When I Paint My Masterpiece by Bob Dylan

     When I Paint My Master piece by Bob Dylan was written in 1971,  Although it was originally sung by The Band the words were all Dylan's. In 1971 the world was every changing with new technology constantly begin made and changed. This year was marked as the start of the digital age. Things like the microprocessor and a hand held calculator being invented and more in use. Although the song does not stand for the use of technology but the ever changing world and how society thinks of everything as a final product when it never is.
      The words in the song reflect some of the changes throughout history. like the first line of the song, "Oh, the streets of Rome are filled with rubble. Ancient footprints everywhere" to me this symbolizes how when the ancient romans built there country they thought it would last and be there as beautiful as ever as there masterpiece but through the word as he says rubble it clearly has not lasted and has change and morphed throughout the years. continuing in that verse he says "where I've got me a date with Botticelli's niece" Botticelli was an early renaissance painter who during his time was a very well renowned painter. Fast forward to 1971 where his paintings have changed in fame and meaning and gone through multiple stages and will continue to do so but were still his masterpieces although they changed for everyone else. 
       In the second verse Dylan says " Oh, the hours I’ve spent inside the Coliseum
Dodging lions and wasting time" clearly he stating a change in meaning where back in Rome in the times of the coliseum it was seen as a massively import event the structure and the arrangement were part of a masterpiece to the romans at that time. Again in the second verse he says " yes, it sure has been a long, hard climb" this line to me means that the has seen the importance and the meaning change and getting his words out there has been hard.

       He ends his song with this line, "Someday, everything is going to be different

When I paint my masterpiece" which symbolizes the fact that his masterpiece will mean something different in 2 months and something different in 10 years to what he knew it meant when he was writing. the little phrases in his songs so the ever constant change of the way things are perceived and how they are shown and to everyone a masterpiece has its own meaning.