The origin of these lyrics was in a piece of verse Bob Dylan wrote in June 1965, after he had returned from an exhausting tour of England. He reworked it into four verses and a chorus of this song.
About The Song
At first, this song made an unsuccessful demo in 3/4 time. Al Kooper, a session musician, helped Bob Dylan to finish it by improvising the organ riff.
Columbia Records wasn’t satisfied with both the song’s length (over six minutes) and its heavy electric sound. Only a month later they made a decision to release a single, after a copy had been leaked to a new popular music club and had been heard by influential DJs.
Despite the fact that radio stations were reluctant to play such a long track, “Like a Rolling Stone” reached number 2 on the US Billboard charts and became a hit throughout the world.
Video
Lyric
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 mealHow 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’s ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now 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 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?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 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 stealHow 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 all drinkin’, thinkin’ that they got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you’d better take 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 ain’t got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to concealHow does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?