Speaking of Bob Dylan

[Oscar]

Folks,

Bob Dylan is probably as rich as Croesus. But imagine how much money he could have made if he could actually sing!!!

The same goes for Rod Stewart. 

 :rofl:


Tom Maddux
Famous Music Critic

[outdeep]

I heard a comedian once say:

"I once a John Denver cassette on sale on the discount rack for $2.99.  I then went over saw blank recording tapes for $7.99.  Imagine how much money he could have made if he just kept his mouth shut!"

Also Barry Manilow.

:rofl:

[moonflower2]

I think he can sing, unless someone else sang "Lay, Lady, Lay". Wasn't he usually trying to mimick his favorite guy?(I can't think of his name at the moment)

Folks,

Bob Dylan is probably as rich as Croesus. But imagine how much money he could have made if he could actually sing!!!

The same goes for Rod Stewart. 

 :rofl:


Tom Maddux
Famous Music Critic

[Joe Sperling]

Moonflower----

Yes--he sang "Lay Lady Lay" and also "Knockin' On Heaven's Door" where his voice was actually
quite clear and nice. I always wondered why he didn't sing more songs like that.  I think Tom Petty in many ways sounds like Bob Dylan, and may be mimicking his voice at times.

Really though, Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart--and how about Joe Cocker--who told him he had a good singing
voice? He and Janis Joplin were two of the worst singers ever!! 

--Joe

[moonflower2]

Woody Guthrie. Isn't that the voice, etc., that influenced Dylan's style?


Janis Joplin had a voice?? 

[Joe Sperling]

There are actually quite a few people through the years that were "singers" with terrible
voices. This is going a ways back,  but there was a woman singer named "Kate Smith" who
sang "God Bless America" quite a bit. She was horrendous, but considered very famous.
Louis Armstrong actually had a terrible voice too. Jimmy Durante would sing, but he was also
an extremely bad singer. Martha Raye too. I realize this is all my opinion--and everyone has
there own taste---but it makes one wonder how they got to be so famous for singing.  But Bob
Dylan takes the cake for the man who is most famous with the worst singing voice. 

P.S. Moonflower----I think you're right--Woody Guthrie. His son, Arlo Guthrie, actually got famous for
a while too, singing such things as "Alice's Restaurant". I never liked him either.

[DavidM]

Since your in the mood to slam him,

Friday, July 27, 2007
Dylan for the masses
By BEN WENER
The Orange County Register
Let's skip the amateur Dylanology, and not bother with yet another round of yeah-he's-so-important praise – we know this. Anyone who doesn't has already stopped reading.
Let's head instead straight into some things you may have noticed about Bob Dylan's sold-out performance Thursday night at Pacific Amphitheatre.
Assuming you were there, that is. And if you like rock 'n' roll – robust rock 'n' roll, I mean, fluidly executed, packed with ageless wit and sixtysomething bark, a tremendous sort of traditionalism that feels as old-school authentic as it does utterly contemporary – well, you really should have been there.
You couldn't see the guy.For very likely the only time during Pacific's run this year the giant video screens that flank the stage were not in use. Why, you wonder? I couldn't really say – that's just Dylan.
Consider that he rarely – no, make that "never" – lets press photographers, even the most professional (read: stealthiest) ones, shoot at his shows. And did anyone else catch how fast the overbearing security was to crack down on digital camera use?
A guy who operates like that isn't about to get his craggy (and quite cool, really) mug get plastered on giant video screens. A guy like that walks on stage (or kinda hops, in this case), hides underneath a wide-brimmed hat to complement his black Western wear, then lets his music – and his mighty band – do the talking for 16 songs in a little less than two hours.
"Yes, but you can't understand a thing he sings."Dylan doesn't sing for you or me, it seems. At 66, he sings for himself – and, in doing so, the way he phrases certain songs, classics or newborns, can be fascinating. Yet this can be incredibly alienating to those unacquainted with the profoundly nasal, raspy, at times guttural manner in which he has sung for the better part of two decades now.
Still indelible on record, the melodies of yore are no longer adhered to in the slightest on stage. The sharp or flat execution of a rearrangement or, much more importantly, Bob's mood on a particular night will determine how a favorite will come out, even if it's being played for the thousandth time. Ardent fans surely won't deny that beloved choruses from a half-dozen different songs can tend to blur together. And I bet a good many people here didn't realize his final, loping rethink was "Blowin' in the Wind" until his lead guitarist began soloing with its original melody.
Those of who still dig seeing Dylan live have come to accept such things. We love him for what he was, and we love him for what he is now – and we get inexplicably excited when we realize we're seeing him play guitar locally for the first time in, what, four years? (He's been at his keyboard for much too long.)
And when Dylan plays, oh, the Forum, we are the dominate audience. At Pacific, however, some of us (you we're-not-worthy types) stick out like geeks among a wider Fair crowd – comprised of every kind of people, not Dylanites. The ol' bard was wise to give his set list a populist feel (more on that in a sec), lest he truly baffle first-timers and returning admirers alike – and those attendees were respectful regardless of what they could or could not make out in his lyrics.
But here's my chief response to the he's-unintelligible complaint: You might be able to understand him if you JUST SHUT UP.
To my left this night, a pool of rejects from "Real Housewives of Orange County" and their spouses laughed and blathered loudly throughout the first seven songs or so. Then they left. The rows around me, meanwhile, were dotted with party people who got very keyed up when Dylan opened with "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" (you know: "Everybody must get stoned") but seemed to grow restless when he ducked into "Lay, Lady, Lay" and "The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll." So they got noisy, too.
Makes you wonder if all certain people come for is to say they heard the guy do "Like a Rolling Stone."

[DavidM]

rest,

"Yeah, but he didn't play 'Like a Rolling Stone.'" Or "All Along the Watchtower" or "Masters of War," for that matter, or "Stuck Inside of Mobile With the Memphis Blues Again" or "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" – although he did play "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)," and sang it with a great deal more clarity and precise emphasis than he's offered in many moons.
Oh, no "Simple Twist of Fate," either, or "Shelter From the Storm." But he did play "Tangled Up in Blue." This is why we keep coming back, you see: We likethe way he sings, believe it or not, we savor the flavor his most recent lineups bring to his material, and we never know what he'll throw at us. Two nights earlier in Tucson he put on "Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat" – opened with it! In Cleveland 10 days ago he dusted off "My Back Pages."
I'd have traded "Lay, Lady, Lay" and "Tangled Up in Blue" and a tentative but eventually storming "Highway 61 Revisited" this night for either of those. But I wouldn't give back "Watching the River Flow" (that great leftover tacked onto "Greatest Hits Vol. 2") or " 'Til I Fell in Love With You," a "Time Out of Mind" ballad with fresh sting.
Also, I wouldn't swap "Ballad of a Thin Man" as a main-set closer for three-fourths of "Blonde on Blonde." Still says so much.
Especially when so many of Mr. Jones' relatives are seated nearby.
It's wild to think that opening act Deana Carter was once (and sometimes still is) considered a country act. As her 40-minute turn reminded, there's still plenty of country in her soul, but her sound hews much closer to Sheryl Crow rock. Sadly, it has few hooks that measure up to even Crow's most average hits, something her band, featuring brother Jeff on guitar, compensates for by layering on country-rock clichés. She's right, though: "Strawberry Wine" has aged well.

[Joe Sperling]

....And then there are the critics. You read their comments and wonder how they could ever get
published. Ben Wener immediately comes to mind. I...    Just kidding.

Dylan is an icon--whether you love him or hate him--he definitely made his mark!!

--Joe

[Oscar]

Folks,

The reason Dylan became popular is because all his fans were stoned when they first heard him!  Permanent brain damage.

 :rofl:

Tom Maddux
Famous Music Critic

[DavidM]

Dylan is an icon--whether you love him or hate him--he definitely made his mark!!


  I think you are right Joe, Tom's comments are typical of someone who has heard Dylan while searching through the channels on his radio. If you sit down a listen to some of his lyrics you will recognize something genius. This guy can tell a story! Better yet watch the documentary by Scorcese,  "No Direction Home" and read the companion book, "Chronicles".

[DavidM]

Dylan performed this Thursday night, funny I had never heard it before. it's a true story!


William Zanzinger killed poor Hattie Carroll
With a cane that he twirled around his diamond ring finger
At a Baltimore hotel society gath'rin'.
And the cops were called in and his weapon took from him
As they rode him in custody down to the station
And booked William Zanzinger for first-degree murder.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

William Zanzinger, who at twenty-four years
Owns a tobacco farm of six hundred acres
With rich wealthy parents who provide and protect him
And high office relations in the politics of Maryland,
Reacted to his deed with a shrug of his shoulders
And swear words and sneering, and his tongue it was snarling,
In a matter of minutes on bail was out walking.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

Hattie Carroll was a maid of the kitchen.
She was fifty-one years old and gave birth to ten children
Who carried the dishes and took out the garbage
And never sat once at the head of the table
And didn't even talk to the people at the table
Who just cleaned up all the food from the table
And emptied the ashtrays on a whole other level,
Got killed by a blow, lay slain by a cane
That sailed through the air and came down through the room,
Doomed and determined to destroy all the gentle.
And she never done nothing to William Zanzinger.
But you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Take the rag away from your face.
Now ain't the time for your tears.

In the courtroom of honor, the judge pounded his gavel
To show that all's equal and that the courts are on the level
And that the strings in the books ain't pulled and persuaded
And that even the nobles get properly handled
Once that the cops have chased after and caught 'em
And that the ladder of law has no top and no bottom,
Stared at the person who killed for no reason
Who just happened to be feelin' that way without warnin'.
And he spoke through his cloak, most deep and distinguished,
And handed out strongly, for penalty and repentance,
William Zanzinger with a six-month sentence.
Oh, but you who philosophize disgrace and criticize all fears,
Bury the rag deep in your face
For now's the time for your tears

[Oscar]

Dylan is an icon--whether you love him or hate him--he definitely made his mark!!


  I think you are right Joe, Tom's comments are typical of someone who has heard Dylan while searching through the channels on his radio. If you sit down a listen to some of his lyrics you will recognize something genius. This guy can tell a story! Better yet watch the documentary by Scorcese,  "No Direction Home" and read the companion book, "Chronicles".

Dave,

I suspect that Dylan's popularity is some circles is due to two things:

1. For many the music of their teen to twenties is very important to them.  They are able to associate the music with memories of dates, dances, zany behavior with friends, high school, parties and such.  As the years go by we tend to forget the teen-age angst, insecurities, and social disasters along with whatever real hardships we endured.  The years take the "edge" off the hurts and painful memories.

So, when we hear the old songs we think mostly of the good times back in those relatively carefree years.  We enjoy thinking about those things, and the music brings back some of the flavor of those days.

The Baby Boomer generation, which was huge, is quite affluent now and they keep the old music going by attending concerts, buying cd's, supporting PBS oldies concerts.  Then, of course, there are the folks who have never left the 60's to 70's mindset and still think Jerry Garcia is the messiah and Peter, Paul, and Mary are the Trinity 

They are wrong of course.....Buddy Holley was the messiah.   

2. Then there are the crowd followers who do things because they want to be "sophisticated".  I recall visiting the Newport Beach Art Museum with a busload of teachers during some class or other I took for salary points.  They were all following the docent around to hear her spiel about the various art objects.  They were nodding knowingly and making comments about how wonderful it all was.

The museum display was exclusively devoted to modern abstract art.  A few of the objects were quite good, even beautiful.  Most, however, were more down the Jackson Pollack line...splatters of paint thrown from 10 feet away to demonstrate the meanlessness of our random chance produced universe.  Some were more down the "industrial society crucifying the working man" line.  Twisted semi-human forms nailed to construction girders on a background of factory smokestacks belching out black clouds of pollution, that sort of thing.

Years ago I read an article in the Inter Varsity magazine which quoted Pablo Picasso describing the contempt he held for people who admired his "art".  When the docent asked me why I was laughing at some paint splatters on canvas I just said I thought it was silly.  I had been, however, remembering Picasso's statement and wondering what he would have thought about our crowd of "sophisticates".

Anyhow, if Dylan rings your chimes, let 'em ring.

Tom Maddux
Famous Music and Art Critic

[DavidM]

     Then there are the crowd followers who do things because they want to be "sophisticated". (quote Tom)
 
Tom, I read ya man! I read ya! People are just doing it because they want to be "cool" they want to be "groovy" But man you aren't taking me for one of those cats! Like man, I'm flying too high to see their point of view! Like I've already forgotten more than they'll ever know!

  Now take my man Bob. He's so hip he tells it like it issss!


      By the end of 1963, Dylan felt both manipulated and constrained by the folk-protest movement. Accepting the "Tom Paine Award" from the National Emergency Civil Liberties Committee at a ceremony shortly after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, a drunken, rambling Dylan questioned the role of the committee, insulted its members as old and balding, and claimed to see something of himself (and of every man) in assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Quote Wikapedia Bob Dylan

[Oscar]

Dave,

Actually, I don't know quite what to "take you for".  However, now that I think about it I am aware that the Baby Boomers are far more into "getting into the music" and "feeling groovy" than my generation was.

This is what produced such a change in church music during the 1960's and 70's.  People moved away from the traditional "teaching" hymns and to "worship choruses" that spoke to their emotions rather than their minds.

I noticed long ago that people at rock concerts and people at Pentecostal meetings frequently act alike.  They raise their hands in the air, sway back and forth in time to the music, jump up and down, sing along with their eyes closed, and occassionally just "wig out".

Tom Maddux
Famous Music and Art Critic