Nick Mason on why he “can’t stand” Bob Dylan’s songs
Not every legendary artist is meant to be everyone’s cup of tea. As much as people get praised to high heaven for how well they work off of their bandmates or their superior approach to writing lyrics, there are bound to be some people who think that music is the equivalent of nails on a chalkboard half the time. Even though Pink Floyd has joined the ranks in the hallowed halls of greatest rock artists ever, Nick Mason has never been shy when discussing his contemporaries.
Of course, Pink Floyd didn’t exactly knock it out of the park on their first records. Despite having a stellar psychedelic experience on The Piper at the Gates of Dawn, hearing them try to make the best music they could without Syd Barrett came together with a fairly audible thud most of the time on albums like A Saucerful of Secrets or Ummagumma.
While they were focused on testing the limits of what rock music could sound like, Bob Dylan had already been shaping what could be said in a traditional rock song. Despite starting out as a folk superstar, hearing him embrace rock and roll credentials and go electric is still one of the most important moments in music history, marking the beginning of folk-rock and Dylan shaking off the shackles of his ‘voice of a generation’ persona.
It’s not like Dylan’s impact was lost on Roger Waters, either. Throughout Pink Floyd’s career, Waters’ strange turns of phrase wouldn’t have existed had Dylan not used clever wordplay in tunes like ‘Masters of War’, but there is one hurdle that every fan of the folk icon has to jump through at least once: his voice.
Although he has been praised to hell and back for his songwriting, Dylan’s voice has been an acquired taste for nearly everyone who hears him. Despite having some brilliant pieces in his songs, hearing him struggle to hit notes always seems to toe the line between being a carbon copy of Woody Guthrie and the dying sounds of a cat when he tries to shoot for the higher notes in his range.
And while Mason could still appreciate the lyrical analysis, he had no tolerance for Dylan’s voice, saying, “He’s produced good work, behaved erratically and then continued to produce good work, rather than fulfil what people expect, which is to produce good work, behave erratically, go mad and explode. And I think that’s enormously endearing. Can’t stand his songs, though.”
It’s not hard to see why, either. As much as a tune like ‘All Along the Watchtower’ works well in the context of the times, there’s a reason why it’s been made famous by someone like Jimi Hendrix, if only because Hendrix has the stronger voice and could turn it into something completely different.
Then again, there’s a certain magic that comes with a songwriter singing their material by themselves. It might not be the note-perfect rendition that everyone wants, but the vulnerability behind their performance is something that no one else would be able to do justice to.
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