By Dyah Ayu Larasati, Collider | Armed with nothing but his nasal baritone voice and his Gibson J-50 acoustic guitar, Bob Dylan made a name for himself as a pioneer of America’s protest songs. Although Dylan himself never liked being labeled a protest singer, he has always been a true-blue artist, someone driven more by instinct and expression than by expectation.
Like many artists, however, Dylan has experienced both towering highs and difficult lows to the point where he even considered walking away from music altogether. But like any genius, there comes a moment when the songwriter breaks the rules, and in Dylan’s case, that moment produced a song that not only became the voice of a protest generation, but also the defining track of his 65-year career.
”Like a Rolling Stone” Saved Bob Dylan’s Music Career
In January 1961, Dylan was just a 19-year-old kid from Minnesota who had freshly arrived in New York City, trying to make a living through music in the famous Greenwich Village folk scene. By October that same year, Dylan had already signed with Columbia Records under legendary A&R executive John H. Hammond. The next four years became a whirlwind: a rejected appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, the release of his 1963 hit “Blowin’ in the Wind,” and nonstop touring. But by the end of his exhausting 1965 UK tour, the pressure of the music industry had finally begun taking a toll on his artistic pursuits.
Just as Dylan was about to quit singing, “Like a Rolling Stone” came to him at exactly the right moment, serving as the opening track for his electrifying Highway 61 Revisited — an album that marked Dylan’s departure from his folk roots in favor of a full-fledged rock band, a move that sharply divided his fans. Although not originally written as a traditional protest song, “Like a Rolling Stone” follows a trajectory similar to Dylan’s own: reaching the peak of success only to become drained by it. By the time everything falls apart and he is forced to look inward to find himself again, the sense of liberation that comes from it feels limitless.
The Draft for “Like a Rolling Stone” Was Originally 10 Pages Long
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Photo: Robbie Robertson & Bob Dylan
We’ve added the lyrics here – Bet most of you have no idea what they are!
Like A Rolling Stone: Song by Bob Dylan 1965
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 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, how does it feel?
To be 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 be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him 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, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Source: LyricFind
Songwriter: Bob Dylan
Like A Rolling Stone lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
