Remember When: Mick Jagger Perfectly Defended Bob Dylan’s Singing Ability to a Critic’s Face

The Rolling Stones’ Mick Jagger has rarely been one to talk smack about other artists. Unless of course, Keith Richards is in the room and being a bad influence. That being said, Mick Jagger has had a few nice things to say about his contemporaries, including the legendary Bob Dylan.

In a Dutch interview from years ago, Jagger and an interviewer discussed the notion of aging as a performing musician. Bob Dylan’s name ended up being dropped.

Jagger said that he respected how Dylan was able to put on cohesive shows that had a lot of entertainment value, even if he was starting to get on in years.

“[Bob Dylan is] over 60, and I quite like watching his shows,” said Jagger in the interview. “I think it’s quite fun. And I enjoy watching him performing.”

The woman interviewing Jagger disagreed, saying that she liked Dylan as a performing artist but was not particularly fond of his singing voice. Jagger decided to step in to defend his fellow musician.

“It’s a funny voice, 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,” Jagger defended Dylan. “You were talking earlier about as you get older, that your voice takes on a different resonance, different pitch, and so on. So, there’s something to be said for that.”

Few have doubted Bob Dylan’s songwriting ability, but not everybody gets his voice. That hasn’t stopped him from becoming one of the greatest singer/songwriters of the last century.

Mick Jagger Has Spoken Fondly of Bob Dylan in the Past

Jagger’s kind words for Dylan don’t stop at that Dutch interview. He has also spoken fondly about the “Blowin’ In The Wind” hitmaker in more recent years as well. The rock star once said that he started listening to Dylan’s music around the beginning of the 1960s. This was when the singer/songwriter was still considered exclusively a protest songwriter and singer.

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“I was playing Bob Dylan records at my parents’ house when he was still an acoustic folk singer,” Jagger told The Guardian in an interview from 2021. “But he was already very important and his lyrics were on point. The delivery isn’t just the words, it’s the accentuation and the moods and twists he puts on them.”

Real recognizes real.

Photo by Kevin Mazur

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