Well, he could credit it. But doesn't that slightly spoil the effect he gets with them? I don't think anyone hears the songs and thinks, how interesting, these stories about a Japanese gangster life. The whole charm of the lines for me is that they come from nowhere, feel real for a moment, but don't build on it, or try to go anywhere, like real numbers that don't bother to add up.

   Gogol's plays mention characters offstage, who in any other play would come walking on in a minute, but in his that's all. They live that provisional life for a moment when they come up, then go on with their imaginary lives. Sometimes they live only within a metaphor that goes on so long it forgets what it was about (the men in black topcoats milling around in front of the building /like flies/ around an open window where the old maid Marva has set pies to cool on a hot summer day when the soldiers etc.) and it asks the question Why is he telling us this? It's playful and striking. That's similar to what I enjoy about those few Dylan songs.

   Anyway, I can't stone Dylan, since I rewrote some those songs, intentionally trying to steal the effect I get from them but in the voice of a kid. The new grove of trees became the new playground they've put up, and

   Springtime birthday parties
   honeybees begin to stir
   I'm in love with my sister's Barbie
   I tell myself I could be happy forever with her.