(Video link here.) At Apple’s recent celebration of Steve Jobs’ life, Norah Jones sang Bob Dylan’s classic Forever Young, which he wrote in the early ’70’s. Although we’ve heard the song many times over the years, we never really focused on the lyrics until we watched the video of Jones’ performance and looked them up. We were surprised to see that Dylan had written what is, in effect, a blessing: wishing all good fortune, the highest of hopes.

Hidden within the last stanza are the perfect words for clinking glasses in a toast on Thanksgiving Day…

May God bless and keep you alway
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever young.

May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever young.

May your hands always be busy
May your feet always be swift
May you have a strong foundation
When the winds of changes shift
May your heart always be joyful
And may your song always be sung
May you stay forever young
May you stay forever young.

Yeah,

MAY YOUR SONG ALWAYS BE SUNG!

…wishing you a wondrous Thanksgiving…

via Open Culture

Related posts: counting blessings as antidote
wishing you: joy!
’1000 awesome things’
singing as courage and daring
sing LOUD! like they do in sardinia

If you’ve found illumination, joy, or inspiration in this post, please consider supporting Improvised Life. It only takes a minute to make a secure donation that helps pay our many costs. A little goes a long way towards helping Improvised Life continue to live ad-free in the world.

Support Improvised Life ♥

4 replies on “bob dylan’s blessing (+ our thanksgiving wish for you)

  1. Dylan wrote this one for his child. So much of his music is rich in spiritual messages and some of his music is outright gospel in its sound. But that’s not surprising to his fans: His songs, especially Blowing In the Wind, have been embraced by civil rights marchers and sung in churches. And Slow Train Coming is blatently spiritual.
    Arlo Guthrie, the son of Dylan’s hero, Woody, is also associated with Thanksgiving (Alice’s Restaurant).
    Happy Thanksgiving, and thanks for passing on the blessing!

  2. Mike, thank you so much for the back story. I didn’t know Dylan had written it for a child…And though I’d heard the song many times, I guess I never really “heard” it…strange that something can be right there, yet unseen. And thanks also for jogging my memory of Alice’s Restaurant which I must have listened to a thousand times when it first came out. I forgot that it all started on Thanksgiving. Here’s a link for those that don’t know the amazing tale. Here’s Arlo singing it…the whole thing.

  3. Happy Thanksgiving Sally!

    A million thanks for enriching our lives with the cornucopia of goodies that The Improvised Life is.

    May YOU stay forever young!

    Barbara

  4. Thanks a million!! Happy Thanksgiving to you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *