The “greatest human voice” Tom Waits has ever heard
There are some voices that will truly have you believing that god exists, even if you’re an atheist. If you’re a believer already, then there are some voices that will surely have your faith even more secure and certain than ever.
For Tom Waits, a man who is creatively spiritual but agnostic from day to day, there is one man’s voice who always almost sends him running straight to church.
It’s a complex one, though, and one that divides opinions not just between fans and non-fans, but between fans across years, as this god-given voice seems to have been about ten different voices in one, changing decade by decade.
But for Waits, his opinion on this one true, great voice doesn’t seem to be so much about its singing quality at all. He’s not talking about actual vocal ability, range or timbre. Instead, ‘voice’ is a stand-in that should be taken with its highest meaning. He’s not talking about a performer. Instead, he’s talking about a man he sees as an auricle, or a true arbiter – a bard, a scops.
“Before epic tales and poems were ever written down, they migrated on the winds of the human voice and no voice is greater than Dylan’s,” Waits said. In a statement put out to celebrate Dylan’s Nobel Prize win in 2016, he declared the musical icon the greatest human voice around.
Is he talking about Dylan’s singing? Likely not.
While the folk star started out with a beautiful voice that could weave through his range from high notes to dark, deep, velvety depths, it quickly became almost unrecognisable. By the late 1970s and early ‘80s recordings, it’s almost tough to believe that it’s the same man, as suddenly Dylan’s voice sounded like he’d sat down and smoked 100 packs of cigarettes in quick succession before going into the booth.
However, given that Waits’ own voice has gone on a similar journey, taking him from the sweet tones of his earliest ballads into the gruffness of his later work, perhaps he sees a relatability there, or sees real beauty in their mutually morphing vocal cords.
But, given that the statement came on the topic of literature, and Waits is musing on folkloric tales, we can safely assume that this isn’t about singing voice, but about lyrical voice and the power of a message. And, in that way, it’s easy to agree with him that there is no voice greater given the sheer volume of lyrical poetry Dylan has covered over the years, and the staggering amount of timeless classics within that pile.
The contents of it also have to be considered, as while Dylan infamously turned his back on protest songwriting, the impact of his earlier socially-engaged work still feels vital, while the beauty and heartache of his later, more universal songs of love, heartbreak, annoyance and desire all hold up too.
He was prolific, and it’s tough to think of another person who managed both quantity and quality at the same time with the same voracity. So when Waits is talking about the greatest voice around, it’s about that – more about the pen than the mic.
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