Every musician is usually aware of the spiritual power that all great songs can have. Not everyone has to be donning a priest’s collar whenever they preach with a guitar in their hands, but whenever they sing their songs, there’s something that speaks to the other side of the brain in a way that no one could do if they were delivering a speech about the state of the world. Bob Dylan knew the power he had with a guitar in his hands better than others, but it wasn’t like he was the first one to hit on this idea.
There had been folk singers for years before Dylan hit the ground running, and as much as he loved the sounds of Woody Guthrie, there was something primal pulling him towards rock and roll. He knew that he could make something more impactful when he saw what people like Chuck Berry and Little Richard were doing, but if he wanted to get on grand stages, he needed to follow in the footsteps of Elvis Presley.
Because even for a casual music fan, Presley looked like a god among men. People calling him ‘The King’ wasn’t necessarily an accident, but whereas most people thought he was making ‘the devil’s music’, Presley was always more faithful than any of his peers. His gospel records include some of the finest vocals he ever recorded, and when listening to some of his tunes, Dylan saw that kind of conviction in his voice right off the bat.
While it’s hard to tell whether Dylan was being serious or pullin gyour leg every time he sang, he did have the highest reverence towards tunes like ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, saying, “Your shoes are your pride and joy, sacred and dear, your reason for living, and anyone who scrapes or bruises them is putting himself into jeopardy, accidentally or out of ignorance it doesn’t matter. It’s the one thing in life you won’t forgive.”
He even had similar feelings when listening to ‘Viva Las Vegas’, calling it “a song about faith, the kind of faith where you step under a shower spigot in the middle of a desert and fully believe water will come out.” Some of those explanations might come off as a bit tacky, but when listening to Presley sing, it was clear that he meant every single word that came out of his mouth.
There have always been people lining up to point out the vanity of Presley’s life, but everyone knew that there was power in this style of song. It’s not like God was looking over ‘The King’s’ shoulder whenever he went into the studio to cut any of these tunes, but it’s the passion in his voice that made it feel religious. Dylan knew that if he wanted to touch the world, he needed that kind of voice, and you can hear him change up his vocals slightly when he went electric.
Every early Dylan album makes him sound weary on every folk tune, but the minute that he hit on ‘Like A Rolling Stone’, he took that type of faith-based approach and blew everyone’s mind. No one ever expected a rock and roll song to be so poignant, but this was Dylan staking his claim that music could mean something more, and if he had the right set of words, his tunes could be on par with any hymn that a church has in its repertoire.
It also led to some of Dylan’s most flimsy period, making gospel records, but that was beside the point. Regardless of what Dylan would go on to do later, Presley taught him to have conviction in what he said. Even if he wasn’t going to sound as good as one of the greatest rock singers that ever lived, he was going to make sure everyone knew that he would die for his music.
