Like a Rolling Stone: Bob Dylan at the Crossroads by Greil Marcus: 'Marcus seems to understand Dylan and the song intuitively. His ideas burn with a fierce intelligence and the song takes on a new life in that crucible.' (Hanif Kureishi)
Greil Marcus was born in San Francisco in 1945. He is the author of Mystery Train, Invisible Republic, Lipstick Traces and Double Trouble, and the editor of Lester Bangs's Psychotic Reactions and Carburetor Dung. In 1998 he curated the exhibition '1948' at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. Marccus writes a bi-weekly column for salon.com and a
"'Greil Marcus is simply peerless, not only as a rock writer but as a cultural historian.' Nick Hornby 'Part rhapsody, part social history and part biography, always entirely passionate.' Guardian"
"'Greil Marcus is simply peerless, not only as a rock writer but as a cultural historian.' Nick Hornby 'Part rhapsody, part social history and part biography, always entirely passionate.' Guardian"
From the explosive shot of the snare drum that opens the song to the final strains of the whining harmonica, Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" charted a new direction in rock'n'roll. Veteran rock writer Marcus (Lipstick Traces) uses the song not only to measure the changes in Dylan's style but also to measure the changes occurring in the world of music from 1965 onward. Captured in one momentous take, "Like a Rolling Stone" seized Dylan's genius and lifted the work of studio musicians to a height that multiple takes would not have caught. This perfect moment was released on a single that divided the song into two three-minute halves and reached Number 2 on the Billboard Top 100 on September 2, 1965. Yet Dylan's live performances of the song either endeared the singer to fans or enraged them; at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, some screamed "Judas" at him for debuting it on electric guitar. Nevertheless, Marcus contends that "Like a Rolling Stone" influenced songs as diverse as Richard Harris's "MacArthur Park" (1968), the Rolling Stones's "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (1969), and Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven" (1971). Engaging cultural history, this appears to be the only book to use one song as a prism for Dylan's life and work; highly recommended for all libraries. [Rolling Stone magazine recently chose "Like a Rolling Stone" as the greatest song of all time.-Ed.]-Henry L. Carrigan Jr., Lancaster, PA Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
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