Highway 61 Revisited

 I really can’t add anything to the mountain of commentary and criticism that’s already been written about “Like a Rolling Stone” except to say that it’s not the only worthy song on this raw, brilliant album.  Personally, I like the sledgehammer rhythm and screeching garage-band guitar in “Tombstone Blues.”  And “Desolation Row” is a stately, name-dropping journey through an unforgiving and  surreal landscape where nothing quite makes sense.  But I don’t think it’s supposed to.

 

If you’re new to Dylan, here’s something that I’ve found helpful: many of his songs don’t really employ conventional narrative techniques and it’s sometimes best to treat them as

imagist poems.  Instead of trying to dissect the precise meaning of every word, just listen and let the language and rhythm pile up to create a mental picture or an overarching mood. I mean, what else are you supposed to make of lines like, “You used to ride on a chrome horse with your diplomat / Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat”?

 

*According to Rolling Stone Magazine's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time."