Yes, it’s true that Taylor Swift was off key and out of tune during  the Grammys Rhiannon duet with Stevie Nicks.  What’s surprising is the  growing backlash against Miss Swift.  Barbs are being thrown in the main stream press citing Swift’s weak voice and poor choice of material during last week’s performance.  Some are now questioning if  she deserves all of the praise and awards over the past 12 months.  Many are missing the real story behind this flap and fail to recognize a true talent when they see one.

Her management have weighed in and are calling Swift the voice of her generation, stressing the unfortunate fact that her live performance at the Grammys was indeed flawed but shouldn’t really matter.  Basically, shit happens, especially during live events like the Grammys despite best intentions and many rehearsal hours.

The official story from Swift’s camp is that the volume levels in her in ear monitors were off which caused her to not hear Nicks and the band,  causing her to harmonize off key and off pitch.  Sounds logical to me.   The funny thing though is that everyone seems to be ignoring other performances from the same night from other artists which appeared to include pre-recorded vocals – Gasp!  This is nothing new, artists, especially those involved in big dance numbers or elaborate productions often rely on partly pre-recorded vocals for live performances.   Give credit to Swift for being game and true to the audience at least.

This brings to mind another minor controversy & cries of heresy towards Bob Dylan when he closed out the 1985 Live Aid concert in Philadelphia.  Famously, Dylan had perhaps made a misjudgement and decided to include Keith Richards and Ron Wood as his accompanists during his closing slot.  This is now all documented (finally) on the Live Aid DVD Box Set.

Dylan was introduced by Jack Nicholson (as the transcendent voice of his generation) and appeared uncharacteristically nervous as he came out to great applause.  Slowly strumming his acoustic guitar, he mentioned that he had brought a couple of friends along and proceeded to introduce Richards and Woods.  After some delay, both of the Stone’s guitar slingers sheepishly appeared on stage, fumbling with their own acoustic guitars and generally appearing to be somewhat worse for wear and likely drunk.

Dylan broke into Blowin’ in the Wind and struggled to keep his two sidemen in tune and in time.  Dylan appeared perplexed and began to sweat profusely.  It got worse later when Dylan broke a string on his guitar and Wood gave him his guitar mid song.

It turned out to be an unsteady and  shambolic performance and probably not what Dylan had in mind or Bill Graham and the Live Aid organizers.  They had wanted Dylan to appear with Peter, Paul and Mary but Dylan had rejected that idea.   Dylan made the best of the situation and also managed to cause more controversy by suggesting some of the money being raised for African famine  should be redirected towards America’s struggling farmers.  His off the cuff remark struck home with many people and led to the creation of Farm Aid later that year.

Dylan later explained that his monitors were not turned up or functioning and that he couldn’t hear Wood or Richards due to the loud stage clearing that was taking place just behind the curtain as the stage was being prepared for the closing group rendition of We are the world.

Live music should be just that.  It’s not always perfect and shouldn’t be artificially enhanced by stealth pre-recorded vocals or hidden back stage back up singers.

Taylor Swift should be applauded for keeping it real.  Just as we applaud Kris Kristofferson, Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Tom Petty and many more whose voices aren’t always  embellished, pre-packaged and safe for consumption by the masses.

Blowin’ in the Wind (Dylan at Live Aid)