DOWNSTREAM FROM DYLAN
                                        Words by Arya Guthrie
Tune: sorta like a cross between "Star of the County Down" and"The Parting Glass."


Oh I tried to write a song for you
Brilliant funny and kind and true
But nothing seemed to be coming through
Downstream from Dylan again.

        Downstream from Dylan again again
        Throw away my pad and my trusty pen
        For each song I catch, he catches ten
        Downstream from Dylan again.

Oh I sat by a stream the whole day long
But now at last I know what's wrong
That sleazy slimeball swiped my song
Downstream from Dylan again.

        Why must he always steal my stuff?
        You'd think that he'd have songs enough
        So I cursed at him and he yelled back "Tough!"
        Downstream from Dylan again.

So here I sit alone and blue
While he's on Youtube the whole day through
As he sings my song in Kalamazoo*
Downstream from Dylan again.

        But I won't let him destroy my dream
        Or wound my hard-earned self-esteem
        Gonna move five hundred years upstream
        And snag them suckers again.

Downstream from Dylan no more no more
I can see the light on the far-off shore
By Friday night I'll have songs galore
Downstream from Dylan no more.

*originally 'Katmandu','but that's only funny for people who know about Dylan's worldwide "endless tour."

Arlo Guthrie says that songwriting is like fishing: you bait your hook, sit down at the edge of a clear-flowing stream, and hope you snag whatever drifts by.
"But whatever you do," says Arlo, "Never sit downstream from Bob Dylan."

I made this up in Danny Carnahan's songwriting class at Lark Camp.
Each night around 2 am, I'd walk up the road towards my car, trying to meld the words with the Irish tunes I'd been hearing all night.
(HT)