People like to talk a lot of shit about how Bob Dylan can't sing. It's an easy joke to make when you're making small talk (is it bad that my small talk is mostly about Dylan?), and many of us have probably made some sarcastic reference to it, as if it were common knowledge that the man can't help but sound like a wounded bear.
But if we really wanted to be accurate, we would have to admit that the wounded bear thing is on purpose, and it's not all he can do. It's not that he CAN'T hit notes. He just doesn't feel like it. Sometimes he's grumpy and he wants to growl (like on a lot of his earlier stuff) and sometimes he's upset about divorce and the only thing that will do is an atonal wail (like the heartbreaking "I can change, I swear / WOAHHHH" in "You're A Big Girl Now").
If you want to hear Bob Dylan actually singing (or if you just want to hear an album that is kickass) you should listen to Nashville Skyline. The first song is a duet and he totally sings the pants off Johnny Cash. The whole thing is great, but the closing track, "Tonight I'll Be Staying Here With You," is like Bob Dylan giving you a nice massage and then crooning to you while you fall asleep. I understand if this doesn't sound appealing, but just stick with me here. You cannot listen to this song and continue to say that he can't sing. It just doesn't compute. He's leaping between low and high parts like crazy and hitting everything right on. And he even puts in some tasteful little grace note flourishes.
So what I am suggesting is that we all work together to stop spreading these lies. It's just misinformation, and that's never good, like when you tell kids that masturbation will make them go blind. It's probably not as harmful as that, but whatever. Change starts small. Think globally, act locally.
For now, though, I think we can hold onto the rumor that Dylan's live shows in the last five years have sucked. I'd believe that.
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This is about as pernicious and well-founded as the whole "Leonard Cohen can't sing" thing that keeps floating around. Both Dylan and Cohen are great fucking singers, they're just usually not pretty singers.
ReplyDeleteOh! Leonard Cohen is another good example, I hadn't thought of that. And also, do you mean that it is pernicious, but not well-founded? Or well-founded but not pernicious. Good word, pernicious. The more I type it the more it starts to look made up.
ReplyDeleteBoth rumours are pernicious; neither is well-founded. You see?
ReplyDeleteAhh yes. Ok. Someone should make a t-shirt with Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen's faces on the front saying "THEY CAN SING" in big letters. It could look like my mom's shirt that had Eisenhower and Tina Turner and said "IKE AND TINA."
ReplyDelete