Forever Young is a very atypical Dylan song. It is one of the few occasions when he appears to allow his heart to rule his brain. Yet this is really highly appropriate for such a song. Parents naturally do feel sentimental about their children. Despite Dylan’s use of clichés here, the uncertainty of certain elements of the song adds to its emotional realism. Picture the acclaimed ‘acid tongued’ poet, perhaps, staring down at his newborn child and admitting his own helplessness to express himself in a wholly original way. He is, after all, just feeling what millions of parents before him have felt.