Sometimes the only person who can sing Dylan is Bob, ya know?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

I just had a jones to hear "I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)" and was too lazy to dig out my CD, and since I was in Rhapsody, I thought "I wonder who else has done this?"

So here's Glen Campbell, and I thought OK...

...but NO! Too polite, too well-mannered, too much coloring inside of the lines. Made it through the first 30 seconds and could take no more.

So I switched over to Bob Live '66...loud, snotty, droning, magnificent.

I thought the Dead handled Bob well, and of course Hendrix...but beyond that, nothing beats the original.

:toast:

[pokerfan]

1. I'm not a fan of covers in general

but I really like Cash's cover of 'I Won't back Down.'

[Connonym]

2. Absofuckinglutely

same goes for John Hiatt and Leonard Cohen. And really Springsteen too if you think about some of the covers of his shit. They may have rough voices but it totally works with what they write.

[cemaphonic]

3. agreed

People mock his nasal tone and um, *unique* approach to portamento. But his rhythm and phrasing are usually tailored perfectly to the lyrics he is singing. Take the Byrd's cover of "Mr. Tamborine Man." Great vocal harmonies and guitar arrangement, but the rhythms are completely squared off, and the whole song just seems kinda lifeless to me. Plus his voice just has character, which counts for a lot more in popular music than a studied bel canto would. See also, Johnny Cash and Tom Waits.

Hendrix does do a good job with him (in general, his status as guitar god has made his singing underrated.) Not enough of a Dead fan to be familiar with their Dylan covers, but I can see it, since they are coming from the same Blues/Folk/Weird Americana Roots background that Dylan is.

[Lady Freedom]

4. It's a lot easier to listen to Dylan after...

[murielm99]

5. LOL

You are obsessed with those drinks today.

Actually, I like the way Susan Tedeschi sings Dylan. But then I like her a lot.

[Lady Freedom]

6. Didn't you know?

[Nickster]

7. Rage Against the Machine does a pretty mean Maggie's Farm.

[corporatemedia]

8. I have a double LP of from the 60s with Joan Baez doing all Dylan covers - cool...

I look forward to hearing it again one of these years when I get around to replacing my busted turntable.

[Richard Steele]

9. The only way I can listen to Dylan is if I get stoned and pretend he's Floyd the Barber...

That's amusing enough to be tolerable.

Barely.

Sometimes.

If I'm in just the right mood.

[KG]

10. Jimmy Lafave - he make Dylan songs his own.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USJss9OpJGU&feature=related


more Lafave; americas best kept musical secret.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A_urvc-C9zc

[Bennyboy]

11. Dylan on the Dead...

From Rolling Stone:http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/11216877/the_modern_times_of_bob_dylan_a_legend_comes_to_grips_with_his_iconic_status/2

I've always wanted to ask: When a song suddenly appears on a given evening's set list, retrieved from among the hundreds in his back catalog, is it because Dylan's been listening to his old records? "I don't listen to any of my records. When you're inside of it, all you're listening to is a replica. I don't know why somebody would look at the movies they make -- you don't read your books, do you?" Point taken. He expands on the explanation he offered for "Blind Willie McTell": "Strangely enough, sometimes we'll hear a cover of a song and figure we can do it just as well. If somebody else thought so highly of it, why don't I? Some of these arrangements I just take. The Dead did a lot of my songs, and we'd just take the whole arrangement, because they did it better than me. Jerry Garcia could hear the song in all my bad recordings, the song that was buried there. So if I want to sing something different, I just bring out one of them Dead records and see which one I wanna do. I never do that with my records." Speaking of which: "I've heard it said, you've probably heard it said, that all the arrangements change night after night. Well, that's a bunch of bullshit, they don't know what they're talkin' about. The arrangements don't change night after night. The rhythmic structures are different, that's all. You can't change the arrangement night after night -- it's impossible."


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEg41k3Shq0 I Shall Be Released.......

[baldguy]

12. The Pulitzer Prize-winning Bob Dylan

[mitchum]

13. Dylan may not be much of a singer, but he is a great vocalist...

I was also listening to Live '66 this morning. My, students and assistants don't really care for it, but hey...it's my classroom

[Burma Jones]

14. Absolutely - but lately you need an interpreter

I took my two older kids (10 and 7) to see Bob last fall and I had to whisper the lyrics to my son because Bob is pretty unintelligible these days, my daughter fell asleep, but she really liked the opening act which was Elvis Costello playing solo.

After the show, I asked the kids what they thought, my son told me that Dylan sounded to him like a cross between a Hobo and an Angry Mouse.....which about summed it up.

For all those that think Bob can't sing - all I can say is pfffffftttt, nonsense.