How much more popular would Dylan's music have been if he'd had Joan Baez sing many of the songs?

One thing's for sure - instead of having practically the entire Dylan catalog, I'd probably have none of it.

I'll never get the desire here by many to alter classic records or change an iconic lead singer in legendary bands, but now to have had the music of an icon of 20th Century pop music and culture sung by a folk singer with a nice voice???

 

What, give her his songs instead of singing them himself? Why would anyone want to hear that warbling wahoo trill any more Dylan songs than she did? He didn't need her of all people to do that, he acquited himself by himself quite well.

 

No

 

Heck, Baez is probably remembered in large part because of her association with Dylan, rather than anything she did herself.

 

Dylan's voice is as important a talent as his writing. One of the great singers and his versions of other peoples songs are more often than not sublime. Baez is not in the same league as a singer. All a matter of opinion of course!

 

I thought she, like Buffy St Marie, sounded like she was singing through a fan.

 

was...

 

come on! she has a prettier voice. LOL!

 

He sounds wonderful on Shadows In The Night. Live vocals were a bit shaky for a while but back in form in the past couple of years.

 

later/recent Bob vocals make me itch...

 

They definitely divide opinion!

 

Fixed.

 

I bought one Joan Baez album(Diamonds and Rust) due to the title cut which I LOVE. However, I really didn't like the rest of her vocals at all. I'm sure I could find music by her that I could enjoy-but she's NO Bob Dylan when it comes to singing his songs-or otherwise in my humble opinion. Someone mentioned Adele-now THERE'S someone that could cover Dylan's music(i'll bet).

 

BUT, we still love Bob!

 

Juses Mutherf*ckin' Kriste. only on this forum. only in this world of all worlds.
holy m f in lord. my gowd. what a question. of all things. i mean, come on.

 

Joan Baez's style of singing is badly dated, sounds like a parody of a sixties folk voice, whereas Dylan was already a rock' roller before he went electric.
Some say Dylan is not a great singer, but attitude is so much more important than pitch.

 

Dylan is not a great singer but he WAS a great vocalist! And BTW, Adele, for those unaware of her (where ya bin?), is an immensely talented singer AND songwriter. She's one of the most successful recording artists the UK has ever produced, bigger than The Beatles! Yes, she writes her own songs! I don't know what a "T & A singer" is supposed to be but I'm betting she isn't what you're thinking. Her version of "Make You Feel My Love" is better than Dylan's. To this date I don't know how she found that song. I doubt she's a fan of his.

Like Dylan she also has real attitude to spare. Blimey, I'm beginning to sound like her PR man - I should state that beyond the fact I own both her albums (as does 99% of UK households) I am not really a "fan" of her. But the gal can sing.

 

Huh?

 

Emperor's New Clothes. How anyone can say an embarrassingly weak, out of tune, straining and painful vocal performance is "wonderful" is beyond my comprehension. Each to their own.

 

I don't like Joan's voice at all. Bob has done quite well without her.

 

To my ears Joan has a great "traditional singing" voice but she warbles a bit too much for me. Also, her singing rarely seems to vary much irrespective of the material. Has she sung the phone book yet?

 

please elaborate on warbles.

 

IMO, not a chance....

 

I think this kind of answers the original question definitively. It's not a 'what if' scenario: Baez did sing many of his songs, and we can look up the relative sales figures and see how much more popular Bob Dylan singing Bob Dylan turned out to be.

 

I don't think he could have been much more popular than he was.

Generally I prefer the covers, particularly It Ain't Me Babe by the Turtles, This Wheel's on Fire by Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger, and My Back Pages by the Byrds, among others. Even Joan Baez did at least one album of covers, including a most enjoyable version of Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowland, which I like to dig out once in a while.