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Like a Rolling Stone

"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released on July 20, 1965, by Columbia Records. Its confrontational lyrics originated in an extended piece of verse Dylan wrote in June 1965, when he returned exhausted from a grueling tour of England. Dylan distilled this draft into four verses and a chorus. "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded a few weeks later as part of the sessions for the forthcoming album Highway 61 Revisited.

This article is about the song. For the Japanese film, see Like a Rolling Stone (film). For other uses, see Rolling Stone (disambiguation).

"Like a Rolling Stone"

July 20, 1965 (1965-07-20)

June 16, 1965

Columbia 7th Ave, New York City[1]

6:13

Bob Dylan

During a difficult two-day preproduction, Dylan struggled to find the essence of the song, which was demoed without success in 3
4
time
. A breakthrough was made when it was tried in a rock music format, and rookie session musician Al Kooper improvised the Hammond B2 organ riff for which the track is known. Columbia Records was unhappy with both the song's length at over six minutes and its heavy electric sound, and was hesitant to release it. It was only when, a month later, a copy was leaked to a new popular music club and heard by influential DJs that the song was put out as a single. Although radio stations were reluctant to play such a long track, "Like a Rolling Stone" reached No. 2 in the US Billboard charts (No. 1 in Cashbox) and became a worldwide hit.


Critics have described "Like a Rolling Stone" as revolutionary in its combination of musical elements, the youthful, cynical sound of Dylan's voice, and the directness of the question "How does it feel?". It completed the transformation of Dylan's image from folk singer to rock star, and is considered one of the most influential compositions in postwar popular music. Rolling Stone listed it at No. 1 on their 2004 and 2010 "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" lists.[3] It has been covered by many artists, from the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Rolling Stones[4] to the Wailers, Cat Power and Green Day. At an auction in 2014, Dylan's handwritten lyrics to the song fetched $2 million, a world record for a popular music manuscript.[5]

Recording[edit]

Dylan invited Chicago blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield to his Woodstock home for the weekend to learn new material. Bloomfield recalled, "The first thing I heard was 'Like a Rolling Stone'. I figured he wanted blues, string bending, because that's what I do. He said, 'Hey, man, I don't want any of that B.B. King stuff'. So, OK, I really fell apart. What the heck does he want? We messed around with the song. I played the way that he dug, and he said it was groovy."[13]


The recording sessions were produced by Tom Wilson on June 15–16, 1965, in Studio A of Columbia Records, 799 Seventh Avenue, in New York City.[1][14][15] This would be the last song Wilson would produce for Dylan.[16] In addition to Bloomfield, the musicians enlisted were Paul Griffin on piano, Joe Macho, Jr. on bass, Bobby Gregg on drums, and Bruce Langhorne on tambourine,[15] all booked by Wilson. Gregg, Griffin, and Langhorne had previously worked with Dylan and Wilson on Bringing It All Back Home.[17]


In the first session, on June 15, five takes of the song were recorded in a markedly different style (3
4
waltz time, with Dylan on piano) from the eventual release. The lack of sheet music meant the song had to be played by ear. However, its essence was discovered in the course of the chaotic session. The musicians did not reach the first chorus until the fourth take, but after the following harmonica fill Dylan interrupted, saying, "My voice is gone, man. You wanna try it again?"[18] The session ended shortly afterward.[19] The take was released on the 1991 compilation The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.[18][20]


When the musicians reconvened the following day, June 16, Al Kooper joined the proceedings. Kooper, at that time a 21-year-old session guitarist,[21] was not originally supposed to play but was present in the studio as Wilson's guest.[22] When Wilson stepped out, Kooper sat down with his guitar with the other musicians, hoping to take part in the recording session.[23] By the time Wilson returned, Kooper, who had been intimidated by Bloomfield's guitar playing, was back in the control room. After a couple of rehearsal takes, Wilson moved Griffin from Hammond organ to piano.[23] Kooper approached Wilson and told him he had a good part for the organ. Wilson belittled Kooper's organ skills, but did not forbid him to play. As Kooper later put it, "He just sort of scoffed at me ... He didn't say 'no'—so I went out there." Wilson was surprised to see Kooper at the organ but allowed him to play on the track. When Dylan heard a playback of the song, he insisted that the organ be turned up in the mix, despite Wilson's protestations that Kooper was "not an organ player".[24][25]


There were 15 recorded takes on June 16.[26] By now the song had evolved into its familiar form, in 4
4
time with Dylan on electric guitar. After the fourth take—the master take that was released as a single[16]—Wilson happily commented, "That sounds good to me."[27] Despite this, Dylan and the band recorded the song 11 more times.[28]


The complete recording sessions that produced "Like a Rolling Stone", including all 20 takes and the individual "stems" that comprise the four-track master,[29] were released in November 2015 on the 6-disc and 18-disc versions of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966.[30]

Release[edit]

According to Shaun Considine, release coordinator for Columbia Records in 1965, "Like a Rolling Stone" was first relegated to the "graveyard of canceled releases" because of concerns from the sales and marketing departments over its unprecedented six-minute length and "raucous" rock sound. In the days following the rejection, Considine took a discarded acetate of the song to the New York club Arthur—a newly opened disco popular with celebrities and the media—and asked a DJ to play it.[1][51] At the crowd's insistence, the demo was played repeatedly, until finally it wore out. The next morning, a disc jockey and a programming director from the city's leading top 40 stations called Columbia and demanded copies.[1] Shortly afterward, on July 20, 1965, "Like a Rolling Stone" was released as a single with "Gates of Eden" as its B-side.[52][53]


Despite its length, the song is Dylan's most commercially successful release,[16][42] remaining in the US charts for 12 weeks, where it reached number 2. The song that held it from the top spot was the Beatles' "Help!".[54][55] The promotional copies released to disc jockeys on July 15 had the first two verses and two refrains on one side of the disk, and the remainder of the song on the other.[56] DJs wishing to play the entire song would simply flip the vinyl over.[57][58] While many radio stations were reluctant to play "Like a Rolling Stone" in its entirety, public demand eventually forced them to air it in full.[53][59] This helped the single reach its number 2 peak, several weeks after its release.[59] It was a Top 10 hit in other countries, including Canada, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the UK.[60][61][62][63]


In its contemporary review, Cash Box described "Like a Rolling Stone" as a "funky, rhythmic ode which proclaims the artist's philosophy of rugged individualism".[56]

Music video[edit]

In November 2013, forty-eight years after the release of the song, Dylan's website released an official music video for "Like a Rolling Stone".[64] Created by the digital agency Interlude, the video is interactive, allowing viewers to use their keyboards to flip through 16 channels that imitate TV formats, including game shows, shopping networks and reality series. People on each channel appear to lip-sync the song's lyrics. Video director Vania Heymann stated, "I'm using the medium of television to look back right at us – you're flipping yourself to death with switching channels [in real life]."[65] The video contains an hour and 15 minutes' worth of content in all[66] and features appearances from comedians Marc Maron, Carly Aquilino, Jessimae Peluso, and Nicole Byer, rapper Danny Brown, The Price Is Right host Drew Carey, SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy, TV personality Nessa, Jonathan and Drew Scott of Property Brothers, and Pawn Stars cast members Rick Harrison and Austin "Chumlee" Russell.[67] The video was released to publicize the release of a 35-album box set, Bob Dylan: The Complete Album Collection Vol. One, containing Dylan's 35 official studio albums and 11 live albums.[64] The Guinness Book of World Records recorded it as the longest wait for an official music video.

Live performances[edit]

Dylan performed the song live for the first time within days of its release, when he appeared at the Newport Folk Festival on July 25, 1965, in Newport, Rhode Island.[68] Many of the audience's folk enthusiasts objected to Dylan's use of electric guitars, looking down on rock 'n roll, as Bloomfield put it, as popular amongst "greasers, heads, dancers, people who got drunk and boogied".[53] According to Dylan's friend, music critic Paul Nelson, "The audience [was] booing and yelling 'Get rid of the electric guitar'", while Dylan and his backing musicians gave an uncertain rendition of their new single.[53] Al Kooper, who offers a different version of the crowd's reaction, claims that it was due to the length of the set they had just played, being only 15 minutes while other artists had done 45 minute sets.[25]


Highway 61 Revisited was issued at the end of August 1965. When Dylan went on tour that fall he asked the future members of The Band to accompany him in performing the electric half of the concerts. "Like a Rolling Stone" took the closing slot on his setlist and held it, with rare exceptions, through the end of his 1966 "world tour". On May 17, 1966, during the last leg of the tour, Dylan and his band performed at Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England. Just before they started to play the track, an audience member yelled "Judas!", apparently referring to Dylan's supposed "betrayal" of folk music. Dylan responded, "I don't believe you... You're a liar!" With that, he turned to the band, ordering them to "play it fucking loud!".[68][a]


Since then, "Like a Rolling Stone" has remained a staple in Dylan's concerts, often with revised arrangements.[69] It was included in his 1969 Isle of Wight show and in both his reunion tour with The Band in 1974 and the Rolling Thunder Revue tour in 1975–76. The song continued to be featured in other tours throughout the 1970s and 1980s.[69] According to Dylan's official website, he performed the song live over 2,000 times, as of 2019.[70]


Live performances of the song are included on Self Portrait (recorded at the Isle of Wight, August 31, 1969), Before the Flood (recorded February 13, 1974), Bob Dylan at Budokan (recorded March 1, 1978), MTV Unplugged (recorded November 18, 1994), The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966, The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert (recorded in Manchester, UK, May 17, 1966; same recording also available on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack), The Band's 2001 reissue of Rock of Ages (recorded January 1, 1972),[71] and The Bootleg Series Vol. 13: Trouble No More 1979–1981 (Deluxe Edition) (recorded June 27, 1981). In 2016, all Dylan's recorded live performances of the song from 1966 were released in the boxed set The 1966 Live Recordings, with the May 26, 1966 Royal Albert Hall performance released separately on the album The Real Royal Albert Hall 1966 Concert.


The July 1965 Newport performance of the song is included in Murray Lerner's film The Other Side of the Mirror, while a May 21, 1966, performance in Newcastle, England is featured in Martin Scorsese's documentary No Direction Home, along with footage of the above-mentioned May 17 heckling incident.


During the 1988 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, Dylan performed "Like a Rolling Stone" and "Satisfaction" with Mick Jagger and approximately 30 other people. In 1998 Dylan performed the song with the Stones, who he was the opening act for, with Jagger stating that "Like a Rolling Stone" was written by Dylan for them.[72]


Besides appearing on Highway 61 Revisited, the song's standard release can be found on the compilations Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Biograph, The Best of Bob Dylan (1997), The Essential Bob Dylan, The Best of Bob Dylan (2005), and Dylan. The mono version appears on The Original Mono Recordings. In addition, the early, incomplete studio recording in 3
4
time appears on The Bootleg Series Vol. 2.[20][73]

– vocals, electric guitar, harmonica

Bob Dylan

– electric guitar

Mike Bloomfield

– tambourine

Bruce Langhorne

– Hammond organ

Al Kooper

tack piano

Paul Griffin

Joe Macho, Jr. – bass guitar

– drums

Bobby Gregg

Frank Owens – Piano

at Bob Dylan's official website

Lyrics

at Bob Dylan website

Like a Rolling Stone music video

by Michael Daley, York University, Toronto

"Vocal performance and speech intonation: Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' "

All Things Considered, NPR, November 6, 2015

"The Day Dylan Got It Right"