Dylan first recorded the song on June 15-16, 1965, in a pair of sessions produced by ; session musicians included , , , and . Bloomfield, a blues guitarist, was specifically asked by Dylan not to play "any of that B.B.
King blues shit". Kooper, a guitarist, played the organ, which was not an instrument he regularly played. Over those two days, Dylan managed to complete only one take of the song out of nearly two dozen attempts - the version heard on .
"Like a Rolling Stone" was released as a 45 rpm single on , , staying on US charts for nearly 3 months and rising to the #2 spot, behind ' song " ". It reached a higher spot on the charts than any other song of its length had ever reached before.
Dylan gave the song its live debut at his legendary appearance on , .
Highway 61 Revisited was issued at the end of August, and when Dylan went on tour that fall, "Like a Rolling Stone" took the closing slot on his playlist and held it, with rare exceptions, through the end of his "world tour", as well as during his return to touring in with .
as well as on countless unofficially circulating field recordings.
An early, incomplete studio recording was included on ; other studio outtakes were included on the Highway 61 Interactive .
Here is a list of some notable artists (with what album it was on or where and when it was performed, if applicable) who have covered "Like a Rolling Stone:"
Speculation about the song's unnamed subject has run continuously since its release; one common school of thought centers on , an actress/model known for her association with . Sedgwick is also often identified as a figure in other Dylan songs of the time, particularly " " from his album . However, Dylan is widely believed only to have begun to associate with Sedgwick in the fall of 1965, after "Like a Rolling Stone" was recorded.
Others have claimed to see a deeper meaning. Mike Marqusee has written at length on the conflicts in Dylan's life at this time, with its deepening alienation from his old folk-revival audience and clear-cut leftist causes. He suggests that the song, which veers near , in its references to its presumed female recipient, is probably self-referential.
Thus :- "The song only attains full poignancy when one realises it is sung, at least in part, to the singer himself: he's the one 'with no direction home'" (Marqusee, p157). 's recent movie about Dylan, , appears to show, in footage filmed backstage in , that Dylan was deeply affected by his mixed audience reception at that time.
In 2004, magazine declared "Like a Rolling Stone" the greatest song of all time, based on its poll of 172 music industry figures.
When asked about the citation in his with , Dylan himself seemed to find the matter bemusing, saying he never paid attention to such polls, as they changed from week to week:
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