Bob Dylan

[Lord of Denial]

Bob Dylan= great songwriter but terrible singer.

Anyone agree or disagree with this statement.

[scratchie]

I agree with the first part.

[Adam Crocker]

Bob Dylan= great songwriter but terrible singer.

Anyone agree or disagree with this statement.

Disagree with the second part. Granted Dylan doesn't have what is defined as a traditionally good singing voice and I can see how its adenoidal quality can turn people off. However, his raspy voice, which in his Greenwhich Village Days was described as "a lung cancer patient singing Woody Guthrie" made him virtually unique among vocalists in popular music and only grew stranger as he progressed into his electric phase. One of things Dylan does is that he writes his songs that they are suited to his more than anyone else's. I really can't see "Blowing In the Wind" being done in any other voice other than early Dylan's soft rasp or "Highway 61 Revisited" being done in any other voice than Dylan's mid-60s frenetic whine. Like Mick Jagger, Joe Strummer, and Tom Waits, Dylan has carved out a distinct personality as a singer by working around and with the limitations of his voice.

The songwriting part...well natch.

[Jonathan Bogart]

I remember reading a few years back that (paraphrased) when he was in his twenties, Dylan sang like he was in his 70s. And now that he's in his 70s, he sounds like a corpse. I like the thought.


My opinion? Dylan has one of the six greatest voices of the past century of music, along with Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, Billie Holiday, James Brown, and Hank Williams.

Only one of those could be accused of being able to properly sing in the classical sense, and he was too good a jazzman to try.

So fuck properly singing; let's swim in voices.

[Ilash]

Disagree with the second part. Granted Dylan doesn't have what is defined as a traditionally good singing voice and I can see how its adenoidal quality can turn people off. However, his raspy voice, which in his Greenwhich Village Days was described as "a lung cancer patient singing Woody Guthrie" made him virtually unique among vocalists in popular music and only grew stranger as he progressed into his electric phase. One of things Dylan does is that he writes his songs that they are suited to his more than anyone else's. I really can't see "Blowing In the Wind" being done in any other voice other than early Dylan's soft rasp or "Highway 61 Revisited" being done in any other voice than Dylan's mid-60s frenetic whine. Like Mick Jagger, Joe Strummer, and Tom Waits, Dylan has carved out a distinct personality as a singer by working around and with the limitations of his voice.

The songwriting part...well natch.

Yup, just a huge ditto here.

[En Sabah Nur...]

Overrated as hell.

I'd rather listen to Gil-Scott Heron or Neil Young, if we're talking about those kind of lyricists and artists.

[Adam Crocker]

I'd rather listen to Gil-Scott Heron or Neil Young, if we're talking about those kind of lyricists and artists.

And what kind of lyricists and artists are we talking about?

[Jonathan Bogart]

I'd rather listen to Gil-Scott Heron or Neil Young, if we're talking about those kind of lyricists and artists.And what kind of lyricists and artists are we talking about?
Yeah, what the hell? Much as I love Gil-Scott Heron and Neil Young, they're not remotely close to what Dylan's doing. (Or, for that matter, to each other.)

[scratchie]

I lost a lot of respect for Gil Scott-Heron when I saw him in concert and he stole an entire bit from George Carlin.

[DDM]

Great songwriter/lyricist, but he can't escape the fact he sounds like Big Bird on helium when he sings & Kate Blanchette (sp?), a woman, is going to play him in his movie. Emasculation is the word.

[Weapon Ick]

I disgree. Bob Dylan is actually an incredible singer. Or at least was was back in his day. His voice went out about 10 - 20 years ago. It's part of aging and it happens to every one.

Now about his infamous singing voice: You need to understand that being a good singer is different than having a good voice. Vocal cords are like muscles that can be controled and trained. People can train and eventually become very skilled with their vocal cords even if they might not have a pleasant sounding voice.

If you listen to Dylan's records and pay attention to the things he does with his voice it will become pretty clear that depite his particular genetic development of his vocal cords, he manages to hit specific notes and makes his voice sound exactly how he wants you to hear it. Listen to Blood on the Tracks and pay close attention to which lyrics and words he emphasizes and why he would do that. It's all deliberate. Dylan is a meticulous genius.

There has been an entire book written soley on the specific intonations of Dylan's voice on the track "Like a Rolling Stone". Dylan plays with the rythym and range of the way his poetry sounds just as much as he plays with the structure and content of his lyrics. I'm telling you, the man knows exactly what he's doing.

[Adam Crocker]

There has been an entire book written soley on the specific intonations of Dylan's voice on the track "Like a Rolling Stone".

Is that the new Greil Marcus book?

[Jonathan Bogart]

Or at least was was back in his day. His voice went out about 10 - 20 years ago. It's part of aging and it happens to every one.
Nonsense. His voice remains a supremely capable instrument. It's craggier, more limited in range, less suited to express the contempt or rage of youth than before, but grown more relaxed in its wisdom, more delicate in its evocations of nostalgia, beauty, and romance, and never better suited to despair and solitude. I'd place Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft on par with any of his 60s albums, only perhaps richer with experience. He's lost the high lonesome sound of Hank Williams, but has found in return the grizzled candor of Louis Armstrong.

And he's got a new one coming out August 29: Modern Times. I can't wait.

[leonaozaki]

Nonsense. His voice remains a supremely capable instrument. It's craggier, more limited in range, less suited to express the contempt or rage of youth than before, but grown more relaxed in its wisdom, more delicate in its evocations of nostalgia, beauty, and romance, and never better suited to despair and solitude. I'd place Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft on par with any of his 60s albums, only perhaps richer with experience. He's lost the high lonesome sound of Hank Williams, but has found in return the grizzled candor of Louis Armstrong.

And he's got a new one coming out August 29: Modern Times. I can't wait.

No kidding. His vocals on every album since OH MERCY have been incredible. I could listen to the things he pulls off with his voice on "High Water" all day.

And I can't wait for MODERN TIMES either.

rob

[Core]

I don't have any problem with his voice, past or present.

I sometimes find myself wishing I could knock the harmonica out of his mouth, but his voice is classic.

[En Sabah Nur...]

I'm sorry but that's how I feel, I just don't like him or see anything great about him. Just not to my liking. He's kind of annoying.

And I mentioned Neil Young and Gil Scott-Heron cuz they are simmilar artists in the sense that they're known as great lyricists but not always amazing vocalists. In the type of artists they are, not that they sound alike.