How does it feel?

Great article on Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone". The best quote is Frank Zappa's: "When I heard 'Like a Rolling Stone,' I wanted to quit the music business because I felt: 'If this wins and it does what it's supposed to do, I don't need to do anything else.'"

When the single was released, on July 20 1965, copies serviced to radio stations cut the song in half and spread it over both sides of a red vinyl 45, giving them the option of airing only the first three minutes, thus preserving their normal song-to-commercial ratios. Dylan demanded that Like a Rolling Stone play through, and soon a new pressing replaced the first - but when the song first appeared on the radio, three minutes was all you heard, with the fade sounding fake, as if something was missing. When the word spread that something was, stations were hammered by callers demanding all six minutes, and six minutes was what they got. And then, it seemed, that was all your station played.

"They cut it in half for the disc jockeys," explained Dylan at a press conference in San Francisco in December 1965. "If anybody was interested they could just turn it over and listen to what really happens."

Even now, when it is no shock that there is more, it is still a shock. The arrival of the third verse, the announcement that the story is not over, is like Roosevelt announcing his third term. Dylan reaches the last line of that verse, holds the last word as long as he can hold his breath, and then as the song tips into the third chorus everything shatters.