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Who Is Better?
#1

Who Is Better?
Paul Simon or Bob Dylan?

I love both.. For Paul Simon, I'll offer

1.  Bridge Over Troubled Water
2.  Sound Of Silence
3.  Scarborough Fair
4.  Homeward Bound
5.  I Am A Rock
6.  Diamonds On the Soles Of Her Shoes.

For Bob Dylan:

1.  Like a Rolling Stone
2.  Tangled Up In Blue
3.  All Along The Watchtower
4.  It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
5.  Blowin In The Wind
6.  Simple Twist of Fate

What's your choice?  And I'm trying to make it hard...

And which favorite of either did I leave off?
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#2

Who Is Better?
I liked them both.  For Simon I like a lot of the "cultural appropriation" stuff he did with the music of South Africa and Brazil, and personally I never felt that criticism diminished the quality of that music he recorded.  At the very least he managed to expose me to it no matter how derivative it may have been.  I also liked some of the spanish sounding songs like from the Kodachrome album and Adios Hermanos.  But you also need a lot more early songs like I Am A Rock and the Boxer.   Big Grin

I listened to and liked a lot of Bob Dylan, even with his squirrelly voice.  Your list is good but there are so many others including Highway 61, the whole Nashville Skyline and Blond on Blond albums and lots of the covers of other people's songs on his Self Portrait album including Take Me As I Am (or Let Me Go), Let it Be Me and The Boxer.
"Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
F. D.
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#3

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 09:10 PM)Mark Wrote: I liked them both.  For Simon I like a lot of the "cultural appropriation" stuff he did with the music of South Africa and Brazil, and personally I never felt that criticism diminished the quality of that music he recorded.  At the very least he managed to expose me to it no matter how derivative it may have been.

I listened to and liked a lot of Bob Dylan, even with his squirrelly voice.  Your list is good but there are so many others including Highway 61, the whole Nashville Skyline and Blond on Blond albums and lots of the covers of other people's songs on his Self Portrait album including Take Me As I Am (or Let Me Go), Let it Be Me and The Boxer.

That's why I chose them. I look forward to other views. I did try to fit Highway 61 onto the list. But (to defeat managing the songs), I chose 6 as the number and then forced myself to stay there. In return for Highway 61 I would add The Boxer.
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#4

Who Is Better?
First time I heard Bob Dylan I thought the singer was a ~60yo cowboy dude.
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#5

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 09:40 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: First time I heard Bob Dylan I thought the singer was a ~60yo cowboy dude.

Yeah, I go with Paul Simon for the same reason.  Bob Dylan's voice doesn't appeal to me.  I would almost rather listen to Neil Young.

That's why I have listened to Simon's songs over and over again, but never listened to Dylan's songs unless they were on the radio.
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#6

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 09:40 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: First time I heard Bob Dylan I thought the singer was a ~60yo cowboy dude.

Dylan was a bit of everything. He changed every few years as he learned new ideas. Have you ever watched 'American Pop'? That kid who hooked up with the Kansas girl has got to be Dylan. Not the older version though. Paul Simon was like Dylan in his ability to change directions. Not the same directions to be sure, but when you can sing Bridge Over Troubled Waters, America, and Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, you have to be pretty versatile.
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#7

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 09:54 PM)Alan V Wrote:
(02-16-2020, 09:40 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: First time I heard Bob Dylan I thought the singer was a ~60yo cowboy dude.

Yeah, I go with Paul Simon for the same reason.  Bob Dylan's voice doesn't appeal to me.  I would almost rather listen to Neil Young.

That's why I have listened to Simon's songs over and over again, but never listened to Dylan's songs unless they were on the radio.

Dylan's voice appealed to me.  If I wanted perfecto vox humana, there are better that I like less.  I'm always cared more for lyrics than sound.  But even that THAT gets complicated.
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#8

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 10:04 PM)Cavebear Wrote: Dylan's voice appealed to me.  If I wanted perfecto vox humana, there are better that I like less.  I'm always cared more for lyrics than sound.  But even that THAT gets complicated.

Different tastes.  I wouldn't claim my tastes are based on anything other than my subjective preferences. 

I prefer Paul McCartney to both Simon and Dylan, and his lyrics are often terrible. I simply don't expect that much from pop songs.
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#9

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 09:40 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: First time I heard Bob Dylan I thought the singer was a ~60yo cowboy dude.

Have you ever heard his Christmas album???? OMG! Every song sounds like a dying frog.  If you don't like Christmas this might be the album for you.  Thumbs Up




I've never liked Dylan's voice but I like other people singing his songs.  He always sounds like death warmed over to me.
                                                         T4618
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#10

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 10:01 PM)Cavebear Wrote:
(02-16-2020, 09:40 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: First time I heard Bob Dylan I thought the singer was a ~60yo cowboy dude.

Dylan was a bit of everything.  He changed every few years as he learned new ideas.  Have you ever watched 'American Pop'?  That kid who hooked up with the Kansas girl has got to be Dylan.  Not the older version though.  Paul Simon was like Dylan in his ability to change directions.  Not the same directions to be sure, but when you can sing Bridge Over Troubled Waters, America, and Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes, you have to be pretty versatile.

I left the US in 1970 and rarely came back until 1989, when I retired from the Navy. I lived on cassettes, 8-tracks, and albums.
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#11

Who Is Better?
Simon.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental. 
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#12

Who Is Better?
Simon.   Better song construction, better melodies, better voice, much more musical in general.

I can’t stand Dylan’s voice, don’t like his phrasing either.   My parents had a Dylan album that they played a lot when I was a kid...it was nails on a chalkboard to me. 

However, generally Dylan’s lyrics are superior.  I enjoy reading them.  Simon’s can be a little too smart kid/show off.
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#13

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 10:40 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote: Have you ever heard his Christmas album???? OMG! Every song sounds like a dying frog.  If you don't like Christmas this might be the album for you. 

I've never liked Dylan's voice but I like other people singing his songs.  He always sounds like death warmed over to me.

YIKES!  That's excruciating!   Confused
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#14

Who Is Better?
Dylan gave us his Christian trilogy of Slow Train Coming, Saved, and Shot Of Love.

Simon gave us Graceland.

I rest my case.
Mountain-high though the difficulties appear, terrible and gloomy though all things seem, they are but Mâyâ.
Fear not — it is banished. Crush it, and it vanishes. Stamp upon it, and it dies.


Vivekananda
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#15

Who Is Better?
(02-16-2020, 10:40 PM)Dancefortwo Wrote:
(02-16-2020, 09:40 PM)Gawdzilla Sama Wrote: First time I heard Bob Dylan I thought the singer was a ~60yo cowboy dude.

Have you ever heard his Christmas album???? OMG! Every song sounds like a dying frog.  If you don't like Christmas this might be the album for you.  Thumbs Up




I've never liked Dylan's voice but I like other people singing his songs.  He always sounds like death warmed over to me.

Must take guts to sing with a voice like that.  It is almost like his voice is beyond his control and he just can't help singing through his nose one minute and then sounding like Louis Armstrong with a very bad sore throat the next.  Luckily you can usually find a decent cover by someone else of any song whose lyrics you like.  Even so I find it unintimidating to sing along with for the same reason.
"Talk nonsense, but talk your own nonsense, and I'll kiss you for it. To go wrong in one's own way is better than to go right in someone else's. 
F. D.
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#16

Who Is Better?
I've always preferred S&G to Dylan. I prefer Simon as a singer, guitarist, and most times as a songwriter. Dylan did some great stuff, and he's the one who really changed the game in pop music.
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#17

Who Is Better?
Townes Van Zandt Big Grin 

If I Needed You
Pancho and Lefty
Tecumseh Valley
Cocaine Blues

Waitin' Around to Die
White Freight Liner Blues
Dead Flowers


OK, OK - My point is there are lots of talented and prolific songwriters and 'better' is judged by many factors, some largely emotional.

But to answer the OP: Yes.
“Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. 
Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich.”
― Napoleon Bonaparte
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#18

Who Is Better?
Me? Paul Simon.

Dylan was a good lyricist, but a shithouse singer. He needed other people to sing
his songs, but seemed unaware of that.   Think caterwauling.
I'm a creationist;   I believe that man created God.
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#19

Who Is Better?
Celine Dion

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#20

Who Is Better?
(02-17-2020, 03:42 PM)SYZ Wrote: Me?  Paul Simon.

Dylan was a good lyricist, but a shithouse singer.  He needed other people to sing
his songs, but seemed unaware of that.   Think caterwauling.

Case in point, his Christmas album I posted above.  I sounded better when I was moaning in pain during 32 hours of labor.   Some people are much better lyricist.  Billy Joel was a pretty good lyricist and could sing ok in the beginning of his career but as time went along and he poured more and more drugs into his body his voice went to pot. 

Whitney Houston's voice fell from a much higher cliff.  A little interesting story.  Back before Whitney Houston married her husband (can't remember his name) she was performing down in LA at some event and my husband got a quick little  4 day non union job helping to set up the stage.  She came in to do the pre-sound testing.  Hubby said she was very pretty but when she arrived she was surrounded by a bunch of pimps and drug dealers.  People blamed her husband for her drug problems but I'd bet it was Whitney that introduced the drugs to him.  The last film of her singing she sounded like Bob Dylan.  Drugs do a real number on vocal cords.
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#21

Who Is Better?
I could maybe name two songs of each. And I'm fucking old.
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#22

Who Is Better?
Dylan was my favorite lyricist. I love his voice. But he is in a different category than Simon. I think he deserved his Nobel Prize for Poetry. Simon is a pop musician and one of the best. A better singer than Dylan and probably a better guitarist. So, I just enjoy them both.
One thing you never see: A guy in Boston Mass. with a Union flag yelling "The Nawth's gonna rise again!"
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#23

Who Is Better?
(02-18-2020, 12:43 AM)Chimp3 Wrote: Dylan was my favorite lyricist. I love his voice. But he is in a different category than Simon. I think he deserved his Nobel Prize for Poetry. Simon is a pop musician and one of the best. A better singer than Dylan and probably a better guitarist. So, I just enjoy them both.

Definitely a better guitarist, his fingerpicking on "The Boxer" speaks to that.
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#24

Who Is Better?
Paul Simon, "The Boy In The Bubble". All else to me is kind of meh.
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#25

Who Is Better?
I'm not really a fan of that sort of music, but I'd have to vote for Paul Simon.  Whistling
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