"Like a Rolling Stone"

Bob Dylan singing
"Like a Rolling Stone" (1965)

By Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com

"Like a Rolling Stone" Album
by Bob Dylan (1965)

Bob Dylan singing
"Like a Rolling Stone" (1965)

Bob Dylan wins
2016 Literature Nobel Prize

Preface: For Song #53, I've selected Bob Dylan singing "Like a Rolling Stone" (1965). Writen by 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. 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, & 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. Dylan's handwritten lyrics to the song fetched $2 million, a world record for a popular music manuscript. Lyrics.

[Verse 1]
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 a-kiddin' you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin' out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal

[Chorus]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?

[Verse 2]
Aw, you've gone to the finest school all right,
Miss Lonely
But ya know ya only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught ya 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?"

[Chorus]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
A complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

[Verse 3]
Aw, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they
all did tricks for you
Never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people
get your kicks for you
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 discover that
He really wasn't where it's at
After he took from you everything he could steal?

[Chorus]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To hang on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

[Verse 4]
Aw, princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchangin' all precious gifts
But you'd better take your diamond ring,
ya better pawn it, babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls ya, ya can't refuse
When ya ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose
You're invisible now, ya got no secrets to conceal

[Chorus]
How does it feel?
Aw, how does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

© Peter Y. Chou
WisdomPortal.com
August 27, 2023