Song of the Week #7 – “Like a Rolling Stone”
Written by admin on June 21, 2010 – 7:22 am -| For this week’s Song of the Week we go back to 1965 and Bob Dylan’s “Like a Rolling Stone.”
“Like a Rolling Stone” is widely regarded as a musical milestone and one of Dylan’s finest achievements. Rolling Stone magazine rates it as the number one song of all time in its list of 500 great songs. |
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In February 1966, Dylan told CBC interviewer, Marvin Bronstein, 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.” |
The song is reportedly about socialite Edie Segdwick, who was close to Andy Warhol and Bob Dylan.
Dylan has also claimed that he had been considering quitting the music business before “Like a Rolling Stone” reignited his enthusiasm.
Dylan first performed “Like a Rolling Stone” live on July 25, 1965 at the Newport Folk Festival. Here’s the performance.
He used the song to close his show throughout 1965 and 1966. It was prior to playing “Like a Rolling Stone” at a gig in Manchester, England, that an audience member famously yelled out “Judas” because he felt that Dylan was betraying folk music with his new electric sound. Dylan’s response to the band was “play it f**king loud!”
Recording date/location
“Like a Rolling Stone” was recorded over two days on June 15/16, 1965 at Studio A of Columbia Records in New York City. The song became the opening track on the platinum-selling “Highway 61 Revisited.”
Musicians
The following musicians played on “Like a Rolling Stone”:
- Bob Dylan – guitar, piano, harmonica, vocals
- Mike Bloomfield – guitar
- Al Gorgoni – guitar
- Frank Owens – piano
- Bobby Gregg – drums
- Joseph Macho Jr – bass
- Al Kooper – organ.
Chart performance
“Like a Rolling Stone” was released on single on July 20, 1965 backed with “Gates of Eden,” and reached number two on the Billboard pop charts. This is one of only four Dylan songs to hit the top 10, and only “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35” from 1966 matched the number two position. Fortunately for Dylan, despite the song’s length (6mins 13 secs) it still received lots of airplay from DJs.
Covers
Jimi Hendrix – “Like a Rolling Stone”
Jimi memorably featured “Like a Rolling Stone” in his performance at the Monterey Pop Festival on June 18, 1967.
Judy Collins – “Like a Rolling Stone”
Judy Collins recorded a very laidback, but pleasing version for her 1993 album “Judy Collins sings Dylan.”
The Rolling Stones – “Like a Rolling Stone”
The Rolling Stones featured a live recording of “Like a Rolling Stone” from Brixton Academy on their 1995 album “Stripped.” The album was a collection of live and live-in-the-studio tracks, and it hit the top ten in the US and UK. “Like a Rolling Stone” was the lead single from “Stripped” and hit number 12 in the UK.
Barb Jungr – “Like a Rolling Stone”
The BBC held a Bob Dylan tribute concert at the Barbican in London in 2006, which featured old friends of Dylan and current artists who admire him. Among the performances was Barb Jungr’s radical reworking of “Like a Rolling Stone,” accompanied by pianist Adrian York.
There will be a new Song of the Week on June 28.
“Like a Rolling Stone” is available on the remastered “Highway 61 Revisited” CD:
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Bob Dylan – "Highway 61 Revisited” |
Buy Now | Buy Now | Buy Now |
Tags: Barb Jungr, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Judy Collins, Like a Rolling Stone, The Rolling Stones
Posted in Folk, Song of the Week |
