Claudia, in 1961 Woody Guthrie said about Dylan, "That boy’s got a voice. Maybe he won’t make it with his writing but he can sing it, he can really sing it.”
And here's Dylan in a speech he once gave:
Quote:
Sam Cooke said this when told he had a beautiful voice: He said, “Well that’s very kind of you, but voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are. Instead they matter only if they convince you that they are telling the truth.” Think about that the next time you are listening to a singer.
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I agree with Dylan/Cooke completely, and it's why I love Dylan's singing. Dylan's singing always convinces me that he is telling the truth. That's the main quality that attracts me. But he's also quite musical. He doesn't miss notes, for the most part, though he often gives greater priority to how he says a word or a phrase than he does to how the melody wants him to say it.
The other day I came across a song of Dylan's that I didn't remember ever hearing before. It's not his best song, but it's a very good song, and I offer it up as a random example of what I consider to be very solid, musical, expressive singing.
Here it is.