Tom Jones remembers singing his favourite song with his musical “idol”
Although Tom Jones emerged in the 1960s alongside The Beatles’ towering presence, his style was less progressive. The Welsh crooner adopted a pop sound that was more in keeping with the previous couple of decades, which jazz-inspired musicians like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin dominated. From his traditional setting, Jones was initially critical of some contemporary stars, especially Bob Dylan, whose voice was far from conventional.
Though it was released in 1964, Jones’ second single, ‘It’s Not Unusual’, struck number one in 1965 and set a precedent for the remainder of the year, which would turn out to be the most momentous of his career. Concurrently, Bob Dylan, an established young folk star on the other side of the Atlantic, was beginning to welcome rock influences to his folk style. In August 1965, he made history with his bold, controversial decision to “go electric” during his set at the famous Newport Folk Festival.
Jones caught wind of Dylan’s work earlier in the decade and failed to connect with his voice. However, that all changed in the summer of ’65 when he first laid ears on Dylan’s early folk hit ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’ while touring in the US.
“I wasn’t struck by Dylan’s voice at first,” he admitted to The Guardian. “But then I heard ‘Blowin’ in the Wind’, and I’ve been a fan ever since. The lyrics are fantastic. He’s basically asking, ‘How many times do we have to go through all this shit before we realise that we’re fucking up the world?'”
Noting Dylan’s talent for vivid imagery and culturally pertinent themes, Jones suggested that the song was among his all-time favourites in songwriting terms. “He paints pictures with his songs so you can see things happening,” he added. “What good am I if I just stand by and let things happen that I know I should be changing? He was the first singer-songwriter to make me think.”
Jones has remained a big fan of Dylan’s work over the past six decades despite his preference for conventional singing styles. In 2010, he recorded a cover of Dylan’s 1989 song ‘What Good Am I’ for his album Praise & Blame and in 2021, he recorded the 1976 Desire cut ‘One More Cup of Coffee’ for his album Surrounded By Time. With his earthy Welsh croon and Dylan’s lyrics, Jones might fancy that he recorded some of the greatest songs around.
When it comes to singing, Jones sees Whitney Houston, Aretha Franklin, Prince and Stevie Wonder as about as good as it gets. In a Q&A with the BBC, the ‘What’s New Pussycat?’ singer revealed that he would love to have been a judge on The Voice many decades ago and to have discovered one of these eminent vocalists.
Elsewhere in the conversation, Jones revealed the point at which clever songwriting and compelling vocals converge. For him, nothing beats Jerry Lee Lewis’s early rock ‘n’ roll single, ‘Great Balls of Fire’. Jones described the 1957 classic as his “favourite record of all time,” adoringly referring to Lewis as “The Killer” of Sun Records.
Jones continued to describe Lewis, who passed away in 2022 aged 87, as his “idol” and reflected on their duet as one of his career highlights. “The most memorable duet I’ve ever done in my life is with my idol Jerry Lee Lewis when he was on my TV show in England in 1969,” he beamed. “It was at Elstree Studios, the same place where we’re doing our Live Voice UK shows, believe it or not!” During the medley, the pair set out with a rendition of ‘Great Balls of Fire’.
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