Style and genre. Could Louis Armstrong sing? Howlin Wolf? Mario Lanza could sing by the definition of those who tell us as if it was an earth shattering discovery that “Dylan can’t sing”. None of those who “can sing” today compare to Mario Lanza or Carlos Gardel for that matter. So , please don’t tell me that Tom Jones, or George Strait can sing, and Dylan can’t!
“Could Louis Armstrong sing?” Sure. His voice sounded rough, but it was a musical rough.
“None of those who “can sing” today compare to Mario Lanza or Carlos Gardel”
Most of the people who “can sing” only have sing well enough to let the rest of what they do sound good. The only thing that can make a Bob Dylan song sound good is for someone else to perform it.
I’m not a fan of George Strait or Tom Jones because I don’t care for the genre. With Dylan, that’s not the problem.
Howlin’ Wolf could sing... you can tell from parts of “Moanin’ at Midnight”. He just usually chose not to :)