Bob Dylan - Like a Rolling Stone

This acerbic song, once hailed as the greatest ever by Rolling Stone, is as much poem as a work of music. After all, if it weren’t for the lyrics, we might fully notice Dylan’s voice’s nasal grating even as his lips pour words of streetwise lyricism.

Yet the lyrics by themselves also wouldn’t work, or not as well. They are a kind of hybrid between poetry and pop lyric, even taking into consideration that this can be said of many accomplished song lyrics- the difference is that most songs that mix both ultimately contain poetic lyrics that push the song lyric form towards poetry, while here Dylan somehow manages to hammer a poem into the form of songwriting.

It is, of course, a great song. The juxtaposition between the acid tone of its lyrics with its more lyrical and sweeping instrumentation and emotional impact is as complex, contradictory, and uplifting as life itself. Whether it deserves a spot as the greatest song of all time is ultimately subjective. But it still manages to produce a well-rounded, tender, and sharp-tongued portrait of an upended high life.