Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads

by Greil Marcus

Book Overview

Greil Marcus saw Bob Dylan for the first time in a New Jersey field in 1963. He didn't know the name of the scruffy singer who had a bit part in a Joan Baez concert, but he knew his performance was unique. So began a dedicated and enduring relationship between America's finest critic of popular music -- "simply peerless," in Nick Hornby's words, "not only as a rock writer but as a cultural historian" -- and Bob Dylan. In Like A Rolling Stone ...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 158648382X
• ISBN13: 9781586483821
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: PublicAffairs
• Length: 304 Pages
• Weight: 0.80 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.5" x 8.2"

Customer Reviews

some Blakean breakthrough into the heavens of poetry...

This reader thought he knew this era-shattering Dylan song and its contexts; but this book kept enriching it start to finish, and showed as well how it nearly did not happen, could have easily been abandoned in the drafts of the studio or the maze of putting Bloomfield and Kooper in on it. I was a CT kid in the shadows of Forest Hill concert, and in truth I was applauding that electric guitar like it was some Blakean breakthrough into the heavens of poetry, same thing when I heard the Byrds sing Turn Turn Turn or Tambourine Man. Re Dylan, Marcus keeps raising spectral contexts out of the airwaves, shows how the song breaks into the `great time' and afterlife of music created by Sam Cooke and Robert Johnson. This books shows how Dylan was using the top 40 as an access into that depth of folk-pop poetry coming out of the future, making a future America happen in the present, endure as a legacy and obligation. I can see how a poet such as Dylan would be grateful for such a reading, breaking his poetry into the invisible republic of the spirit.

A history of pinpoint focus upon the history of one of the greatest popular music singles ever made

Like A Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads is a history of pinpoint focus upon the history of one of the greatest popular music singles ever made: "Like A Rolling Stone" by the legendary Bob Dylan. Like A Rolling Stone includes a partial biography of Dylan's life, of course, but the central theme is the song itself, the history of its creation, recording and distribution, how it brought together different traditions of American music and speech, and forever changed perspectives on music as a whole and pop culture music in particular. Like A Rolling Stone offers a glimpse into the history of rock and roll through the impact of a quintessential and forever unforgettable song. Highly recommended especially for fans of Dylan's music.

The biography of a song...

Here lies a biography of a single song. Of course, not just any song, but the "how does it feeeeeel?" song that refuses to disappear since its release as a two-sided 45 in 1965. Has any other or, maybe a better question would be, can any other song receive the in-depth, subterranean, data mined, ultra-nuanced treatment that Greil Marcus gives to Bob Dylan's "Like A Rolling Stone"? That the song remains legendary no one probably doubts. That it stands as one of the greatest rock songs ever recorded may also not meet with much dissidence. But over two-hundred pages on a single song? The idea alone entices a read. So what happens in this book? And why should anyone read it? First off, this book likely won't appeal to those who don't see a connection between popular music, popular culture, how it potentially affects our lives as consumers/listeners, and how a song can take on a life of its own (which explains the "biography" moniker - this book really tries to capture the life the song took on all by itself). Some of the claims this book makes seem a little far out. Did "Like A Rolling Stone" contain seeds for a "strange revolution"? Does the song have, for lack of a better term, a metaphysical category all of its own (as some of the descriptions and rhapsodies in this book suggest) that seems unreachable and ineffable? Those who like to put on music, dance to it, and not think about it will probably close this book quickly. In other words, it's a heady book for those who want to dig into the mystique of popular music and theorize about what makes it tick. Marcus descends to levels of granularity that don't seem possible when chatting about popular music. Some of the chapters read thickly, and, without a share of Marcus' knowledge, some of the references approach the incomprehensible. Still, this rather short book bloats with interesting historical tidbits about Dylan, the song, the origins of the song, multifarious perspectives on the song, readings of the song's lyrics, the recording of the song, and some of its concert history. Some of these contain new information (songs in which "Rolling Stone" have appeared, the history of Highway 61 - the actual physical highway, the pop and culture scene of the early 1960s - for those of us who weren't there, at least). Others will seem very familiar to hard core Dylan fans (the 1965 Newport Folk Festival where the crowd booed Dylan, Al Kooper sneaking into the studio, the infamous "Judas!" remark). The book's epilogue contains almost a play-by-play of the recording session for the song. It reveals glimpses of how it almost got away from the group. But was take 4 an "accident" as Marcus claims? A few things don't receive mention: Dylan included a strange and sloppy version of "Like A Rolling Stone" on the monolithic and bizarre "Self-Portrait". What was that all about? And what about Dylan's song "Highway 51 Blues" from his first album. What highway was that and can any connection be drawn from that song

A more precise look at the sources of his inspiration

Plenty of biographies and critical surveys of rock musician Bob Dylan have been written: author Greil Marcus saw Dylan for the first time in 1963: he may not have known his name, but he recognized talent when he saw it. Thus began a long relationship between critic and musician which has led to Marcus' in-depth survey Like A Roling Stone: Bob Dylan At The Crossroads. Chapters consider song origins, Dylan's major concerts, and the search for exceptional lyrics. If you've read all the other Dylan coverages, Like A Rolling Stone provides a more precise look at the sources of his inspiration - from an insider's view.

"no direction home," 40 years later

A whole book about one song? If there's a song that deserves it, it's Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone," but this is Greil Marcus, and there's a lot of history, social context and cultural detritus here beyond the song, no surprise. The first section of the book is on the social context into which the song was launched, the middle section is about the making of the song itself, and the last section is about its reception and effects. I found some of Marcus's cultural commentary compelling and some not so compelling -- the highlights for me are the less disputable "facts" about the great song itself, recorded on June 15, 1965 and released on July 24, 1965. It stormed the pop charts, unprecedented for a 6-minute song, and reached #2 in the USA. What was #1, you ask? It was the Beatles' "Help!" Al Kooper's story of how he ended up playing organ is quite amusing, and Dylan's recruitment and use of Michael Bloomfield in the session is fascinating. Also superb is Marcus's account of the ensuing tour of the new electric Dylan, with the booing in the U.S. and the large-scale disruption of the U.K. concerts, some of it quite purposefully organized by the old British Communist Party, as it turns out, which controlled a network of stodgy folk clubs. "Like a Rolling Stone" was the last song every night on that tour, a perfect howl of anger for Dylan to wreak vengeance on his recalcitrant fans. (See my 9/5/04 review of the LIVE 1966 disc, the official release of the famous "Royal Albert Hall" bootleg of the Manchester concert.) Once you realize the scope of Marcus's musings, it becomes clear that this book could have been much longer. He never devotes any attention to the fact that the song was an existentialist anthem, for instance, which might have involved analysis of the existentialists and their influence on Dylan. He doesn't have much to say about the class resentment that drives much of the song's powerful angry energy, or the vast and growing inequality in the the U.S. that might make that resentment more and more relevant at 40 years on, as the old New Deal programs are under full-scale assault by the president and congress. Dylan himself said "I was hungry, and it was your world" ("Just Like a Woman"), he also said "Papa's bankbook wasn't big enough" ("Tangled Up In Blue"), both references to the fact that he, a middle class boy, had entered a higher status world, and experienced class resentment. Much could have been made of the social context of the Vietnam War, and Dylan's refusal to address it. The turn from the left-wing politics of his folk period (for civil rights, against war) to the apolitical, surrealist stance he took in 1964-5 is never seriously tackled. Some of Marcus's musings are quite idiosyncratic -- of all the music that has followed "Like a Rolling Stone" he chooses the Village People and the Pet Shop Boys for special treatment. I would have chosen at least a thousand others first, but there you go, it's a wide w