re: Explain Dylan

There’s like 4 tones at least.
Early he put on a hillbilly twang
Prime was the most recognizable and least ‘put on’. Jewish nasally
Country tenor croon for Nashville Skylin
Old man gravelly

Even with lessons his voice wouldn't be close to perfect. That isn't the point in taking lessons as no perfect voice exists. It is taking the raw vocals that you have and improving it but more importantly taking care of your voice as you age.

He would sound better but he just didn't have the vocal talent at a level that he could rely just on his singing and not just writing songs. I listened to him sing when he got older and it was terrible. The voice is like a muscle, if you don't work it then you will lose power and strength.

A good example is David Lee Roth and Sammy Hagar. Roth was well known as a showman but had a mediocre voice. Hagar wasn't as good of a showman but he was the superior vocalist and made fun of Roth sounding so bad now as he said in an interview that he didn't take care of his voice like he had. He said had he bothered to take some form of lessons he would have kept his voice in good shape.

He had a decent to good voice when he was much younger but it isn't good now.

The point of no return.

So once you understand lyrics in Visions of Johanna then you’ll begin to see genius of Dylan. He’s kind of a mystic. Just know that Johanna is spiritual and Louise is mind/ego.

This song right here .. I don't discuss politics online so I ain't taking a stance on anything or anyone, but listen to the lyrics of this song strictly from a nonpartisan standpoint, throw parties and the current election out of the mix, and tell me that it doesn't hit you in the gut and make you think about things:

We live in a political world
Where love don't have any place
We're living in times where men commit crimes
And crime don't have a face
We live in a political world
Icicles hangin' down
Wedding bells ring and angels sing
And clouds cover up the ground
We live in a political world
Wisdom is thrown into jail
It rots in a cell misguided as hell
Leaving no one to pick up the trail
We live in a political world
Where mercy walks the plank
Life is in mirrors, death disappears
Up the steps into the nearest bank
We live in a political world
Courage is a thing of the past
The houses are haunted, children aren't wanted
Your next day could be your last
We live in a political world
The one we can see and feel
But there's no one to check, it's all a stacked deck
We all know for sure that it's real
We live in a political world
The cities are a lonesome fear
Little by little, you turn in the middle
But you're never sure why you're here
We live in a political world
Under the microscope
You could travel anywhere and hang yourself there
You've always got more than enough rope
We live in a political world
Turning and a-thrashing about
As soon as you're awake, you're trained to take
What looks like the easy way out
We live in a political world
Where peace is not welcome at all
It's turned away from the door to wander some more
Or put up against the wall
We live in a political world
Every thing's hers and his
Climb into the flame and shout God's name
But you're not even sure what it is

Some people feel like their opinion of a song, musician, guitarists etc. is THE answer and anybody who has a different opinion is dead wrong. I've seen it on this very forum many times.
That said, I love Dylan. He's a hell of a story teller, song writer and has a unique singing style that perfectly fits HIM. Go figure.

He's such a great song writer that he's managed to get away with singing too.

quote:

---

What?

---

Yep. For example:

Don't Think Twice, It's Alright - the melody is from another folk song that was long in the public domain

Blowin' in the Wind - melody taken from a black slavery spiritual


Yet, when you read the liner notes, it says "words and music by Bob Dylan". WTF does that even mean? By FAR the hardest part of songwriting is the melody.

Here's a list of Dylan tunes "based on earlier tunes".