Bob Dylan, may your song always be sung
The world is awash with love songs, but there are too few to sing to friends and children. Bob Dylan's little blessing, Forever Young, is one. It may not be his greatest work, but it has in common with that the sense of having been discovered rather than composed, thanks to an organic blend of melody and pitch-perfect words. (What parent would not wish their child to "build a ladder to the stars" and "climb on every rung"?) The straightforward good-heartedness ? "May you always do for others / And let others do for you" ? is uncharacteristic, but the man himself must have been happy with it, since he stuck two versions back-to-back on Planet Waves. Singling out a hymn to eternal youth on this, Dylan's 70th birthday, might seem like bitter irony: his weathered looks and creaking voice betray a long life hard-lived. But think again. While the springtime turned slowly into autumn, the song and dance man's soul remained adolescent. Contemporaries such as Sir Paul McCartney are now establishment proper, while rock establishment stars like Mick Jagger strut the stage to defy their age, but in doing so reveal that they haven't felt a real creative spark since the 70s. But like a restless teen who keeps changing his look, Bob never stops reinventing. He goes electric, unplugged or gospel, gets God or loses him. The quality yo-yos infamously, because ? besides the harmonica ? the one constant is change. We know our wishes will come true when we say to him: may your song always be sung.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/24/in-praise-of-forever-young
Mia Kirshner Elisabeth Röhm Lily Allen Emmanuelle Chriqui Anna Faris
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