By the spring of 1965, Bob Dylan’s presence in the world of
music was beginning to be felt well outside the boundaries
of his nominal genre. Within the world of folk music, he had
been hailed as a hero for several years already, but now his
music was capturing the attention and influencing artists like
the Byrds, the Beatles and even a young Stevie Wonder.
With Dylan as a direct inspiration, popular music was about to
change its direction, but so was Dylan himself. On June 16,
1965, on their second day of recording at Columbia Records’
Studio A in Manhattan, he and a band featuring electric guitars
and an organ laid down the master take of the song that would
make that change: “Like A Rolling Stone.” It would prove to be
“folksinger” Bob Dylan’s magnum opus and, arguably, the
greatest rock and roll record of all time.
It was the fourth of 11 takes that day that yielded the six-minute-
and-34-second recording that very nearly didn’t become a big
hit single.
