I'm a professional quality singer too, and I KNOW Dylan can sing....like a friggin' hurricane...or he could, I mean, up until quite recently. Cigarettes and whisky have mostly destroyed his voice by now, specially the upper range. I know from listening to his recordings that he had a greater range than I do, and mine is quite good. I'm amazed sometimes at the high notes he hit in his early career (and I don't mean falsetto either). He could sing both lower AND higher than I can...on pitch. I've seen a movie where he and Tom Petty sing into the same mike on some songs at the same time. His voice is twice as powerful as Petty's. Now, Tom Petty is thought to be able to sing okay by most people, right? People who say that Dylan "can't sing". Well, Dylan blows Petty right off the stage in those scenes. This was in the 80's.

Martin, you are in a pitiable state. I suggest a stiff shot of Jack Daniels and a dip headfirst in the old rain barrel or somethin'. :-) You're losin' it, man. You're makin' a monkey out of yourself, and it's makin' Chongo jealous. Just stop, okay? (grin)

Dylan "one-dimensional"? Holy hoppin' Jaysus, man, what are you on???? He's the most multi-dimensional performer in popular music. You must've smoked waaaay too much dope back then.

Lookie here, Martin...a superficial and fragmentary knowledge of any artist's repertoire can easily give the impression that the artist is one-dimensional, when really it's the problem of the observer, not the artist in question. If all you know is a few of his well known radio hits, you don't know much about Bob Dylan.

Pied Piper - Yeah, the word "orbit" is a little strange in that context. It works, but it's odd. I always wondered if the "songs of freedom" was a swipe at Joan Baez or at Dylan himself when younger (or both)...or at the industry in general...or all three. Here's another odd line from the same song: "In this world of fiberglass I'm searching for a gem"

Fiberglass is not the word I would have chosen in that line, although the metaphor is clear as to what he means. I would have maybe said "artifice" or something. Fiberglass indicates that which is fabricated and artificial, yes, but still it doesn't ring quite right for me.

There are some great lines in the song though...

"The crystal ball upon the wall hasn't shown me nothing yet
I've paid the price of solitude, but at least I'm out of debt"

When he speaks of someone being "beaten till he's tame...all for a moment's glory and it's a dirty rotten shame" I think he is speaking very much of his own experience in being a hugely famous performer, used by wealthy managers (like Albert Grossman) and wealthy record companies...beaten till tame...all for the moment's passing glory of fame...and realizing at the end that he's been used for a totally empty and ultimately pointless endeavour that did not deliver him from bondage or make him happy. Seduced by the glory, used up, and cast off when exhausted. A slave in orbit? Yeah. Sign a contract to do, say, 300 shows a year and you ARE a slave in orbit...going around and around the World again and again, while the management gets rich and you get strung out and lose your private life and your health. It's happened to so many, not just Dylan. It nearly killed him by '66, until he abandoned it (temporarily) in 1967 and stopped touring and looked for salvation in marriage and children and a quiet home life away from the fame.

Eight years later the marriage failed, which had to be his greatest disillusionment of all...and he returned to doing the one thing he appeared destined to do, go out on a stage and play music. He has done so ever since.

It ain't the fame, it ain't the glory, it ain't the money...it's the experience of actually playing the songs live. That's what counts. A recording is just a snapshot of a moment in the past. A live performance is the real thing, moving and breathing right in your hand. Nothing else like it, so he keeps doing it as long as he can.