Last week I wrote an article about a few hidden gems from Bob Dylan’s catalog. Since then, several people have approached me with comments such as “Sure he’s a great writer, but his voice is unlistenable."
I’ve heard people voice similar opinions in the past. “His voice just ruins it for me," “he croaks like a frog," “he’s a great poet, but that voice is unbearable." I’ve heard plenty of people use Dylan’s voice as their excuse for why they don’t listen to his songs. These people truly don’t get him, which is a shame. I’m not going to convince anyone who believes otherwise that his voice is perfect, but I have to stand up for Bob.
It has been argued that the genius of Dylan is the lyrics, not his voice. I’ve been told that the music doesn’t matter. Yes, his lyrics are magnificent, but the music, and by extension, his vocal performances, are just as important as the lyrics.
To those who say that his voice is too harsh, that it burns your ears, I say go listen to a sweet, charming, empty voice. Plenty of those voices exist in music: Ariana Grande, John Mayer, Carly Rae Jepson, Adam Levine, David Gates.
Don’t get me wrong- I love many of those artists. But they don’t have feeling in their voices. Their voices are colorless and floating. These are good, well trained voices with enormous ranges. But they don’t “feel”. They’re not unique. Bob Dylan is the dead opposite. His voice is as unique as his lyrics are. Bob Dylan isn’t a good singer. He’s a great singer.
His voice isn’t pretty. It’s harsh and grating. His lyrics are often the same way- his vocals match what he writes. This is why no one will ever perform a Dylan song as well as he does. His voice can be insulting. It’s meant to be. He’s not a guy who cares about what popular culture thinks. Bob Dylan sings with authority. He knows precisely what he means, even if you don’t. He isn’t singing- he’s spitting. He rubs you the wrong way. He sings with venom, and you can feel it. That’s the way it should be.
People who write off listening to Dylan because of his voice are unaware that he doesn’t have a single voice. Bob Dylan is a chameleon- his voice and musical style are constantly shifting, often in the most surprising ways. His first several albums are acoustic folk albums- a guy and his guitar. He impersonates his idol, Woody Guthrie. His voice on these folk albums isn’t as whining and harsh as it is on his later albums, but it still has that feeling that only Dylan can deliver. His voice changed as he went electric with songs such as “Like a Rolling Stone," “Ballad of a Thin Man," and “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat." Now he’s mocking. He’s messing with his audience even as he pulls them in with his jeering. He means every word he says. “How does it feel?” he asks mockingly. Dylan’s voice conveys exactly how he feels- as ugly as it can be. It’s a beautiful skill. He’s always had an old voice, a voice that knows something that you don’t.
His singing has changed even further over the years. He’s been a country crooner (“Nashville Skyline”), a blues singer in a smoky bar (“Time Out of Mind”), and a grandfather singing tunes from his childhood (“Shadows in the Night”). He was a punk singer during his tour of 1965-1966 (watch Scorsese’s film “No Direction Home”), a gospel singer (“Slow Train Coming”), and a heartbroken balladeer on “Blood On The Tracks”. You can’t pin a single vocal style on Bob Dylan. Just when you think you know what he sounds like he shifts into a new sound, forcing you to listen closer.
It’s important to note how important Bob Dylan’s voice has been for popular music. Before he came onto the music scene, most vocalists had conventionally pleasant voices, such as Roy Orbison or the Beach Boys. Dylan’s voice paved the way for singers with dirty voices, voices that are rough, raspy, and howling: Bruce Springsteen, Kurt Cobain, Joe Cocker, Stevie Nicks, Tom Waits, Sheryl Crowe. These incredible vocalists owe it to Bob Dylan for opening people’s ears to something other than silken singing.
Bob Dylan’s voice is perfect. No one can sing like he does. His always changing voices aren’t always pretty, more often they’re not. But with Dylan it doesn’t matter how pretty a voice is. It’s about a voice that means what it's saying. It’s a voice delivering the truth, and that truth can be ugly. A jarring voice is what the truth deserves. Wake up, naysayers of Dylan’s voice. Waking you up is exactly what his singing is meant to do.
