From the start of this "Undercover Summer" series, I knew I would cover Bob Dylan. He's an essential influence for me for several reasons. Learning about his writing style and trying to emulate it liberated my own writing voice when I went through a long stretch of writer's block during grad school. And of course, he invented the modern singer-songwriter, so he's influenced all of us who write and perform our own songs. I was also reasonably sure I would cover something from

"Let us be lovers, we'll marry our fortunes together..." The first time I noticed the opening line of "America," by Simon & Garfunkel, I loved the song instantly. It appealed to my youthful romantic idealism, and I played "America," along with Simon & Garfunkel's other greatest hits, until their writing and performance style became part of me. It took me a while to pay attention to the lyrics of "America" beyond the first half of the song, with its heady images of young lover