Yeah, that's the way I figure it too, Dorothy. I've never been able to put up with listening to Tom Waites, for example, simply because of the sound of his voice...but I do understand that he's written some very fine songs.

When I was around 16 years old, I had a friend who loved Dylan, but I gave only the briefest listen to Bob at the time and decided I couldn't stand his voice! I already knew that I loved his songs...as recorded by Joan Baez or Judy Collins or PPM...but I didn't want to hear him sing them at all. I was a real purist in those days. ;-) The singers I liked all had conventionally very good voices, and that was the only thing I wanted to hear.

Then when I was 21 my guitar teacher advised me to listen to Bob Dylan...I bought Highway 61 Revisited...and it was like a revelation! I absolutely loved Bob's singing from that moment on.

Admittedly, his voice has deteriorated drastically in the last decade and a half. He sounds a lot like Tom Waites now... ;-D

It's basically just a matter of personal taste as to what people like, and people can develop a taste for anything if the time is right, and if they decide to like it for some reason.

I'd say that Leonard Cohen was a pretty poor...though quite expressive...singer in the early years. He has become a far better singer in the later part of his life as he moved into the lower range of his voice and learned to relax it and bring out the resonance. I really like the way he sings now.