The earliest memories I have of my first attempts at writing songs are that they were very Dylan influenced and were consequently oozing protest. I didn't write a love song until years after my first efforts.
From my roots as (what I like to consider as) an aspiring teenage poet I moved onto lyrics to music (as opposed to songs) shortly after. I guess everybody at that age is full of rebellion and protest, and anything that's a contradiction to the current ways of the world. My only acceptance to any form of conformity was that I was no exception to the rule, and it came out in my writing of the time.
The Ballad Of Mary Louise And Buck Williams, about the young Buck who killed Mary after finding her with another man, or Epitaph which could have been written about any of today's conflicts, or Last Stand which could so very well have been autobiographical, had it been written thirty years later.
In those early days I churned out a dozen songs a week but as of late, as with most people of my generation, I've taken a back seat from the creative side of things. Nonetheless, I still consider it very unfortunate that Bob Dylan's last two albums have been covers of other artists work and the Rolling Stones first studio album since lord only knows when is covers. Unfortunate but I can understand it.