Like a rolling stone

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Like a rolling stone
Bob Dylan
publication July 20, 1965
length 6:13
Genre (s) Folk rock
Author (s) Bob Dylan
Label Columbia Records
album Highway 61 Revisited

Like a Rolling Stone is the title of a song that was written in June 1965 by the then 24-year-old Bob Dylan and is included on the album Highway 61 Revisited . The song is considered one of the most influential rock songs. In 2004 Rolling Stone Magazine voted the title the best song of all time , ahead of (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones and Imagine by John Lennon . The song refers to the English proverb “ A rolling stone gathers no moss ” (German: “A rolling stone does not put moss on”).

History of origin

In May 1965, young Dylan began to write the song in the form of a poem while touring England. When he got back to his home town of Woodstock ( New York ), he put the four stanzas and the illusion-free refrain into song form. The artist later confessed that he had used the chord progression from Ritchie Valens ' La Bamba as a framework.

The song was recorded by Bob Dylan on June 15 and 16, 1965 in the then New York headquarters of Columbia Records (Seventh Avenue 799) in the line- up of Al Kooper (organ), Russ Savakus (bass), Mike Bloomfield (guitar), Bobby Gregg (drums) and Paul Griffin (piano). Producer was Tom Wilson at whose request Bob Bushnell (bass guitar), Al Gorgoni (electric guitar) and Bobby Gregg (drums) in overdub participated process at the introduction.

There were big problems with the song's release because although Dylan's manager knew it was going to be a hit, Columbia Records' marketing department was against it. This was mainly due to the six-minute playing time of Like a Rolling Stone, which was unusually long for a single . Dylan should cut the piece, which he refused. On July 15, 1965, the song was released, entered the Billboard charts within a week , reached number 2 and stayed in the charts for three months. The song was sold over a million times worldwide.

Meaning of the text

The song tells the story of a woman (probably from a wealthy family) who ends up on the street from the perspective of an innocent bystanders. The title or the last sentence of the refrain is often misinterpreted in German: the metaphor “like a rolling stone” “ Rolling Stone ” is an allusion to the English saying “ A rolling stone gathers no moss ” (German: “A rolling stone sets no moss on ”) and refers in the original text to a tramp, which can be deduced from the context. So in the chorus, Dylan asks the questions, rather sarcastically:

How does it feel?
To be on your own
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

The refrain refers to the fact that the apparently spoiled girl, who has no good image of the homeless and loitering, now finds herself on the street. Therefore it is confronted with the questions how it feels to be alone, homeless, unknown, just like tramps who are ridiculed by her.

The protagonist of the song remains nameless; It is believed to be celebrating actress Edie Sedgwick , who also appears in other Dylan songs from the period. Even Joan Baez , Marianne Faithfull and Bob Neuwirth have been mentioned as possible people.

The slang term rolling stone for drifters was not new to blues and pop music. Muddy Waters already used it in his composition Rollin 'Stone (June 1950), after which the Rolling Stones are named. Even Otis Blackwell used it in his own composition Daddy Rolling Stone (October 1953).

Cover versions

In addition to various recordings by Dylan ( At Budokan ), there are numerous cover versions of the song, including by Jimi Hendrix , the Rolling Stones (on the album Stripped ), Bob Marley , Johnny Winter and Green Day . The self-confessed Dylan fan Wolfgang Niedecken recorded the song in 1982 with his band BAP with a new German text (Wie 'ne Stein) . Wolfgang Ambros brought out a complete album (Wie im Schlaf) with Dylan songs in 1978 . The very textual translations made many fans in German-speaking countries aware of the lyrical quality of Dylan's lyrics.

Prince did not release a cover version, but named Like a Rolling Stone as one of 55 songs that inspired him musically.

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Originally booked as the second guitarist by producer Tom Wilson, Al Kooper was removed from the line-up for reasons unknown. But he really wanted to make his contribution to the piece. And while he was waiting for his fee in the recording room, he saw Paul Griffin switch from organ to piano because Wilson thought it was the right instrument for the song. Cooper then offered Wilson to take over the organ, which the producer thought was a bad idea. After the conversation, Wilson had to make an important phone call and Kooper took the opportunity to sit down at the organ, contrary to the producer's decision. When Wilson returned, he liked the sound of the piece and left it with Kooper on the organ until the production was complete. If you listen carefully, you can tell that Kooper was actually a guitarist and therefore did not master the organ perfectly. The fact that the organ always starts a fraction of a second too late, however, is what makes Like A Rolling Stone's unmistakable flair .
  2. ↑ Steve Sullivan: Encyclopedia of Great Popular Song Recordings. Volume 2, p. 110
  3. ^ Joseph Murrells: Million Selling Records, 1985, p. 206
  4. ↑ For a completely different interpretation of the lyrics cf. the lecture by Werner Faulstich: Like A Rolling Stone - from external determination to self-determination . Printed in: Werner Faulstich: From Rock 'n' Roll to Bob Dylan. Tübingen lectures on rock history . Part 1: 1955-1963 . Rockpaed Verlag, Gelsenkirchen 1983, pp. 182-188
  5. ↑ Gill, 1998, pp. 82-83