- guardian.co.uk, Wednesday April 16 2008 13.17 BST
Dylan, when he was actually young
Sometimes there's little separating a classic song, a banal poem, and a children's book. Soon Bob Dylan will have been the author of all three, when the song Forever Young is released in bookshops this autumn.
"May you always do for others, and let others do for you," Dylan sings in Forever Young. "May you build a ladder to the stars, and climb on every rung." It was never Bob's most subtle work, but despite its greeting-card tone there's still something striking in it. Mostly, it's inspirational. And if there's one group that needs inspiration, it's children.
Then again, they're also the ones most keen to become adults already. Most five-year-olds we know would think it a punishment, not a blessing, to "stay forever young". But then most five-year-olds we know aren't Dylan fans, either.
The 1974 hit will be illustrated by Paul Rogers (the artist, not the new Queen front-man) and be published by Simon and Schuster on October 6. If the book's a success, perhaps there will be other literary forays in Bob Dylan's future. It's not enough to publish memoirs and books of lyrics - let's have a horror page-turner called Mr Tambourine Man. Or maybe a comic book starring Bob Dylan's secret identity, Robert Zimmerman.
