“Like a Rolling Stone: was the first one that sprang to my mind when I heard the announcement. Next I thought of “Blowin’ in the Wind”, and then these two:
Just Like a Woman
Nobody feels any pain
Tonight as I stand here in the rain
Everybody knows that baby’s got new clothes
But lately I see her ribbons and her bows
Have fallen from her curls
She takes just like a woman
She makes love just like a woman
And then she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
Queen Mary, she’s my friend
Yes I believe I’ll go see her again
Nobody has to guess that baby can’t be blessed
‘Till she finally sees that she’s like all the rest
With her fog, her amphetamines, and her pearls
She takes just like a woman
She makes love just like a woman
And then she aches just like a woman
But she breaks just like a little girl
It raining at first, and I was dying there of thirst
So I came in here
And your long-time curse hurts, but what’s worse
Is this pain in here
I can’t stay in here
Ain’t it clear
That I just can’t fit
I believe it’s time for us to quit
But when we met again and are introduced as friends
Please don’t let on that you knew me when
I was hungry, and it was your world
You take just like a woman
You make love just like a woman
And then you ache just like a woman
But you break just like a little girl
Lay Lady Lay
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Whatever colors you have in your mind
I’ll show them to you and you’ll see them shine
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay, stay with your man awhile
Until the break of day, let me see you make ‘em smile
Your clothes are dirty but your hands are clean
And I’m the best thing that you’ve ever seen
(Stay lady stay, stay with your man awhile)
Why wait any longer for the world to begin?
You can have your cake and eat it too
(Why wait any longer for the one you love?
I am standin’ in front of you)
Lay lady lay, lay across my big brass bed
Stay lady stay, stay with your man awhile
You long to see me in the morning light
You long to reach for me in the night
(Stay lady stay, stay while the night is still ahead)
So maybe I’ll stay, stay while the night is still ahead
(Stay lady stay, stay while the night is still ahead)
So maybe I’ll stay
Stay while the night is still ahead
Yup, some great songs!
I remember reading in a book about the Beatles that when the album “Highway 61 Revisited” (which included “Like a Rolling Stone” and “Tombstone Blues”) came out in August 1965, John Lennon got it immediately and went straight to Paul McCartney, and they listened to it mesmerized, over and over again. At least, that is a story someone tells, I forget which book.....
Anyway, it is certainly true that “Like a Rolling Stone” is pretty much the dividing line between earlier rock/pop with mostly formulaic songs, tight time limits for top 40 radio, etc., and the vast expansions in songwriting vision and performance that occurred so widely after 1965 and onward.
It was Dylan who blew the walls down and unleashed vast creative forces in many many songwriters and musicians. Of course there is never one single cause for musical and artistic trends, but Bob Dylan had an enormous influence on countless others.