And what many people would say, is a terrible singer. Bob Dylan has affected more songwriters (dare I say, music fans) than most Songwriters in the history of recorded music. And yet, so often I hear that people won’t even give him a listen because he “just can’t sing!”

It makes me wonder…

How many people would say the same thing about you? The truth is, a lot of songwriters love to think that they are also singers, to the detriment of their own career at times (guilty!).

One of my favorite jokes of all time was from comedian Steven Wright.

“There’s a fine line between fishing and standing on the shore looking like an idiot”

Likewise, there’s a very small difference in bad singing and great singing – the uniqueness of the voice. Bob Dylan does’t sing badly as much as he sings uniquely. He’s a lot like beer, an aquired taste. You can say this about any number of great artist, as Quincy Jones once said, “Listen to ‘We Are The World’, you don’t hear the best singers, you hear the best voices”. As a songwriter, you don’t often have the luxury of letting people get used to your voice, no matter how unique it is.

Everyone has the ability to sing. What not everyone has the ability to do is to sing off key and somehow still make it sound good. Great singers can.

So who is singing the songs you’ve written? If you’ve written a song that’s a masterpiece, I suggest you don’t ruin the songs chances of being heard by trying to sing the song yourself – if you don’t have a unique singing voice (and by unique, I mean good) – then you’ve diminished your chances of having your song heard.

Another thing that might diminish your chances – other artist. It’s not un-common for artist to not ‘hear’ a song is right for them because of the person singing the demo. Maybe the range is too high, or the voice is too shaky. If another artist can’t get past the terrible sound coming out of their speakers, how are they going to get what the song is about or if the song is right for them?

If Bob Dylan has trouble getting people to listen to his songs, his great, wonderfully crafted songs, imagine the trouble you’ll have.

Hire a demo singer and give your song the shot it deserves.

(Editor’s Note: Also, check out the Blogging Muses article: “What to do if you Suck at Singing.“)