Bob Dylan has defended himself from his critics who say he 'croaks like a frog', during a 30 minute acceptance speech at the MusiCares charity gala.
Speaking after receiving the MusiCares Person Of The Year award on behalf of the charity, Dylan said: “Critics have been giving me a hard time since day one. Critics say I can’t sing."
He continued: "I croak. Sound like a frog. Why don’t critics say that same thing about Tom Waits? Critics say my voice is shot. That I have no voice. Why don’t they say those things about Leonard Cohen? Why do I get special treatment? Critics say I can’t carry a tune and I talk my way through a song. Really? I’ve never heard that said about Lou Reed. Why does he get to go scot-free?”
Tom Jones, Sheryl Crow, Jack White and Crosby, Stills and Nash all performed covers of the legendary singer's songs at the pre-Grammy show, with Bruce Springsteen joining Rage Against the Machine star Tom Morello for a version of Knockin' on Heaven's Door and Neil Young doing a version of Dylan's classic track 'Blowin' in the Wind'.
Not performing himself, Dylan told the crowd he would just be 'reading some of this', referring to a bunch of papers he held in his hand.
Reading from the notes often, he also carried on with his critics addressing theme speaking about an unnamed but "popular" soul singer: “She sang every note - that exists, and some that don’t exist. Talk about mangling a melody. You take a one-syllable word and make it last for 15 minutes? She was doing vocal gymnastics like she was on a trapeze act. But to me it was not funny. Where were the critics? Mangling lyrics? Mangling a melody? Mangling a treasured song?
"No, I get the blame. But I don’t really think I do that. I just think critics say I do.”
Dylan is currently number one in the UK with his 36th album - of Frank Sinatra covers, Shadows In The Night.
