I’ll stick with terrible. Not a single one of the quoted bits of lyrics-as-poetry move me at all. Most of them make me laugh, in fact.
I like Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower, but it isn’t for the lyrics.
Note: I’m not arguing Dylan wasn’t influential. Hell, I’m probably the biggest Billy Bragg fan in Cape Town, and where would he be without Dylan (Or Guthrie or Ochs…) *I *just don’t like Dylan’s lyrical voice. It’s similar to how I feel about Johnny Cash. Bleh!
His early work was as The Poet of the first of us boomers.
To be fair, the poll question does say songwriting. I know that’s not what prompted the OP, though.
Dylan is the one musician/songwriterfrom the 1960’s who I am sure will be remembered 500 years from now. He is fantastic.
I voted so-so.
If it weren’t for his distinctive voice, he’d just be another folk-guitar guy.
The Beastie Boys rapped that line! It gets quoted in a song on Hot Sauce Committee Part Two.
“When you’re lost in the rain in Juarez, and it’s Eastertime too…”
Not just great, but the greatest.
And why are so many speaking of him in the past tense?
mmm
ETA:
I would suggest that possibly the deficiency lays not with Dylan.
I voted “Great!” above, but as time has gone by, I’m beginning to think that Leonard Cohen is probably the better lyricist, albeit less accessible and more complex than Dylan. Dylan’s phrases are catchy and resonant; Cohen’s make you stop what you’re doing - whatever you’re doing - and process what you just heard.
Define rocker. Explain why “Like a Rollin’ Stone” does not qualify.
Actually, many people think he is a folk singer who turned into a rocker. Actually he is a rocker (in Minnesota) who turned into a folk singer who turned back into a rocker. Check out the very early “Mixed Up Confusion.” Not great rock, but definitely rock.
I voted great. In my junior year of college, 1971-72, I put up a different Dylan line every day on my door. And all I had were the pre-accident albums and some bootlegs.
He also has tremendous range as a writer. Consider Freewheelin’, which contains both the most moving after the war song (Hard Rain) and the funniest after the war song (Talkin’ WW III Blues.) And he not only has some of the best protest songs he has maybe the best Vietnam War protest song that hardly anyone knows is a protest song - Tombstone Blues.
Yeah, he has some dogs - I despise “Joey” - but his average is higher than anyone - especially over such a long career.
Glib nonsense.
:rolleyes:
Was this called for, at all? I don’t like his lyrical style, that makes me “deficient?”
This, I can easily agree with.
No; laughing at lyrics that aren’t humorous, though? Hey, I have a deficiency or two myself.
No, but considering him a terrible songwriter because you dislike his style may do. If you are generally unable to recognise talent or skill in something that you dislike, that is certainly a deficiency.
Coincidentally, it was the mid-'70s for me too and Desire was also my first Dylan album. I took to it immediately. Whatever the merits of “Hurricane”'s lyrics may or may not be, musically it’s terrific. “Oh Sister” has extremely questionable lyrics too, but musically it’s so lovely I can’t help enjoying it. Emmylou has a lot to do with that. The Andalusian chord progression and melisma of “One More Cup of Coffee” has always made it one of my favorites, especially as a jam tune.
Once I was hooked, there was no stopping. “Mr. Tambourine Man” still stands out as one of the greatest musical revelations of all time and it revolutionized my young mind like nothing else.
It’s funny, when my Catholic Church got out the guitars in 1968–69, at first they sang “Blowin’ in the Wind” at Mass, but then replaced the original lyrics and sang the same tune with Catholic-type lyrics.
I am approximately the right age to love Dylan, born in 1959, a kid sister to the baby boom, though I caught on late. Politically Dylan has been all over the place or noplace, but as a left liberal I always liked his anti-racist, anti-war, pro-working class lyrics. But the lyrics of “When You Gonna Wake Up” and “Neighborhood Bully” left me ice-cold, ugh. I think Dylan is at his best when he hits the sweet spot in his visionary, prophetic voice, exemplified by “Blind Willie McTell,” which may be the best song he’s ever done.
I laugh because they are definitely not, for me, poetry that will last 500 years, as someone intimated. They’re certainly not the best lyrics of the last 50. Like the post the OP referenced, I can think of 6 lyricists I rate a lot higher off the top of my head.
Oh, I’m able to recognise talent. Dylan is certainly talented. But that doesn’t mean his songwriting appeals to me, so to me he’s a terrible songwriter. Because to be a good songwriter for me, I kind of have to like your output. The OP wasn’t “What is the critical consensus on Dylan” it was “How do YOU rate Dylan”
It’s kind of like how Yngwie Malmsteen may be “technically” a good guitarist, but he gives me the heaves.
Dylan’s not that extreme - I even like a couple of his songs. But given the size of his output, and that I outright despise some of his work (Just Like A Woman, for starters) that’s a very tiny number, so “Terrible” seemed the best pick of the options given.
You don’t think he’s singing about a female sibling, do you?
http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/bobdylan/ohsister.html
I’m certain the references to “sister”, “brother” and “Our Father” are in the figurative religious sense, i.e. the all men are my brothers, all women are my sisters, we all have one Father kind of deal.
P.S. I voted “Great”, because I think he is great, but I don’t think he’s the greatest of all time. I couldn’t say that about anybody. I think it’s kind of a dumb thing to say about anything, really.
Do you like Hendrix’s All Along the Watchtower for the music? Who do you think wrote the music?