“Like a Rolling Stone” is one of the most influential songs in rock history. It’s the tune that transformed Bob Dylan from a folk singer into a rock star. Although he imagined the song to be more “traditional” in the sense of his folk roots, it wasn’t until the, then a rookie, session musician Al Kooper improvised the organ riff for which the track is known and it was redone in a rock format. Nevertheless, both the acoustic track (in ¾ time signature) and the rock version were rejected because of their over six minutes length. It was only after the song 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 still unwilling to play such a long track, "Like a Rolling Stone" reached number two on the US Billboard charts and became a worldwide hit.
Dylan called the creation of the song a "breakthrough", explaining that it changed his perception of where he was going in his career. He started writing it after a long and exhausting tour in England, which crushed his expectations and seriously thinking of quitting the music business. After written 10-20 pages of “vomit,” Dylan reduced the lyrics to the four big stanzas and the verse we now know. Dylan explained in an interview that he found himself writing "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… It wasn't called anything, just a rhythm thing on paper all about my steady hatred directed at some point that was honest. In the end, it wasn't hatred, it was telling someone something they didn't know, telling them they were lucky. Revenge, that's a better word. I had never thought of it as a song until one day I was at the piano, and on the paper, it was singing, "How does it feel?" in a slow motion pace, in the utmost of slow motion.”
The song was covered many times, but the Rolling Stones’ cover somehow sounded most sincere. I mean, they are a definition of “rolling stones” and who could understand and reinterpret Dylan’s words better than Jagger, Richards and the other guys? Of course, Jimi Hendrix’s version at the Monterey Pop Festival is also legendary and unique. But Rolling Stones somehow brought the song back to the mainstream in the 1990’s. With the heavy airplay, it got from MTV, and other TV and radio stations, “Like a Rolling Stones” got a new life. For the music enthusiasts, I'll add the extra pleasure of watching Dylan and the Stones performing the song together in 1998. Enjoy!
COVERLAND VOL.1: EASY COVERLAND VOL.2: HUSH COVERLAND VOL.3: NOTHING COMPARES 2 U COVERLAND VOL.4: HARD TO HANDLE COVERLAND VOL.5: GUINNEVERE COVERLAND VOL.6: I SCARE MYSELF COVERLAND VOL. 7: CHINA GIRL COVERLAND VOL.8: LIVE AND LET DIE COVERLAND VOL. 9: PERSONAL JESUS COVERLAND VOL.10: THE JUNGLE LINE COVERLAND VOL.11: THE MAN WHO SOLD THE WORLD COVERLAND VOL.12: ALL ALONG THE WATCHTOWER COVERLAND VOL.13: LEOPARD-SKIN PILL-BOX HAT COVERLAND VOL.14: JUST GOT PAID COVERLAND VOL.15: DO WAH DIDDY DIDDY COVERLAND VOL.16: LAST KIND WORDS COVERLAND VOL.17: WOODSTOCK COVERLAND VOL.18: JOURNEY IN SATCHIDANANDA COVERLAND VOL.18: HAIR COVERLAND VOL.19: SOS COVERLAND VOL.20: RESPECT COVERLAND VOL.21: WHIPPING POST
