"Like a Rolling Stone" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan that was 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. He recorded "Like a Rolling Stone" a few weeks later as the opening track of his sixth studio album, Highway 61 Revisited. During a difficult two-day preproduction, Dylan struggled to find the essence of the song, which was demoed without success in time. A breakthrough happened when he recorded it in a rock format and rookie session musician Al Kooper improvised a Hammond organ riff.
Columbia Records, unhappy with the song's six-minute length and electric sound, hesitated to release it. A month later, a copy of "Like a Rolling Stone" leaked to a popular new music club, and influential DJs encountered it. The song was then released as a single. Although many radio stations initially refused 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 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?" The song completed the transformation of Dylan's image from folk singer to rock star. It 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. It has been covered by the Jimi Hendrix Experience. At an auction in 2014, Dylan's handwritten lyrics fetched $2 million, a record for a popular music manuscript.
Writing
In early 1965, after returning from the tour of England documented in the film Dont Look Back, Dylan was unhappy with the public's expectations of him and the direction his career was taking. He considered quitting the music business. In a 1966 Playboy interview, he said: <blockquote>Last spring, I guess I was going to quit singing. I was very drained, and the way things were going, it was a very draggy situation ... But 'Like a Rolling Stone' changed it all. I mean it was something that I myself could dig. It's very tiring having other people tell you how much they dig you if you yourself don't dig you.</blockquote>
The song grew out of an extended piece of verse. In 1966, Dylan described its genesis to journalist Jules Siegel:
During 1965, Dylan composed prose, poems, and songs by typing incessantly. Footage in Dont Look Back of Dylan in his suite at London's Savoy Hotel captures this process. However, Dylan told two interviewers that "Like a Rolling Stone" began as a long piece of "vomit" (10 pages long according to one account, 20 according to another) that later acquired musical form. Dylan has never publicly spoken of writing any other major composition in this way. In a 1966 interview with CBC Radio in Montreal, Dylan called the creation of the song a "breakthrough", explaining that it changed his perception of where he was going in his career. He said that he found himself writing <blockquote>this long piece of vomit, 20 pages long, and out of it I took 'Like a Rolling Stone' and made it as a single. And I'd never written anything like that before and it suddenly came to me that was what I should do ... After writing that I wasn't interested in writing a novel, or a play. I just had too much, I want to write songs.</blockquote>
From the extended version on paper, Dylan crafted four verses and the chorus in Woodstock, New York. In 2014, when the handwritten lyrics were put up for auction, the four-page manuscript revealed that the full refrain of the chorus does not appear until the fourth page. A rejected third line, "like a dog without a bone" gives way to "now you're unknown". Earlier, Dylan had considered working the name Al Capone into the rhyme scheme, and he attempted to construct a rhyme scheme for "how does it feel?", penciling in "it feels real", "does it feel real", "shut up and deal", "get down and kneel" and "raw deal". The song was written on an upright piano in the key of D flat and was changed to C on the guitar in the recording studio.
Recording
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."
The recording sessions were held on June 15–16, 1965, in Studio A of Columbia Records at 799 Seventh Avenue in New York City. Just five months had passed since Dylan had recorded his previous album, Bringing It All Back Home, with Tom Wilson as producer and Paul Griffin on piano, Bobby Gregg on drums, and Bruce Langhorne on tambourine. For the new album, Wilson recruited Griffin, Gregg, and Langhorne, and added Joe Macho Jr. on bass.
In the first session, on June 15, five takes of the song were recorded in a markedly different style ( 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?" The session ended shortly afterward. The take was released on the 1991 compilation The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991.
When the musicians reconvened the following day, June 16, Al Kooper joined the proceedings. The 21-year-old session guitarist was Wilson's guest; he was not supposed to play. But when Wilson stepped out, Kooper sat down with his guitar with the other musicians, hoping to take part in recording. 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, Kooper told Wilson he had a good part for the Hammond 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 protest that Kooper was "not an organ player".
There were 15 recorded takes on June 16. By now the song had evolved into its familiar form, in time with Dylan on electric guitar. After the fourth take—the master take that was released as a single—Wilson happily commented, "That sounds good to me." Despite this, Dylan and the band recorded the song 11 more times. It was the last song Wilson produced for Dylan.
The complete recording sessions that produced "Like a Rolling Stone", including all 20 takes and the individual "stems" that comprise the four-track master, were released in November 2015 on the 6-disc and 18-disc versions of The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966.
Themes
Unlike conventional chart hits of the time, "Like a Rolling Stone" featured lyrics that were interpreted as expressions of resentment rather than love. Author Oliver Trager characterizes the lyrics as "Dylan's sneer at a woman who has fallen from grace and is reduced to fending for herself in a hostile, unfamiliar world". The song's subject, "Miss Lonely", previously opted for easy options in life—she attended the finest schools and enjoyed high-placed friends—but now that her situation has become difficult, it appears that she has no meaningful experiences to define her character.
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And the first verse ends with lines that seemingly deride her current condition: