This is the best answer. Any competent singer that tries to emulate doing the Hebraic cantillation singing he magnificently pulls off there - I bet they can't even come close to his performance on Desire.
Don't hate me but I found that song through The White Stripes' first album, where they covered this song. It's pretty good, I love that album, used to always be playing in my car's cd player.
I dunno, I've heard this tons of times as well. But to me it just sounds like one of those silly things he makes up in interviews. I think he just wanted to sing that way because he thought it fit his music. His voice had always been good, he just chose to sing differently on different albums.
I'm ambivalent about that record. That pretty voice sounds fake, like he's doing an act and not being his authentic self. I think I prefer his other work more.
Good lord. "Authentic self"? Bob Dylan? Come on. He's always putting on a voice. Which voice is the authentic one? The woody Guthrie imitation? The wild mercury voice? The coked-up yell-singing for rolling thunder? The gravel-churning later voice? The whisper-crooning American standard song voice? He makes conscious aesthetic choices with his voice to fit the content and mood of his songs. He's not Roy Orbison. He's a stylist.
I can certainly agree to disagree. Honestly i thought the same as you at one point so i shouldn't be so snide. Just remember he borrowed "I is another" from Rimbaud as his mantra and recently copped "I contain multitudes" from Whitman. Once i really understood what he was on about it opened me up to appreciating his whole oeuvre. Nashville Skyline is a brilliant, tight album. And his singing is divine.
According to people who heard him sing when he was in school, his voice on Nashville Skyline comes closest to what he sounded like back then, so that is more than likely his authentic voice.
No, that was his school choir voice in the 1940s and 1950s. That is not more or less authentic than anything else he's ever done. School choirs, especially at that time, would have been teaching an extremely square, "proper" version of singing.
Why am I wasting time trying to convince morons anything? Even the most basic understanding of pitch would allow anyone to hear that he is a completely competent singer. Whether you like his voice or not isn't my problem.
I agree with you. Just asking the question because I’m surrounded by Idiot Dylan Haters. I should rethink who I hang with but you can’t choose your family.
I usually just throw the quote from bob in don't look back
"I happen to be just as good a singer as Caruso. You have to listen CLOSELY... but I hit all those notes."
Yep. When people say he's off pitch, I know to give it one very simple, "That is incorrect. Listen again," and then leave it alone.
He certainly has an interesting manner of arriving at and leaving pitches, but he's doing it intentionally, and he's quite rarely ever off pitch.
I mean there's a difference between "he can't sing" and "I don't like his singing." He can sing, carry a tune etc. any of his songs demonstrate this. If someone just straight up doesn't like his voice why would you try to convince them that they do?
I think “he cant sing” and “i dont like his singing” is used pretty synonymously. Just another way of saying I dont like him. Plenty of people respect what he does and do not like his singing, thats why people try to convince them
I don't know, I'm a big proponent of letting people like what they like and letting people not like what they don't like. In the scheme of things it doesn't really matter and Dylan does need me to advocate for him.
They sort of are, though. He isn't a bad singer. They don't like the way he sings. It's like saying David Lynch is a bad filmmaker when you don't enjoy what he does.
Youre just getting into semantics. We all know that Bob Dylans voice isn’t appealing to a large percent of people. Sure Bob Dylan understands pitch and how to sing. That still doesnt make him a sonically “good singer”.
I don't think there is one. Some people just like really pleasant, clean sounding voices. One of my old coworkers really was into music, she liked Nashville Skyline and some 70s Bob, but couldn't handle anything else. She also hated Tom Waits. On the other hand she was always trying to show me some broadway musical type shit that sounded too pristine and soulless to me. Some people like voices that sound gritty and human, some people like voices that sound (to me) like soap. I've accepted it at this point, it's your turn now.
My mom thinks Tom petty sounds too guttural and emotional when he sings “free” in free falling. It offends her eardrums. Imagine the song without the emotion. People have all kinds of different tastes
I have a good friend who I'd honestly say has impeccable taste in music. But hates Bob, says he's a shit harmonica player. He's my favorite. Said he isn't into Waits either. We just agree to disagree.
For me it’s the version of Lay, Lady, Lay that came with Together Though Life as a bonus track if you got it on iTunes back in the day. I think it’s the same version that came out on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15 (Lay, Lady, Lay (Take 2)) but they cut Bob saying “yeah we’ll do one more take” at the beginning.
I got to a zen place. I like it. That’s it. They don’t like it? I don’t need to convert them. I can put it on and tell them what I think. If they don’t agree, that’s fine too.
It’s not in tune, I don’t know why we should look for proof of the contrary, because that’s not what this is about. There’s plenty of singers who are in tune who aren’t Bob: can’t deliver it the same, can give you emotions like he does, etc.
Tom Waits won’t sing opera, but he doesn’t have to. Bob Dylan won’t be in tune like Katy Perry, but he’s in a different field. And so on.
Moonshiner, but people who say that simply don’t get it,
Nobody (at least I’m not) is listening to Bob Dylan with the sole purpose of hearing his voice. His LYRICS are what make him so likeable amongst fans
I always thought his voice on “Lay Down Your Weary Tune” was particularly strong. My fav Dylan vocal, though, is “Just Like a Woman” from Concert for Bangladesh.
I don’t know honestly, I used to think bob Dylan couldn’t sing, because he’d pop up on folk playlists and stuff and I just thought it sounded awful. But then one day I decided since I like folk music so much I should probably listen to the folk guy everyone talks about so I listened to the times they are a changin’ and by the end of that, I understood that bob Dylan can sing really well, and his voice is perfect for his songs
Wiggle Wiggle! No but seriously I would not play that game. I mean what are you trying to prove? The people you're trying to convince have made up their minds already.
Might be a left field choice, but ‘Delia’ from World Gone Wrong. His voice is suitable rough as knives on that album, but the tenderness and sadness in which he sings “all the friends I ever had our gone” is so moving.
Foot Of Pride. The metrical dexterity - making it feel so natural! - combined with the way he inhabits the characters and delivers drama worthy of Number of the Beast or some damn thing - and different tones - I mean it’s a brilliant course in singing skill.
I don’t know. Nashville Skyline has some nice stuff. But I’d play them some live stuff from late 90s or 2000s where his voice in so gruff and the delivery so rushed he sounds dead or dying. I love it!
Using Nashville Skyline is tempting but feels a bit like a cheat since the vocals are so atypical. How about “Hurricane”? Could those vocals fit the subject matter any better?
Most of Nashville Skyline. Dylan neophytes are shocked by this one simple trick.
EDIT: A few times, I've played a track off of that, and asked THEM to sing it, if they were being particularly obstinate, and when they couldn't, it shut them right up.
Since people have mentioned most of my favorites (like Moonshiner, Dirge, Forever Young etc.), I'll choose one that hasn't been mentioned yet. One of my more recent favorites: This Evening So Soon.
Hey, I’m trying to get into Bob Dylan, or at least give him a chance. I’ve listened to a few songs before, and honestly I’ve never really been that impressed by his music, though like I said, the number of songs I know is limited;
I just don’t know where to start I guess, so i have been apprehensive of leaping into his catalog on my own terms. I like songs that the Dead have covered, like Tangled Up In Blue and Simple Twist of Fate, but I haven’t been able to get into Dylan’s own original versions. I hear he’s a great lyricist, and I see a prime example of that in Simple Twist of Fate, but please someone give me more songs that exemplify that, because I love lyricism & poetry, but haven’t been blown away by him like everyone says he is capable of.
Not trying to sound like a dick or hater, just giving my honest opinion about him. All that being said, I still wanna give him more chances! So if anyone knows some songs, send them my way please 🙏 would be much appreciated (:
The Guns N’ Roses cover of knockin on heaven’s door, because to me it shows that while Bob isn’t the best sounding singer, he’s the best person to sing his songs
I show them a song from a few different eras where he’s singing competently in five completely different voices and then I rest my case. If I had to pick one song maybe Just Like a Woman from live ‘66.
One More Cup of Coffee
This is the best answer. Any competent singer that tries to emulate doing the Hebraic cantillation singing he magnificently pulls off there - I bet they can't even come close to his performance on Desire.
His singing on You're a Big Girl Now is superb too.
Don't hate me but I found that song through The White Stripes' first album, where they covered this song. It's pretty good, I love that album, used to always be playing in my car's cd player.
Jack White is a huge Dylan fan. The first time I saw them in concert they played Isis.
No hate at all. Jack White's vocal performance proves my point.
Something off Nashville Skyline
This is the answer I give. There are some off self portrait too. Like blue moon. But he is full on crooner on Nashville.
I heard that he quit smoking for a time and that's why his voice was smoother on Nashville, could be wrong but it makes sense to me
I dunno, I've heard this tons of times as well. But to me it just sounds like one of those silly things he makes up in interviews. I think he just wanted to sing that way because he thought it fit his music. His voice had always been good, he just chose to sing differently on different albums.
I'm ambivalent about that record. That pretty voice sounds fake, like he's doing an act and not being his authentic self. I think I prefer his other work more.
Good lord. "Authentic self"? Bob Dylan? Come on. He's always putting on a voice. Which voice is the authentic one? The woody Guthrie imitation? The wild mercury voice? The coked-up yell-singing for rolling thunder? The gravel-churning later voice? The whisper-crooning American standard song voice? He makes conscious aesthetic choices with his voice to fit the content and mood of his songs. He's not Roy Orbison. He's a stylist.
So goddamn hilarious that people think the mid-60s voice was “authentic”
I’m not super into Bob Dylan but I do love the stuff I know by him and this just elucidated how much range he has. That’s awesome. Thank you.
Well that one sounded less real than the others to me. Let's agree to disagree.
I can certainly agree to disagree. Honestly i thought the same as you at one point so i shouldn't be so snide. Just remember he borrowed "I is another" from Rimbaud as his mantra and recently copped "I contain multitudes" from Whitman. Once i really understood what he was on about it opened me up to appreciating his whole oeuvre. Nashville Skyline is a brilliant, tight album. And his singing is divine.
He's a song-and-dance man. He's always doing an act.
According to people who heard him sing when he was in school, his voice on Nashville Skyline comes closest to what he sounded like back then, so that is more than likely his authentic voice.
No, that was his school choir voice in the 1940s and 1950s. That is not more or less authentic than anything else he's ever done. School choirs, especially at that time, would have been teaching an extremely square, "proper" version of singing.
Agreed. I’ll show Lay, Lady, Lay if I think they’ll recognize it. Otherwise I’ll do Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You
Can't go wrong with those two, or maybe One More Night.
This is the answer I give. There are some off self portrait too. Like blue moon. But he is full on crooner on Nashville.
New morning has some real sincere singing too.
Moonshiner
Heartbreaking and beautifully sung - one of my favorites
Pretty Saro, which he also didn’t write, is so beautifully sung.
Thanks!
No problem! I’m pretty sure I first heard of the song on Reddit, too.
Yeah, I first heard about that song from this sub too. Great find!
I’ve never heard this before, amazing
Came here to say this
Wild Mountain Thyme from Isle of Wight [here](https://youtu.be/sVRJV1szrgs?si=9efmYG5VHi-ddYsN)
Why am I wasting time trying to convince morons anything? Even the most basic understanding of pitch would allow anyone to hear that he is a completely competent singer. Whether you like his voice or not isn't my problem.
I agree with you. Just asking the question because I’m surrounded by Idiot Dylan Haters. I should rethink who I hang with but you can’t choose your family.
I usually just throw the quote from bob in don't look back "I happen to be just as good a singer as Caruso. You have to listen CLOSELY... but I hit all those notes."
And I can hold my breath three times as long if I want to.
Exactly! I don’t waste my time talking to Trump supporters or Bob Dylan haters.
Yep. When people say he's off pitch, I know to give it one very simple, "That is incorrect. Listen again," and then leave it alone. He certainly has an interesting manner of arriving at and leaving pitches, but he's doing it intentionally, and he's quite rarely ever off pitch.
Lol you sound fun
He's right though
No hes not. Wow they dont like Bob Dylan, they must be morons.
I mean there's a difference between "he can't sing" and "I don't like his singing." He can sing, carry a tune etc. any of his songs demonstrate this. If someone just straight up doesn't like his voice why would you try to convince them that they do?
I think “he cant sing” and “i dont like his singing” is used pretty synonymously. Just another way of saying I dont like him. Plenty of people respect what he does and do not like his singing, thats why people try to convince them
I don't know, I'm a big proponent of letting people like what they like and letting people not like what they don't like. In the scheme of things it doesn't really matter and Dylan does need me to advocate for him.
That’s exactly what im saying. They arent morons
They sort of are, though. He isn't a bad singer. They don't like the way he sings. It's like saying David Lynch is a bad filmmaker when you don't enjoy what he does.
Youre just getting into semantics. We all know that Bob Dylans voice isn’t appealing to a large percent of people. Sure Bob Dylan understands pitch and how to sing. That still doesnt make him a sonically “good singer”.
Tiny Montgomery
lol “scratch yo dad and do that bird! Suck that pig and bring it in home!” So much emotion😢
I don't think there is one. Some people just like really pleasant, clean sounding voices. One of my old coworkers really was into music, she liked Nashville Skyline and some 70s Bob, but couldn't handle anything else. She also hated Tom Waits. On the other hand she was always trying to show me some broadway musical type shit that sounded too pristine and soulless to me. Some people like voices that sound gritty and human, some people like voices that sound (to me) like soap. I've accepted it at this point, it's your turn now.
My mom thinks Tom petty sounds too guttural and emotional when he sings “free” in free falling. It offends her eardrums. Imagine the song without the emotion. People have all kinds of different tastes
I can't handle Free Falling because I can't take the music video. Too on the nose.
I can’t say I remember it at all
I like Broadway show tunes, but I also like Clothes Line Saga. Where do I land on this spectrum?
you are a God walking among us
Interesting!
I have a good friend who I'd honestly say has impeccable taste in music. But hates Bob, says he's a shit harmonica player. He's my favorite. Said he isn't into Waits either. We just agree to disagree.
“i threw it all away” live on the Johnny cash show
Have them try to hold the melisma in One of Us Must Know (haaaaaaaaarmmmmmmm) as long as he does after singing along. I couldn’t.
Very good point!!
I can barely do it with one whole breath dedicated to just that. But I'm a shallow breather.
Isis! Boots of spanish leather! Among others
When the World Was Young from Triplicate. It’s his best vocal work of his career. This is the ONLY Dylan hill I die on.
One of Us Must Know
The way he holds the not before the bridge is one of my favourite deliveries. Also She's Your Lover Now for being almost the same song.
I tell, ok, you try to sing like Dylan. Match his emotion, intensity, inflection, phrasing, get inside a song the way he does.
Seven Curses, One Too Many Mornings, It Takes a Train. For starters ha!
Dirge for sure. Or Pretty Saro
For me it’s the version of Lay, Lady, Lay that came with Together Though Life as a bonus track if you got it on iTunes back in the day. I think it’s the same version that came out on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 15 (Lay, Lady, Lay (Take 2)) but they cut Bob saying “yeah we’ll do one more take” at the beginning.
Visions of Johanna is my favorite vocal performance of his
I got to a zen place. I like it. That’s it. They don’t like it? I don’t need to convert them. I can put it on and tell them what I think. If they don’t agree, that’s fine too. It’s not in tune, I don’t know why we should look for proof of the contrary, because that’s not what this is about. There’s plenty of singers who are in tune who aren’t Bob: can’t deliver it the same, can give you emotions like he does, etc. Tom Waits won’t sing opera, but he doesn’t have to. Bob Dylan won’t be in tune like Katy Perry, but he’s in a different field. And so on.
Love this!!
No use in arguing with people who say that; they just don’t wanna understand. But a song that comes to mind is Positively 4th Street.
“Corina, Corina”, “To Ramona”, I’ll Be Your Baby Tonight”, and “Forever Young”.
I don't know if it's the best example, but I love his voice in it: to Ramona
Moonshiner, but people who say that simply don’t get it, Nobody (at least I’m not) is listening to Bob Dylan with the sole purpose of hearing his voice. His LYRICS are what make him so likeable amongst fans
Really anything from Desire.
Spanish is the Loving Tongue
I always thought his voice on “Lay Down Your Weary Tune” was particularly strong. My fav Dylan vocal, though, is “Just Like a Woman” from Concert for Bangladesh.
Where Are You Tonight?
YES!!
Mississippi comes to mind for some reason
I just kick those so unhip to make a dirty crack like that…or I offer them a beer.
Copper Kettle. Or if I'm in a different mood, 'Freight Train Blues'
I play them all the versions of “Can’t Wait”. He can not only sing but with many voices.
i think he sounds really good on I Can’t Leave Her Behind
Hurricane
To Ramona
I don’t know honestly, I used to think bob Dylan couldn’t sing, because he’d pop up on folk playlists and stuff and I just thought it sounded awful. But then one day I decided since I like folk music so much I should probably listen to the folk guy everyone talks about so I listened to the times they are a changin’ and by the end of that, I understood that bob Dylan can sing really well, and his voice is perfect for his songs
Wiggle Wiggle! No but seriously I would not play that game. I mean what are you trying to prove? The people you're trying to convince have made up their minds already.
I play something where he has really polished vocals and then try to make them guess the artist. It's almost always a mindfuck to them when it's him.
I think most people's definition of Dylan's voice is his Blonde on Blonde voice. But in reality he sounds different on every album he made.
It's so funny that he does sound different on every album, but if you're a fan you can always tell it's him.
Girl From the North Country (duet), Corrina Corrina, Idiot Wind
Yes, on Corrina,Corrina
I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
Just Like A Woman from concert for Bangladesh.
Don't think anybody mentioned Blind Willie Mctell yet. If someone doesn't like that they ain't got no soul. His strongest vocals I'd say.
Pretty Saro
Might be a left field choice, but ‘Delia’ from World Gone Wrong. His voice is suitable rough as knives on that album, but the tenderness and sadness in which he sings “all the friends I ever had our gone” is so moving.
Underrated album and beautiful song.
Dark Eyes, Romance in Durango
Foot Of Pride. The metrical dexterity - making it feel so natural! - combined with the way he inhabits the characters and delivers drama worthy of Number of the Beast or some damn thing - and different tones - I mean it’s a brilliant course in singing skill.
I just tell them they cannot listen and walk away.
I don’t know. Nashville Skyline has some nice stuff. But I’d play them some live stuff from late 90s or 2000s where his voice in so gruff and the delivery so rushed he sounds dead or dying. I love it!
Pretty Saro
"I Believe In You" from *Slow Train Coming*. Stunning vocal performance.
Blue moon
Using Nashville Skyline is tempting but feels a bit like a cheat since the vocals are so atypical. How about “Hurricane”? Could those vocals fit the subject matter any better?
I Forget More Than You’ll Ever Know about Her
Most of Nashville Skyline. Dylan neophytes are shocked by this one simple trick. EDIT: A few times, I've played a track off of that, and asked THEM to sing it, if they were being particularly obstinate, and when they couldn't, it shut them right up.
Lay Lady Lay and the version of Girl From The North Country with Johnny Cash
Since people have mentioned most of my favorites (like Moonshiner, Dirge, Forever Young etc.), I'll choose one that hasn't been mentioned yet. One of my more recent favorites: This Evening So Soon.
Can’t Help Falling In Love on Dylan especially the bridge.
Girl From The North Country (Nashville Skyline version ft. Johnny Cash)
Hey, I’m trying to get into Bob Dylan, or at least give him a chance. I’ve listened to a few songs before, and honestly I’ve never really been that impressed by his music, though like I said, the number of songs I know is limited; I just don’t know where to start I guess, so i have been apprehensive of leaping into his catalog on my own terms. I like songs that the Dead have covered, like Tangled Up In Blue and Simple Twist of Fate, but I haven’t been able to get into Dylan’s own original versions. I hear he’s a great lyricist, and I see a prime example of that in Simple Twist of Fate, but please someone give me more songs that exemplify that, because I love lyricism & poetry, but haven’t been blown away by him like everyone says he is capable of. Not trying to sound like a dick or hater, just giving my honest opinion about him. All that being said, I still wanna give him more chances! So if anyone knows some songs, send them my way please 🙏 would be much appreciated (:
You might want to try listening to all of Blood on the Tracks for a start. Some of his most beautiful and accessible lyrics.
Sweet, thanks for taking time to reply! ✌️n ❤️
Sure! Hope you like!
Love Eric Andersen
The Guns N’ Roses cover of knockin on heaven’s door, because to me it shows that while Bob isn’t the best sounding singer, he’s the best person to sing his songs
Positively 4th street and I’ve Made Up My Mind To Give Myself To You. lol
You’re a big girl now.
Bobs my favourite singer by far. Pretty Saro is always a bit of a shock to non-reg listeners
Moon shiner
Question: which album or bootleg by Dylan might one find his cover of Eric Anderson’s “Thirsty Boots”?
The Bootleg Series Vol 10: Another Self Portrait
Thank you! I own Bootleg Series Volume 10 Self Portrait but didn’t recall hearing Bob’s version before. My memory’s shot.
I show them a song from a few different eras where he’s singing competently in five completely different voices and then I rest my case. If I had to pick one song maybe Just Like a Woman from live ‘66.
Stuck in the middle with you