I love this powerful excerpt from the transcript in the Los Angeles Times of Bob Dylan's MusiCares speech.
Sam Cooke said this when told he had a beautiful voice. He said, "Well that's very kind of you,but voices ought not to be measured by how pretty they are. Instead, they matter only if they can convince you they are telling the truth".
When I practice yoga. Well... some days I just don't like what I see and feel. It is painfully far from pretty,lovely or blissful. Then the break through comes when I give up control and allow the practice to unfold and reveal itself, The resistance crumbles and I feel liberated. Even if it means allowing uncomfortable feelings to rise like anger or sadness. They rise and somehow lose their hold just becoming part of the messy and wonderful whole. We love a sweet lie but I believe our souls long for the truth. Sam Cooke describes as a measure of a man's voice a man who speaks from the truth. I think he means a man abiding in the whole of who he is... capable of revealing the soul with unflinching clarity and able to convey that to others. Now I can't sing very well but this is my aim in practice. Each day I get on the mat to pay attention and I endeavor to abide in the truth no matter what and express it so others can hear it too.  The beauty is in the authenticity.
I'm sure thats why I loved Bob Dylan's songs growing up they were always so raw and real and sometimes felt like a heart ache or a belly ache but I knew they were true.