On This Day in 1965, Bob Dylan Recorded a Hank Williams-Inspired Song That “Rewrote the Rules for Pop Music”

On this day (June 16) in 1965, Bob Dylan stepped into the Columbia Records studio in New York City to record “Like a Rolling Stone.” Clocking in at over six minutes with a sound unlike the rest of his catalog, his label didn’t believe it would be a hit single. However, Dylan knew he had written something special. So, he pushed for its release. Not only did it reach No. 2 on the Hot 100, but it also changed the face of popular music for decades to come.

“Like a Rolling Stone” was a pivotal song for both Dylan and the rest of the world. After finishing his 1965 tour of England, he was ready to give up. He was being crushed under the weight of his fans’ expectations. At the same time, he didn’t like his music a fraction as much as the public did. As a result, he believed it was a good time to walk away from it all. Then, he wrote this pivotal song.

Richard Austin, head of books and manuscripts at Sotheby’s, succinctly revealed the song’s significance while speaking to the BBC ahead of an auction selling the handwritten lyrics. “Before the release of ‘Like a Rolling Stone,’ music charts were overrun with short and sweet love songs, many clocking in at three minutes or less,” he said. “By defying convention with six-and-a-half minutes of dark, brooding poetry, Dylan rewrote the rules for pop music.”

Bob Dylan Looked to Hank Williams for Inspiration

While “Like a Rolling Stone” is widely considered Bob Dylan’s first rock song, it has nothing to do with the Rolling Stones, according to Songfacts. Instead, he looked to one of the most lauded American songwriters for inspiration. Hank Williams’ song “Lost Highway,” which contains the line, “I’m a rolling stone, all alone and lost,” gave him the idea to reference the proverb, “a rolling stone gathers no moss.”

While sources vary on the length of the original work that produced this landmark song, it was much longer in the beginning. In fact, it wasn’t a song at all. Instead, it was a 10 or 20-page short story. Dylan liked what he wrote enough to condense it into a song.

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