Should Dylan retire?
By duluthwatch on Dec 21, 2010 in Music
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal asked whether 69-year-old Bob Dylan should retire from the concert stage.
However, Jon Jurgensen, author of the WSJ piece “When To Leave The Stage,” wasn’t zeroing in on Dylan’s age as the reason for the troubadour to cash in his musical 401k. Instead, much of Jurgensen’s essay was about Dylan’s voice, describing it as a “laryngitic croak.”
Wall Street Journal Article here.
Dylan is no crooner. He never has been a singer. The author is a moron.
Mr. Dylan sounding very fresh on an outtake from Time Out of Mind.
If nobody is going to his concerts, or he is no longer having any fun, then yes he should retire. But why retire if people are still paying to hear him and he enjoys it?
I go to see him not his voice. McCartney looks older, should he retire too? I like Neil Young and he sings a bit off as well. Somebody said he sounds like that rusty truck he sings about. They are all super stars.
Is the WSJ writer trying to compare what an artist does to what an athlete does? Favre isn’t getting the Vikes to the Super Bowl, so he should retire. Dylan isn’t … what? … allowed to grow old? He is certainly still making money and has a humongous fan base.
Listen to the Rolling Thunder Tour recordings (or any recordings, for that matter). Even at his most obtuse and contrary, he sings the shit out of the songs and he’s on key. Then he pulls the “I can’t sing” thing on the next song. I think he’s singing the way he is today because he wants to. He’s being the old grizzled man we see. I have a hunch he can still sing, but chooses to bark. The voice is a funny thing — if there was something really wrong with his voice he would not be able to get through a show, even if he’s just growling. Must be Santa!
I wish Bob Dylan’s fetishist fans would retire.
A paid journalist from the Wall Street Journal does nary a Dylan expert make. His job is to come up with something by deadline, and figure out how Bob could be spending his money. The ‘endless tour’ is what he promised us, and is delivering. It’s in his blood, the original vagabond. He probably still crashes on couches for effect.
This animal called Capitalism compels all of us to shake our money maker to the bitter end because you can never have enough to pay the doctors. However, rock and roll does seem to be an art form which bonds strongly to youth, like ballet. Few buck this trend.
Reports of this last decade’s shows are all over the map. The aforementioned artists did their best work early, or when a women was lost, as in the case of Rolling Thunder era, when his muse was spurned.
Last year, I found my brand new copy of “Christmas in the Heart” a week after Christmas at the Tower Ave Goodwill for three bucks, but I sort of shamelessly enjoy the drunken Poindexteresque singing style … “Must Be Santa,” “Silver Bells,” “Do You Hear What I Hear?” It’s not nearly as moving as “Let Me Die in my Footsteps,” but he’s still out there doing it his way, like a wild thing. And that’s the bottom line.
Will an Iron Ranger quit a high paying job?
I’m gonna have to agree with Sparhawk. Plus, there’s something enduring about his 1990′s-and-beyond voice. You get used to the mumble and grumble. The way he tries to cram all those words into a phrase … Aaaaah grandpa! Also, a ranger will stick with any job that pays more than L&M or da mines heh?