How does it feeeeel? (40 years on - Can you believe that?)

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Forty years on, Bob Dylan's Like a Rolling Stone still resonates around the music world, writes Warwick McFadyen.

http://www.theage.com.au/ffximage/2005/05/26/bob_dylan_narrowweb__200x340.jpg

...It was the crack that was heard around the pop and rock music world. Short and sharp like the flick of a bullwhip, it started the wheels of revolution turning at 45 rpm. At six minutes and 16 seconds, it was, paradoxically, the shortest upheaval in history. Unlike revolutions of blood and sacrifice, however, it defies the rusted hinges of time. It still ripples down the airwaves.

It is Like A Rolling Stone by Bob Dylan. On June 16, the song turns 40. Rolling Stone magazine recently declared it the greatest rock song ever. It appears in numerous lists of best American and/or popular song of any genre.... <cont.>

http://www.theage.com.au/news/Music/How-does-it-feeeel/2005/05/26/1116950805966.html

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Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People'd call, say, "Beware doll, you're bound to fall"
You thought they were all 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 for your next meal.

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

You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you're gonna have to get used to it
You said you'd 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 ask him do you want to make a deal?

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?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and 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 the 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.

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?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you'd better lift your diamond ring, you'd 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 you, you can't refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal.

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?

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So how did you feeeeel when you first heard Bob's little song? Do you actually remember what you were doing? Was this one of those gob smacking moments in life that one never forgets? (Like the Kennedy assassination.)

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I can't actually remember where I was or what I was doing at the time .... but I distinctly remember feeeeeeeling gob-smacked! Surprised

Whatta song! Whatta writer! What a moment! :wink: Laughing

Now I look at poor old Bob's photograph <above> & feel quite aged & jaded, too. Sad

FORTY years? REALLY?! Shocked

But hey, it was great to be around during all the excitement, idealism, righteous anger, belief that a better world was just around the corner ..... <sigh> And Bob was right in the thick of it! Despite hearing the song 2474583956780467 times, it still has a certain something going for it! Very Happy

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I bought the album (Highway 61 Revisited). To me the entire album was of a fabric with Like a Rolling Stone an integral part. That same year, I went to his concert in Long Beach California. He still retained the band with Al Kooper and the rest and sounded identical to the record. Needless to say, I was in hog heaven.

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First time I heard it, was in an army barracks in Germany, by a guy who'd done a few recordings under the name Green Lantern. Only person I ever knew who received royalty checks - however small.

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edgarblythe wrote:

I bought the album (Highway 61 Revisited). To me the entire album was of a fabric with Like a Rolling Stone an integral part. That same year, I went to his concert in Long Beach California. He still retained the band with Al Kooper and the rest and sounded identical to the record. Needless to say, I was in hog heaven.

You went to a concert in that very same year, edgar? Ohhhhhh, I'm so jealous! Dylan in his prime. Very Happy

"A hog in heaven" sounds a perfect response!

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roger wrote:

First time I heard it, was in an army barracks in Germany, by a guy who'd done a few recordings under the name Green Lantern. Only person I ever knew who received royalty checks - however small.

um, did hearing this song bring on a sort of restless feeling... like wanting to be done the army, Roger? :wink:

Whatever happened to Green Lantern, by the way? I'm curious!

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I've been to several Dylan concerts, last one being a year or two back at the Houston Rodeo. When he participated in the New York tribute to Woodie Guthrie, I tried to get a ticket, but they had sold out almost instantly.

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I went to a couple of (much) later ones, edgar, but would have just loved to have seen Dylan in his snarling, youthful prime! Laughing

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I recall when he first went electric. I felt betrayed, until I bought the album. Same Dylan, expanded repertoire, I quickly discovered.

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edgarblythe wrote:

I recall when he first went electric. I felt betrayed, until I bought the album. Same Dylan, expanded repertoire, I quickly discovered.

Yes!

Impure! Traitor to the cause! Sell out! Pop star! Boo hiss!

Pretty quaint, the reaction, wasn't it? Laughing

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I was outright angry to hear him called Bobby Dylan on a bubblegum rock station. But, as I said, I didn't stay upset all that long.

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As I said earlier, I'd loved to have seen Bob do his stuff in his heady, reckless youth .... much the same as I would have loved to see "Elvis the pelvis" Laughing

in his prime. I was far too young & only discovered much later, via film clips, how magnetic (& outrageously rude! Laughing

) the young Elvis was. Same with Dylan. (Though not the rude bit, obviously) The early film clips are so fresh & dynamic! Very Happy

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I recall when Elvis started also. It was liberating to turn on Lucky Lager Dancetime and be bombarded with Elvis, Fats Domino, Frankie Lymon, Clyde McPhatter and the Drifters, etc.

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I'll bet it was, edgar! Very Happy

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msolga wrote:

[um, did hearing this song bring on a sort of restless feeling... like wanting to be done the army, Roger? :wink:

Whatever happened to Green Lantern, by the way? I'm curious!

I don't know what happened to him, and wish I did. Jim Vanier was the name, and he was quite good. I don't know how he was as a performer, but he was a good singer, at least with that type of music. This was at a time when we were all getting immunized for things like plague and cholera, just in case we were ordered to Southeast Asia. He had a lot more time left in the service than I. I wonder about a lot of people I knew back then.

It didn't take much in the way of music or anything else to leave me wanting to have done with the army. Great times, you understand, but mostly in hindsight.

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Hey, Jim Varnier! If you're reading this, Roger wants to hear from you! Very Happy

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He might, you know. The name is just uncommon enough to get some good google hits.

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Wouldn't that be great, roger! Very Happy

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How does it feeeeel? (40 years on - Can you believe that?)

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