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Like a Rolling Stone
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"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American songwriter Bob Dylan. One of his best-known and most influential works, the song had its origin as a short story Dylan had written before developing it as a song and recording it in 1965.
The track was released as a single in July 1965, and also appeared on Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited. At over six minutes in length, it was only tentatively played in its entirety on the radio, yet it managed to reach #2 on the charts.
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Encyclopedia
"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American songwriter Bob Dylan. One of his best-known and most influential works, the song had its origin as a short story Dylan had written before developing it as a song and recording it in 1965.
The track was released as a single in July 1965, and also appeared on Dylan's album Highway 61 Revisited. At over six minutes in length, it was only tentatively played in its entirety on the radio, yet it managed to reach #2 on the charts. It received criticism by some of Dylan's fans for its harder rock sound, a noticeable difference from the artist's earlier folk music.
The song dramatically affected the music world and popular culture, as well as Dylan's image and iconic status. It has been covered by a number of artists, including a notable version by Jimi Hendrix. Rolling Stone magazine ranked it the greatest song of all time. In his 1988 speech inducting Dylan into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Bruce Springsteen recalled, "The first time I heard Bob Dylan, I was in the car with my mother listening to WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody had kicked open the door to your mind."
Recording
The basis of "Like a Rolling Stone" was a twenty-page story written by Dylan. It was, according to him, "just a rhythm thing on paper all about my steady hatred, directed at some point that was honest." From the story, Dylan wrote four verses and one chorus in Woodstock, New York. The song was written on an upright piano in the key of G sharp; it was changed to C on the guitar while recording. The song was originally written in 3/4 (waltz) time, and with a length of 1:36, was much shorter than the released 4/4 version. The song was recorded by Dylan on June 15, 1965, and concluded the next day. The recording took place in Studio A of Columbia Records in New York City and was produced by Tom Wilson.
The musicians included Mike Bloomfield on guitar, Al Kooper on organ, Paul Griffin on piano, Josef Mack on bass, and Bobby Gregg on drums. Kooper, a teenage guitarist at that time, was originally not supposed to play at all, but was a guest of Tom Wilson. However, as Wilson was not present at the time, Kooper sat down with his guitar with the other musicians. By the time Wilson returned, Kooper, who had been intimidated by Bloomfield's guitar playing, was away in the control room. Wilson moved Griffin from Hammond organ to piano. Kooper then went to Wilson, saying that he had a good part for the organ. Wilson belittled Kooper's organ abilities but, as Kooper later said, "He just sort of scoffed at me....He didn't say 'no'—so I went out there." Wilson, surprised to see Kooper at the organ, allowed him to play on the track. Upon hearing a playback of the song, Dylan, despite Wilson's protestations that Kooper was "not an organ player," insisted that Kooper's organ be turned up in the mix.
On the first day of recording, five takes of the song were recorded, none of which were complete takes. The lack of sheet music meant the song was played by ear, and the essence of the song was discovered along the course of the chaotic session. The first few takes were done in a markedly different style - in a 3/4 waltz time, with Dylan on piano. It took four takes to reach the chorus and, following the chorus and harmonica fill, Dylan interrupted the song, saying, "My voice is gone, man. You wanna try it again?" The take later surfaced on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991.
The next day of recording saw two rehearsal run-throughs and fifteen recorded takes, the song by now evolving into its recognizable form, in 4/4 time with Dylan on electric guitar. Following the fourth take - the master take as officially released - Wilson happily concluded, "That sounds good to me."
Release and live performances
"Like a Rolling Stone" was released as a 45 rpm single on July 20, 1965. The song's six-minute length caused Columbia Records to reject it as a single, but Bob Johnston, Dylan's new producer, released the song anyway. Despite its length, the song became Dylan's biggest hit to that time, remaining in the U.S. charts for twelve weeks and reaching #2, behind The Beatles' song "Help!". When released, the first two verses and two refrains were put on one side of the vinyl, while the rest of the song was put on the other side. That way, a DJ who wanted to play the whole song could simply flip the vinyl over.
Dylan performed the song live for the first time at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965. Some members of the audience denounced Dylan's use of electric guitars; they felt that it marked his entry into the world of, as Bloomfield put it, "greasers, heads, dancers, people who got drunk and boogied." Dylan stumbled through the song, and it fell back to a 3/4 waltz by the end of the performance.
Highway 61 Revisited was issued at the end of August 1965, and when Dylan went on tour that fall, "Like a Rolling Stone" took the closing slot on his playlist and held it, with rare exceptions, through the end of his 1966 "world tour," as well as during his return to touring in 1974 with The Band. On May 17, 1966, during the last leg of the world tour, Dylan and his band performed the song at Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Before they started to play, a member of the crowd infamously yelled "Judas!" at Dylan, symbolizing how Dylan "betrayed" the purists by using electric instruments. Dylan responded: "I don't believe you. You're a liar"! He then told the band to "play it fucking loud".
In addition to its inclusion on Highway 61 Revisited, the standard studio recording of the song can be found on four other official albums: Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Biograph, The Essential Bob Dylan, and Dylan. An early, incomplete studio recording was included on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991. The following albums feature live performances of the song: Self Portrait, Before the Flood, Bob Dylan at Budokan, MTV Unplugged, The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert, The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack, and The Band's Rock of Ages.
Themes
Though the song's lyrics do not clearly identify the subject, one common school of thought centers on Edie Sedgwick, an actress and model. Sedgwick is often identified as a figure in other Dylan songs of the time, particularly "Just Like a Woman" from Blonde on Blonde. However, Dylan is believed to have begun an association with Sedgwick in the autumn of 1965, after "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded, while other sources claim that the meeting was in December of 1964. Joan Baez has also been considered a possible target of Dylan's words.
Mike Marqusee has written at length on the conflicts in Dylan's life during this time, with its deepening alienation from his old folk-revival audience and clear-cut leftist causes. He suggests that the song is probably self-referential. Thus, "The song only attains full poignancy when one realises it is sung, at least in part, to the singer himself: he's the one 'with no direction home.'"
Cover versions
Many artists have covered "Like a Rolling Stone"; notable covers include versions by Johnny Thunders, The Four Seasons, The Rascals, Cher, Judy Collins, The Rolling Stones, Anberlin, and Jimi Hendrix, who played a version live at the Monterey Pop Festival. Hendrix was an avid fan of Bob Dylan, and especially liked "Like a Rolling Stone." "It made me feel that I wasn't the only one who'd ever felt so low..." Hendrix said. After the second verse, Hendrix skipped to the fourth. Hendrix played his version with an electric guitar, and is described thus:
A lesser-known cover version was done by Mick Ronson on his Heaven and Hull album, featuring vocals by Ronson's famous bandmate David Bowie.
The song has also been covered in various languages. Lars Winnerbäck did a performance of the song in Swedish titled "Som en hemlös själ", literally "Like a Homeless Soul". Articolo 31 registered an Italian version titled "Come una Pietra Scalciata" (literally, "Like a Kicked-off Stone") in their 1998 album Nessuno, Articolo 31's version is an Hip-Hop song which contains overdubs of a confused girl's voice, rapped parts by J-Ax (Articolo 31's rapper) and djing by DJ Jad (the same band's DJ). This version contains only three of the verses and is only four and a half minutes long. Also, Russian punk band ??????????? ??????? (meaning "Civil Defence") has a song named "Take the Overcoat" ("???? ??????") on their album Russian field of experiments (??????? ???? ????????????), which resamples "Like a Rolling Stone", and the phrase is sung in the final part.
Legacy
The song has influenced popular culture and pop music across the U.S. The success of the single, followed by other successful Dylan singles and covers, made Dylan a pop icon, in addition to his status as a folk singer.
Many aspects of the song influenced the music which followed. Dylan's raw voice, which is compared to Muddy Waters', displays the "personal accusation" of the song. Kooper's "apocalyptic charge" on the organ accompanied with Dylan's singing "keep [the song] from being just another icy hipster bitch session...." Dylan's voice has an edge that nears "heartbreak".
The six-minute length, considered too long to be put on a single at the time, has also influenced music. It gave more opportunities for future songs to be singles, without the time constraint that was previously an issue. The length of "Like a Rolling Stone" also challenged radio airings. The song, though it was not always flipped to the B-side for the second half, still challenged the average three-minute length of songs that aired on the radio.
In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine declared "Like a Rolling Stone" the greatest song of all time, declaring, "No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time." When asked about the accolade in his 2004 interview with Ed Bradley on 60 Minutes, Dylan was bemused, saying he never paid attention to such polls, as they changed frequently.
External links
- , from NPR.org (National Public Radio) - includes link to full version of song.
- , from bobdylan.com
- , from bobdylan.com
- by Michael Daley, York University, Toronto
- (aspiring to completeness)
- (more limited scope)
- , from reasontorock.com
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