Did Bob’s Miss Lonely, his diplomats and Siamese cat, rock your world? They did mine!
It was on July 20 1965 that Bob released Like a Rolling Stone. It brought fear to the world and fury to my dad.
The single was stupendous, noisy, rallying, subversive, hectoring, finger-pointing, vicious, told it like it was (is?), frightened authorities and sent parents into despair.
It also galvanised fans into joining opposing camps.
On the one hand the folksy ear-cupping folk who believed history was more important than a psychedelic future.
On the other, a band of pop fans with their small faces and Lambrettas!
But they all missed the point all those years ago… Bob Dylan, with this 45 rpm disc, had created a multi-layered masterpiece. A long poem, a homage to Beat stream-of-consciousness, a coruscating look at society, the rich and poor, those empty and lonely people in clinging fogs of amphetamine and city street fumes.
But – and not many caught on back then – by putting the pulsating, raw and acoustic Gates of Eden on the B-side he had stayed true to his folk roots, gone 50/50 with the old and the new and protested with new sophistication.
And it pulled together so many forms of music it was a major step in his determination to create a living museum of the greatest from Phil Spector to John Jacob Niles.
Rolling Stone never made it to No 1, its rightful place in modern musical history, getting to No 2 in the US and No 4 in the UK.
But this song made Bob what he is still today – a hero and a villain and a rebel. So much a villain that insults were hurled at him and his band all over the world.
The worst was when the right-on folkies and pompous pointless protesters cheered the man who shouted ‘Judas!’ at Bob, a Jew.
Dylan’s response was “You’re a liar!” and them he turned to his band and shouted “play f—ing loud.”
Bringing it all back home
Bob hit his marketplace though as all the controversy raged, even in the dank dirty streets of big cities, like my hometown of Manchester in the UK.
Two-ups-and-two-downs, cobbled street cottages, high-rise council flats, aspirational semis, they all were throwing shadowy shapes of protest or perceived freedom.
Then Like a Rolling Stone made it onto Top of the Pops and the catalyst for the great divide between the old (man) and the new (kid on the block) burst from the tiny television screen in the corner of our lounge.
I was 12, I was hormonal. And I was furious.
But the man who had shot white stripes of harsh reality across my young acned and blood-rush universe was even angrier.
It might have been the cider he drank sprawled across the couch but daddy vomited stream-of-consciousness invective, fury and sheer hate.
And Bob careened and wheeled and spun and howled (better than any Norwegian painting) out of the tinny speaker as nubile girls in flowery pelmets gyrated on the flickering screen.
Daddy had come face to face with the Young Generation of the 60s, they were marching on the streets he had inhabited as a handcart pusher.
He didn’t like Rolling Stone.
But I did!
And today the controversy remains … the world’s most incendiary protest song?
I think so – what do you think?
#BOBDYLAN #likearollingstone #burnett #blowinginthewind #tambourineman #auctionblock #auction
“Blew the bums a dime in your prime.”
So many great rhymes. My most enduring one was:
“When you’ve got nothing you got nothing to lose. You’re invisible now, got no secrets to conceal.”
William Alford
“Factory Girl” about Edie Sedgwick with whom Bob is said to have had an affair is now playing free on Amazon prime now. There is a Dylan-like character who try’s to break her away from Andy Warhol. Rich girl falls from grace. Based on real events (?). Some videos of the real Edie on YouTube. Some say the “diplomat” is Warhol
Dave Gardner
Masters of War is still as poignant today as it was when Bob first released it.
Now that’s a Protest song
Mindy Martin
Dave Gardner Poignant is at the heart of protest for me—songs are woven into biography—and that word is a consistent thread in his work—Masters of War stands right there…”you ain’t worth the blood that runs through your veins…” (and people still question his Nobel in literature….)
Mindy Martin
I’m puzzled by these comments —gotta read more than the headline to get the pay-off—I don’t see how one can read this (blogs are personal by their very nature) and not see the nuances within the term protest (everyone knows what happened to Dylan on that tour overseas—it was vicious)
Context makes meaning—nothing else can…read the blog for ucks sake
Ron Forbes-Roberts
Mindy Martin Yes-the definition of the term ‘protest song’ is very narrow and not well thought through for many people. Personally I think ‘It’s Alright Ma I’m Only Bleeding’ is the greatest ‘protest song’ ever written by a wide margin and ‘ Like a Rolling Stone ‘ isn’t far behind for some of the same reasons presented in this article.
Mindy Martin
Ron Forbes-Roberts Another rich (the language and metaphor and ache)choice—and the best part is we all get to choose—that’s the beauty (and necessity) of art—when something anchors itself in your soul, it travels with you through time
Werner-Peter Knorr
This is no protest song! It’s “only” the greatest rock-song of all times! Unfortunately the master has deleted it from his setlist a few years ago…
Michael Lockitch
nobody who is still asking the question “how does it feel?” 50+ years later can think of this as protest!
Mindy Martin
Tabitha Herrington No, not in the way you think. But Wenner was acknowledging the blues tradition of Muddy Waters (wrote Rollin’ Stone) bands like The Rolling Stones and yes, Dylan’s titular tune—you can find interviews with Wenner from the first issue that reference what inspired the name and, more importantly, the positioning of the magazine in its time—it’s all interesting stuff and I kept my copies next to my Interview mag collection for decades—wish I still had them some days!
Fneil Caldwell
A great load of rubbish if I may be so bold. It is in fact a , ” finger pointing song ” . The great protest song was – – – Barry Maguire , ” The eve of destruction” – – – not !
Andy Snadden
It’s not remotely a protest song. A protest song is directed to the masses in regards to a political injustice that requires fixing. This song is directed to one person, and is a critique of bourgeoisie status seeking and self obsession.
Will Grenham
Andy Snadden Of course it’s a protest song. As Bob replied when someone called out “Sing Protest songs” at the RAH, “These are ALL Protest songs” 😎