Is Bob Dylan taking the proverbial?

That's just wrong for him. Miserable dirge.

It was never his voice. It was something else.

merlotgran Thank you - I was racking my brain to think what piece of music is was. I think it was used in a film classic wasn't it?

I thought the voice was OK but the effect was pretty corny.

Interesting - I once heard quite an elderly singer performing Schubert's song cycle Winterreise, which is basically about decline and age, and his voice was weak and shaky - but boy was it moving. His lack of vocal strength (with its underlying remaining singing skills) created an extraordinary atmosphere. Not a dry eye in the house.

Bob Dylan never did have a great voice - but his voice had character and his lyrics were special - he should stick to what he does best I think.

I just had a listen Tegan. It's very moving.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=vt1Pwfnh5pc

Rachmaninov will be turning in his grave.

'Hurt' is one of the most beautiful cover versions ever. I first heard it after I'd been through a divorce and it crippled me.

I've always loved Bob Dylan, both for the quality of his voice and his lyrics.

Of course, the voice is now a shadow of its former self but somehow, for me, the old Dylan charisma remains.

There are countless good voices about but only a few have that certain something which makes them stand out from the rest.

Incidentally, Johny Cash did something similar. On an album he brought out just before he died, his voice is wobbly and without any power but somehow there is a poignant quality. I always feel emotional when I listen to it.

He never had much of a voice, did he? I agree that he's written some wonderful lyrics.

I nearly went to see Dylan a few years ago but changed my mind; then someone told me that his voice had completely gone and that I would have been disappointed anyway. The whole point about Dylan is that he is one of the greatest lyricists ever; in fact I've read articles that have said that he is on a parr with the greatest of poets [I don't know much about poetry so can't say if that is correct or not, but it wouldn't surprise me if it is]. So him doing cover versions of songs that had been sung by the greatest vocalists of recent years is a bit daft imo. I bought his last album because of it having rave reviews and probably listened to it twice before I gave up on it .