THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

7-Bob Dylan-Like a Rolling Stone.

1965-Number 4 single.

Best Bit-At 4.26. Back in the 1960’s for radio DJ’s on a long shift this song was a God send. Back then it was unheard of for a track of more than three minutes to be played on air, until this came along.It meant that presenters had time to go and powder their nose, without having to rush back.

Bob Dylan (see also best songs 792-621-358-103 and 36) was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24th, 1941, in Duluth, Minnesota, United States, on August 2nd, 1962, he legally changed his name to Robert Dylan. In his memoir Dylan wrote that he considered adopting the surname ‘Dillon’ before unexpectedly seeing poems by Dylan Thomas, (1914-1953) and deciding upon that less common variant. Dylan has also said,’You’re born, you know, the wrong names, wrong parents. I mean, that happens. You call yourself what you want to call yourself. This is the land of the free.’

Initially as a teenager at high school Dylan performed covers by ‘Rock N’ Roll’ artists such as Elvis Presley and Little Richard, bit after enrolling at the ‘University of Minnesota’ in 1959 he became interested in American Folk Music. Dylan has said,’I got into folk music, it was more of a serious type of thing. The songs are filled with more despair, more sadness, more triumph, more faith in the supernatural, much deeper feelings.’ The other big leap that Dylan took in his musical career was his first recordings with electric instruments on his fifth studio Album ‘Bringing It All Back Home’ in 1965, under the guidance of the music producer Tom Wilson (1931-1938) (see also best songs 358.)

The extensive discography of Bob Dylan includes 39 studio Albums released between 1962-2020, and 95 singles issued in the same time period, his record sales are in excess of 125 million sold worldwide. In America on Billboard, five of his Albums have made the Number 1 position, while in the UK he has topped the Album chart on nine occasions. In America on the Billboard hot 100 singles chart, 12 of his singles have reached the top 40, with ‘Like a Rolling Stone,'(1965) and ‘Rainy Day Women,’ (1966) both peaking at Number 2. While in the UK he has charted with 16 of his singles, with ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ charting the highest at Number 4. Dylan has also achieved great success commercially with other artists covering his songs, including Jimi Hendrix, The Byrds, (see also best songs 621) and Peter, Paul and Mary, and taking them into the higher reaches of the charts.

‘Like a Rolling Stone’ was written by Bob Dylan, and produced by Tom Wilson, and was the first of four singles released from Bob Dylan’s sixth studio Album ‘Highway 61 Revisited’ from August 1965. The lyrics for ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ were not initially written as a song, but as 20 pages of verse. In May 1965 Dylan had returned from his tour of England feeling exhausted and dissatisfied with his material. He has said,’I was going to quit singing. I was very drained. It’s very tiring having other people tell you how much they dig you, if you yourself don’t dig you.’ Dylan has described the 20 pages of verse as a ‘Long piece of vomit,’ which he reduced to four verses and a chorus. He has said that writing and recording ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ washed away his dissatisfaction, and restored his enthusiasm for creating music. There has always been much speculation as to whom the song was written about, but in all probability Dylan wrote the song about quite a few characters and acquaintances that he knew, or knew of.

The songs title is taken from the proverb ‘A rolling stone gathers no moss. Dylan got the idea from the 1949 song ‘Lost Highway,’ by Hank Williams, (1923-1953) (see also best songs 555) which contains the line ‘I’m a rolling stone, all alone and lost.’ Paul McCartney remembered going around to John Lennon’s house to hear the song,’It seemed to go on forever and ever. It was beautiful, he showed all of us that it was possible to go a little further.’The influential music magazine ‘Rolling Stone’ is said to have taken it’s name from this song, as well as the 1950 Muddy Waters ‘Blues’ song ‘Rollin’ Stone,’ On June 24th, 2014, the original hand written lyrics of ‘Like a Rolling Stone’ were sold at auction by ‘Sotheby’s’ in New York for $2 million, which is the record for a popular music manuscript.

‘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 realise he’s not selling any alibis.’