Ted, I think your points really sum up a lot of what it was all about with Dylan. I was pretty young when he came on the scene in the early 60s but completely recall the major impact he had at the time if from nothing more all the teenagers in my neighborhood literally carrying around his albums reverently wherever they went. He was very young then and very charismatic. A New York intellectual version of Woody Guthrie but so much more - because he was an original and he was radically breaking new ground for that time. I always looked at him as the continuum of the Beat poets but taking it to the new wave. Laurent wondered in his post why Dylan was so universally popular and followed in other countries that did not have a Vietnam war going, etc. Dylan actually made his mark a few years before the escalation of the war and subsequent protest of it. Before the anti-war movement, however, there was the free speech and civil rights movement and also the resistance against the static conformity of the 50s. These earlier movements and cultural directions combined with his incredible lyrical poetry and original music and sound could not help but appeal universally to the new generation of the time. And on top of all that, he did almost single-handedly alter the course of much of the music in the 60s and can take much credit for inspiring its greatness.
Kakki
