Sammy G
Ex-Bluelighter
maybe some of his tunesmiths stuff was plagarised but as far as lyric writing is concerned it doesnt get much better than Dylan, along with bowie & lennon & mcartney. Why did Joni Mitchell feel the need to bitch about him. Its never nice to see people do that, its puts them in a bad light.
The fact you've listed Bowie is telling. Mr. Rip-off extraordinaire!
Look - Dylan was and is a shameless plagiarist, musically. Lyrically, he's unbelievable and changed the rock lyric for good. But just listen to 'Nowegian Wood' and '4th Time Around', for fuck's sake! Then listen to early Dylan and compare it to Woody Guthrie and Ramblin' Jack Elliot. Read Chronicles, even - he admits it!
Plagiarism isn't 'bad' - there are only 12 notes in the chromatic scale, for fuck's sake!
But Joni plays chords that don't even have names, so if anybody can have a dig, it's her. It doesn't detract from Dylan's brilliance.

