The Necessary Understanding Before Performing "like a Rolling Stone"

The necessary understanding before performing “Like a rolling stone”

“Like a rolling stone” by Bob Dylan, a massive hit in post-war popular music, is still welcomed by contemporary audiences as it not only is an auditory tour de force, but is also a song that influenced the generation at the time in terms of American culture and popular music. It rose to the top of the charts immediately after its release, and later was even listed as number one in the "500 Greatest Songs of All Time" list (500 Greatest Songs of All Time 2011). Today, many singers still like to perform the song to spread spirits among people, as the song is more than a story about a woman experiencing a reversal of fortune -- it is about the changes of the generation (Bowie 2001). As DeWall, Pond, Campbell, and Tweng (2011) said, lyrics are sometimes used as a tool to capture transformations across generations in a  socio-cultural manner. Such a revolutionary song involves “illusion and understanding, deception and truth” (Bowie 2001). It reflects Bob Dylan’s thinking, dissatisfaction, and rebellion of the social realities. It became the spiritual leader of youth in the sixties to seventies in America. Though the time has passed, the spirit that the song expressed are still very much relevant. Therefore, many singers choose this song for their performance to convey such spirits; that is, rebelling and challenging. Like a rolling stone, without doubt, is a significant work of popular music with implicating values that must be well understood for a true performance. To explore how singers are empowered for performing the song, the essay will start with analysis into the social environment in America during the sixties to seventies, then discuss the cultural background of Bob Dylan, ending with further research into music at that period of time.

In the 1960s, racial discrimination, the Vietnam War, the Cold War, as well as America's nuclear arms race with the Soviet Union induced the counterculture movements among American youth (McDarrah, McDarrah & McDarrah 2003).  Inequality was rampant towards the black, women, and homosexual minorities; poverty and violence permeated American society. People seemed to live lavishly with abundant materials, but were ragged in spirit. McDarrah (2003) pointed out that the superiority of materials resulting from the rapid development of technology made people ignore the values of the human, causing a lack of concern for one’s spirits. As a result, consumerism and materialism expanded throughout America. The generation who were born in the booming economy with a pullulating environment that let them easily accept the revolutions, question society, and stimulate self-consciousness built up an expectation for an ideal society. However, the harsh reality conflicted with their ideals. They saw the unfair treatment of women, black people, and people living at the bottom of society. The youth gradually generated their own thoughts that reject mainstream culture, protesting the unfairness and pursuing liberty of personalities. Bob Dylan acutely grasped the questions of the youth towards wars, violence, and racial discrimination, directly facing these societal issues in his lyrics (Zhu 2010). He, along with contemporary youth, participated in the thinking and taking actions for the problems. It is considered that his lyrics reflected, even influenced, the social movements, especially the movements for American civil rights (Wilentz, 2010). Certainly, his songs, including “Like a Rolling Stone” served as hymns during the sixties and the seventies’ civil rights movement, a subculture of the counterculture movements (Zhu 2010). The outbreak of the counterculture movements contained the civil rights movements, women’s rights movements, gay rights movements, and anti-war movements. The generation, most of whom are American middle-class youth, expressed their resistance to society through rock music, strange outfits, drugs, sexual indulgence, and decadence. Rock music never emerged and developed without racism, and is a protest against racism for racial equality (Zhu 2010).  The new forms of music promoted the spread of the counterculture. The counterculture movements reached a climax at the killing of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy with the escalation of the Vietnam War. Hippies, a countercultural group following the core source of ideological essence of the Beat Generation, came to the streets to show their liberation and freedom through rock music, which was contrary to traditional folk music. This music was a combination of blues in black music and country music in white music, which were rejected by mainstream culture. The generation was brought up in the white culture that contained success, affluence, and power, but held an appreciation for folk, country, and blues music that sang about the poverty and the disenfranchised (Bowie 2001).  They expressed their indignation and unruliness from the bottom of their heart through such an uproarious and loud music. The development of folk rock music brought the emergence of country music and psychedelic rock, which are the most distinctive features of the expression for the youths. Knowledge of the socio-political culture at that time is the primary condition for showing the profound heritage contained in the song. With an understanding of the socio-political environment of America at that time, where there was no respect for the black, women, or homosexuals, the singers who choose to perform “Like a rolling stone” can have the power to perform not only the song, but also the revolutionary spirits they intend to express for the audiences.

Bob Dylan, as the writer of the song, should be explored, as it is an effective method to gain an insight into the meaning of the song. Learning about Bob Dylan contributes to understanding of the song from many aspects, such as his cultural background. He was listed as one of the “the most important people of the century” in Time 100, and called a "master poet, caustic social critic and intrepid, guiding spirit of the counterculture generation" (Cocks 1999). As the one of the most influential people in the twentieth century, he made a profound difference for popular music and American culture, which was approved by The Pulitzer Prize jury (2008 Pulitzer Prizes 2008). His compositions mostly involve complexity of cognition, religion, politics, bitterness, romance, and oppression (Czechowski, Miranda and Sylvestre 201 (Wilentz 2013)6, 99-113). He was regarded as an iconic protest singer by Marcus (2005). His transformation from a folkie to a rocker exhibits his countercultural spirit as revolutionary and uninhibited, breaking the definitions that outsiders have attached to him (Friedman 2012). In the early sixties, folk music was closely linked with serious social themes; meanwhile, rock, which was derived from black music, was a form of non-mainstream music that contrasted with traditional country music with its crazy rhythm and ear-splitting volume. However, a white singer from folk music, Bob Dylan, combined rock music with the social problems. He said that his songs were difficult to popularise and was explosive in nature (Dylan 2005). Labels were imposed onto him such as "legend, icon, enigma, Prophet, Messiah and Savior” (Dylan 2005); however he is a such an uninhibited man that he said he had no interest in others’ version of himself. No one can make sense of his songs, and he refused to own any labels, even the countercultural one (Friedman 2012). His up to six minute song “Like a rolling stone” expanded the standard length of popular music, which before had been three minutes, bringing innovation for popular music.  The song, a combination of various musical elements, from electronic guitar to organ chords, was the product of his unruliness, demonstrating his cynicism. The video “No direction home”, directed by Scorsese (2005) recorded a historical moment. When Dylan took an electric guitar for the performance, the white audience blew up and shouted to him: “Judas!”. Dylan responded: “I don’t believe you…. you are a liar!” and let his band play louder for the last song “Like a rolling stone”. From then, his identity as a rock singer was confirmed. The two cultures clashed and exploded, having profound impact on the development of music. Dylan was summarised as using "folk, blues, country, R&B, rock 'n' roll, gospel, British beat, symbolist, modernist and Beat poetry, surrealism and Dada, advertising jargon and social commentary, Fellini and Mad magazine" (Marcus 2006, 139). Boyd (2016) states that Dylan made efforts to spread his spirits, paying homage to black culture musically and lyrically, finally influencing American culture. He drew attention to events concerning black people with his music; for example creating the song “The Death of Emmett Till” following the killing of the black teenager Emmett Till (Boyd 2016). Many other examples exist for his advocacy of civil rights. He appealed for peace and fairness, deserving the Nobel Prize for his career of pursuing justice and freedom. The influence of him and his songs, including “Like a rolling stone” is remarkable for the development of not only popular music but also the American culture. Studying Bob Dylan by the way of exploring his influence and background helps performers to understand the song as well as the meaning it embodies.