Susanne - I felt exactly like that until age 20...loved Dylan's songs and hated his singing. I liked smooth singing, as done by Joan Baez or Ian Tyson, for example, or most of the other folksingers.

Then, all of a sudden at age 20 I started really listening to Bob himself with full attention, and the conversion could not have been more sudden or dramatic. I loved his voice. It had so much bite, so much intensity, so much LIFE...totally raw to the bone. It expressed so perfectly what he was saying. It expressed what I was feeling. His singing was just downright incredible.

So, I can understand that you don't like his voice...having been there myself for quite a few years. I don't expect you ever will like it, either, but who knows? You might get bitten by the bug when you least expect it.

No one else will ever be able to sing Dylan like Dylan. Listen to "Gates of Eden" or "Blind Willie McTell" and see what I mean.

- LH