Blues songs, like folk songs, are a continuous stream, and catching the continuities and thefts is part of what puts meaning and complexity into it - also part of the fun of it all.
Richard F. ThomasBob Dylan tells interviewers what he wants to tell them, not what they necessarily want to know. His responses are really part of the art, and often have a relationship to the songs that have just come out or are about to come out.
Richard F. ThomasBob Dylan tends not to have geographical or chronological markers that tie a song to any specific context, so they stay alive, stay relevant.
Richard F. Thomas