500 Greatest Songs of All Time – no. 1 – “Like A Rolling Stone” – by Bob Dylan.

So we finally get to the number 1 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. At number 1 is (drum roll…..) “Like a Rolling Stone’ by Bob Dylan.

I cannot argue with this choice; the song is groundbreaking in many aspects, and is just perfect as a song. Strangely, Dylan was not known for writing hit singles, but this song started as an attempt to do just that. The version released as a single from his sessions for the 1966 album “Highway 61 Revisited” ran to over 6 minutes, twice the length of most singles. Dylan was told that radio stations would not play such a long song, but they did and it got to number 2 in the US charts, and to number 4 in the Disunited Kingdom charts.

At number 1 in Rolling Stone Magazine’s ‘500 Greatest Songs of all Time’ is “Like A Rolling Stone” by Bob Dylan.

I have already blogged about this song in my countdown of Bob Dylan’s best songs (here), but unfortunately the video I inserted into that post no longer works.

Apparently the lyrics shown below, which are what Dylan sung in the version of the song which appeared as a single and which is on “Highway 61 Revisited” are just a small part of some 70 (seventy!) verses that Dylan had written.

 

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People call say ‘beware doll, you’re bound to fall’
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal

How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

Ahh you’ve gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody’s ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you’re gonna have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown, like a rolling stone

Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain’t no good
You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse
When you ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal

How does it feel, how does it feel?
To have on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
They’re all drinking, thinking that they’ve got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain’t it hard when you discovered that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal

How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone

 

In this video (taken from Martin Scorcese’s film “No Direction Home”), Dylan explains his inspiration for “Like a Rolling Stone”.

The beginning of Dylan performing the song at a concert in Manchester (England) in 1966 has one of the seminal moments in rock ‘n’ roll history. Dylan had alienated many of his fans by “going electric” the previous year, and during this tour of Europe and the United States he spent a good fraction of each set being booed by fans who felt that he had betrayed them and “gone commercial”. As Dylan came on stage to end his set at Manchester with “Like a Rolling Stone”, this happened. The last thing he says before the song starts, as he turns to his band, is “Play it fucking loud”.

Which is your favourite song of all time?

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