The Song Bob Dylan Wrote as a Lullaby to His Children

In 2008, illustrator Paul Rogers turned Bob Dylan’s “Forever Young” into a picture book.

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It’s a vivid portrait of Dylan’s anthem. But it also highlights the intended audience for his song: children.

“Forever Young” represents a period of change for Dylan. Those changes included a reunion with The Band, a return to the road, and the domestication of a generational icon.

Family Man

Dylan wrote “Forever Young” as a kind of prayer to his young children. He wrote in the notes for Biograph, “I wrote [the song] in Tucson [Arizona]. I wrote it thinking about one of my boys and not wanting to be too sentimental. The lines came to me; they were done in a minute.”

He added, “You don’t know what it is exactly that you want, but this is what comes. That’s how that song came out.” He also said he “didn’t intend to write it.”

Still, it appears in two versions—slow and fast—on his 14th studio album, Planet Waves.

May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you

Dylan’s Lullaby

In liner notes to Dylan (2007), author Bill Flanagan said The Band recorded Planet Waves quickly. He called “Forever Young” Dylan’s “blessing from a parent to a child.” The Band’s classic lineup includes guitarist Robbie Robertson, bassist Rick Danko, drummer Levon Helm, Garth Hudson on organ, and Richard Manuel on piano.

Said Flanagan, “Dylan had become a father. He had that in common with a good chunk of the audience. [‘Forever Young’] was memorably recited on American television by Howard Cosell when Muhammad Ali won the heavyweight crown for the third time.”

Dylan and Sara Lownds had four children, including Jakob (of The Wallflowers fame) and Jesse, a filmmaker and production executive.

Rod Stewart’s “Forever Young”

Rod Stewart had a hit with the same title on his 1988 album Out of Order. Though Stewart’s song wasn’t a cover, he agreed to share songwriting credits with Dylan.

Arnold Stiefel, Stewart’s manager, told the Los Angeles Times, “It came about after a long, very touching conversation he had with his 6-year-old son last year. There was this great empathy between them, which I think really moved Rod. And as he remembers it, he saw a film in England around the same time called Forever Young, which is where the title came from.”

Added Stiefel, “And it would be fair to say that while the melody and the music is not at all the same, the idea of the song is similar. The architecture of the lyrics of the song is very much from Dylan—there are definite similarities.”

A Renaissance

Critics saw Planet Waves as Dylan’s comeback, and his strongest album in years. The album arrived during his 1974 tour with The Band. But Dylan hadn’t been on the road, for the most part, since 1966 and he seemed to be pulling in different directions.

In 1973, Dylan signed with Asylum Records, and Planet Waves was his first release for David Geffen’s label. (It wouldn’t last long. Dylan soon returned to his longtime recording home at Columbia Records.)

Meanwhile, reuniting with The Band and hitting the road again was a way to reconnect to his youth. And fans were hungry for Dylan’s comeback. Promoter Bill Graham said more than 12 million people applied for tickets to the historic tour.

Though Dylan and Lownds divorced in 1977, “Forever Young” endures as Dylan’s rootsy lullaby to their children.

May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young

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