Dylan IMHO is a real performer…not prepackaged. He has good shows and bad shows, and once in a while, phenomenal shows. When I saw him, he and Santana were on the same bill. Santana opened at 7 or so PM and Dylan came on about 9PM…I left at MIDNIGHT because I had to work in the morning. He was fantastic.
It’s not the vocals…it’s the music. I learned that listening to Garcia and Bob Weir mumble and scream for years.
On the other hand, many if not most bands put on a show. They practice and perform the very same show nearly every concert. Clapton was like this. Almost the same setlist. Now Clapton IS god but when I read a review of a concert and then saw a concert from the same tour the following week and I was calling each song before they came…it wasn’t much fun.
This is not even considering performers like Madona and Big Mike Jackson who put on an event. Blah.
I’ll take Dylan standing in jeans barely moving ripping on the harmonica and singing unintelligible lyrics to old tunes with new tempos every day of the week over prepackaged music industry cowflop.
Bob Dylan is the most important vocal influence of the 20th century. Before Dylan, singers had to be technically “good”. Bob opened up the possibilities of what a “good” singer can sound like. A singer can have an ungainly, raw, “ugly” voice like Dylan’s and still be emotionally affecting. Every rock singer who doesn’t croon like Sinatra owes a big debt to Bob for making the normal human voice, with all its imperfections, acceptable in pop songs.
The only Dylan song I really remember is “Rainy Day Woman”(?). When I had a job waiting tables about 10 years ago, it was included on the horrible muzak soundtrack that played on a continuous loop. I remember the lyrics “Everybody must get stoned”, which can be taken in any context, and it was such a nice break from the Kenny G and Michael Bolton crap that was normally playing. Just a random memory!
Eh? You obviously haven’t listened to a lot of Delta, Texas or Piedmont blues from the 20’s and 30’s. [/quote]
Or even Louis Armstrong. I doubt there’s been a more influential American musician than Louis Armstrong, but - imnsho - like Dylan the strength of Satchmo’s voice was in what was sung, what was implied, rather than what the ‘libretto’ actually read (as if).
In other words, neither was a technically gifted singer. For both Armstrong and Dylan, though, the end result is far, far greater than the sum of the parts.
Lots of singers before Dylan were this way, I think. Chicago, Kansas City, New York, Berlin, and Paris were full of them just after the Great War.
I tend to think that guys with crappy voices make up for it with passion and geetar playing.
I KNEW when Garcia was having fun. I could hear it in his voice. Dylan too. John Lee Hooker had a voice i considered good, but I don’t know for sure. I just loved his music.
Also saw Bob Dylan couple of times. Last time was in 1991 or 1992 in a small place, less than 100 people in the audience. Bob was lucky that night - after some 30 minutes a girl jumped up the stage, grabbed the microphone Bob was using and sang the 3 or 4 next songs. Bob just looked a bit surprised and waited for her to finish.
Just found this song. So heavy and intense. It was mentioned in this thread, but here are the link and lyrics.
Shadows are falling and I been here all day
It’s too hot to sleep and time is running away
Feel like my soul has turned into steel
I’ve still got the scars that the sun didn’t let me heal
There’s not even room enough to be anywhere
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Well my sense of humanity is going down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing, there’s been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writin’ what was in her mind
I just don’t see why I should even care
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
Well I been to London and I been to gay Paree
I followed the river and I got to the sea
I’ve been down to the bottom of a whirlpool of lies
I ain’t lookin’ for nothin’ in anyone’s eyes
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
I was born here and I’ll die here, against my will
I know it looks like I’m movin’ but I’m standin’ still
Every nerve in my body is so naked and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from
Don’t even hear the murmur of a prayer
It’s not dark yet, but it’s getting there
I learned that listening to Garcia and Bob Weir mumble and scream for years.
but when I read a review of a concert and then saw a concert from the same tour the following week and I was calling each song before they came…it wasn’t much fun.
