Old Bob talks about the Young Bob

Grammy night and Bob Dylan reveals more in 30 minutes than in 30 interviews.

“I  sang  a  lot  of  “come  all  you”  songs.  There’s  plenty  of  them.  There’s  way  too  many  to  be  counted.  “Come  along  boys  and  listen  to  my  tale  /  Tell  you  of  my  troubles on  the  old  Chisholm  Trail.”  Or,  “Come  all  ye  good  people,  listen  while  I  tell  /  the  fate  of  Floyd  Collins,  a  lad  we  all  know  well.”

“Come  all  ye  fair  and  tender  ladies  /  Take  warning  how  you  court  your  men  /  They’re  like  a  star  on  a  summer  morning  /  They  first  appear  and  then  they’re  gone  again.”  And  then  there’s  this  one,  “Gather ’round,  people  /  A  story  I  will  tell  /  ‘Bout  Pretty  Boy  Floyd,  the outlaw  /  Oklahoma  knew  him well”

If  you  sung  all these  “come  all  ye”  songs  all  the  time like  I  did,  you’d  be  writing,  “Come gather  ’round  people  where  ever  you  roam,  admit  that  the  waters  around  you  have  grown  /  Accept  that  soon  you’ll  be  drenched  to  the  bone  /  If  your  time  to  you  is  worth  saving  /  And  you  better  start  swimming  or  you’ll  sink  like  a  stone  /  The times  they  are  a changing.”

You’d  have  written that too.  There’s  nothing  secret  about  it.  You  just  do  it  subliminally  and  unconsciously,  because  that’s  all  enough,  and  that’s  all you  know.  That  was  all  that  was  dear  to  me.  They  were  the  only  kinds  of  songs  that made sense.

The entire speech linked above.  An article about it here.