Listen to Tom Waits teaching Bob Dylan Jewish swear words on his radio show
Bob Dylan carries a shimmering legacy as the ultimate gravelly-voiced poet, a troubadour welcoming and worthy of the highest praise. While his voice has never been traditionally “perfect”, he has always given a distinctly human edge to his poetry, helping it travel that extra yard.
“It’s a funny voice,” Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones once said in defence of Dylan’s unique vocals during an appearance on a Dutch television programme. “It’s like a voice that’s never been one of the great tenors of our time, but it’s got a timbre, a projection, and it’s got a feeling to it.”
If one sought gravelly-voiced poets of competing stature, the first two names to arise would invariably be Leonard Cohen and Tom Waits. The two may not have been as prolific nor culturally seismic as Dylan, but they offer a very similar warmth to their absorbing lyrics; hence they’re difficult to ignore as rivalling talents.
As it happens, there was never any tangible rivalry between these gifted singer-songwriters, with each generally showing admiration for the others over the years. Dylan once honoured Cohen, explaining why the late singer was a genius, and on another occasion, Waits revealed his undying love for Dylan.
“Suffice it to say Dylan is a planet to be explored,” Waits told The Guardian in 2005 after revealing his love for Dylan’s 1975 album The Basement Tapes. “For a songwriter, Dylan is as essential as a hammer and nails and a saw are to a carpenter… His journey as a songwriter is the stuff of myth because he lives within the ether of the songs.”
Paying tribute to Dylan following his reception of the Nobel Prize for Literature, Waits described him as a “master”. Detailing further, he said: “It’s a great day for Literature and for Bob when a Master of its original form is celebrated. 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.”
Between 2006 and 2009, Dylan took up residency at Sirius XM radio for 100 episodes of his show ‘Theme Time radio Hour’. The satellite radio programme allowed the folk-rock icon to trace his musical education to bring listeners some of his favourite music from the last century. In between the tunes, Dylan would offer commentary, discussing his thoughts, musical and otherwise.
The commentary intervals would often feature phone-ins from some of Dylan’s fellow celebrities; one of the most frequent visitors was Waits. The California singer-songwriter would send Dylan cassette tapes for his pre-recorded show to spin the yarn and give Dylan some interesting topics to mull over, including a brief education in Jewish swear words.
Listen to a collection of audio snippets from Tom Waits and Bob Dylan’s comical Sirius XM interactions below.
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