i laughed out loud at this.

as far as the term "meaningless" goes - isn't that a subjective term, anyhow? what is meaningless to you may hold a profound form of meaning to somebody else. & who, exactly, has the right to make the assumption on whether or not the lyrics an artist writes hold any meaning for the artist, unless they blatantly said "my lyrics are bullshit, don't listen to them"? & even then, how many artists - musicians, filmmakers, writers, etc. - are purposely cryptic & contradictory to keep the press off their coattails? in fact, dylan has been infamous for these type of statements. of course, we all hold our own opinions - & if an artist's lyrics are meaningless to you, what is the point of listening to them?

i wholeheartedly agree that the beatles' - & especially lennon (my all-time favorite musician, period) - lyrics are more cohesive with their music; but the beatles are more renown as innovative musicians, whereas dylan is praised for the most part solely because of his lyrics. the problem here is the fine & often misunderstood line between songwriting (writing a song - the music, structure, arrangement, lyrics) & writing lyrics. whereas i think the greatest songwriters to ever grace pop music are most definitely - & by a long shot - lennon & mccartney, i think dylan's lyrics are by far greater on their own.

it's impossible to deny dylan's magnificent way with a pen, though; he's pioneered so many schools of songwriting - from barely concealed confessions to stream-of-consciousness narratives to topical folk songs - that he's impossible to deny as the most influential lyricist pop music has ever produced.