthrie, and he drew more than a little inspiration from Ramblin' Jack Elliot too, as well as from a whole host of old Blues singers like Blind Willie McTell, Robert Johnson, etc. It wasn't until about '64 or '65 that Bob started really finding his own unique sound, and it came to fruition in the 3 electric albums in '65 and '66, by which time he'd pretty much left his seminal influences like Guthrie and Ramblin' Jack behind.

I have a CD here of Woody Guthrie's best known songs. It's interesting, good to listen to, but I think Bob improved on Woody's style in his early records, because he added more bite and energy to it. The Guthrie stuff sounds a bit subdued in comparison.

Now, Ramblin' Jack...it would be hard to improve on Ramblin' Jack in his prime. He was a very good acoustic performer.

The reason I mentioned Bob Dylan as one of the 3 great influences on how we speak was:

1. a joke

2. a half-serious joke nonetheless, because one very frequently sees or hears Dylan quoted by politicians, entertainment people, newspaper articles, etc....therefore he is, in fact, a rather big cultural influence on our times.

and

3. because I enjoy talking about Mr Dylan regardless. ;-)

If this causes you annoyance, all I can suggest is...umm...I don't know, maybe kick your guitar stand over or something. But don't kick the dog! That would be bad karma.