Bob with his original sheet of handwritten lyrics for the song
June 16, 1965: A planned anti-war protest at The Pentagon becomes a "teach-in," with demonstrators distributing 50,000 leaflets in and around the building.
On the same day, Bob Dylan records the familiar version of "Like a Rolling Stone," at Studio A at Columbia Records, at 799 7th Avenue at 52nd Street in New York. He does not one take, like the legend says, but 15 takes, in addition to one done the day before. The 4th take is the one we all know. He even tried one in 3/4 time, which would appear on The Bootleg Series, Vol. 1-3 in 1991.
He had already written and recorded these songs: "Blowin' in the Wind," "Masters of War," "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall," "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," "The Times They Are a-Changin'," "With God On Our Side," "When the Ship Comes In," "My Back Pages," "Subterranean Homesick Blues," "Maggie's Farm," "Mr. Tambourine Man," "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue." All of those were done before his 24th birthday, on May 24, 1965. Now, he had written and recorded "Like a Rolling Stone."
Like some of Bob's other songs from around the same time -- especially "Maggie's Farm" and "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue," and the subsequent "Ballad of a Thin Man" -- it was a message to the people who were upset with him for "going electric," seemingly "betraying folk music" and its "movement." They never understood that he was a rocker at heart, loving Elvis Presley and Little Richard as much as he did Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger.
In spite of being a full 6 minutes long, the song reached Number 2 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. Keeping it out of the Number 1 slot: "I Got You Babe" by Sonny & Cher. Cher made it up to Bob by making his song "All I Really Want to Do" her 1st solo hit single.
In 1967, the magazine Rolling Stone was founded, named for this song. The band The Rolling Stones was named after the Muddy Waters song "Rollin' Stone," which Dylan may have named his song after. Previously, of course, there was the proverb: "A rolling stone gathers no moss."
In 2004, surprising no one, Rolling Stone put "Like a Rolling Stone" at Number 1 on their list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. They occasionally revive the list. In 2010, they kept it at Number 1. In 2021, they put it at Number 4, behind Aretha Franklin's version of Otis Redding's "Respect," Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," and Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come."
Bass guitarist Joe Macho (who also recorded under the name Joe Mack) died in 1977, producer Tom Wilson in 1978, guitarist Mike Bloomfield in 1981, pianist Paul Griffin in 2000, drummer Bobby Gregg in 2014, and guitarist and tambourine player Bruce Langhorne in 2017.
The other musicians on this recording are still alive: Organist Al Kooper, guitarist Al Gorgoni, and pianist Frank Owens. And, of course, guitarist, harmonica player and singer Bob Dylan. There were no backup singers.
UPDATE: Frank Owens died in 2023.
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June 16, 1965 was a Wednesday. These baseball games were played that day:
* The New York Yankees lost to the Baltimore Orioles, 5-1 at Yankee Stadium. Dave McNally outpitched Al Downing. The only Yankee run came on a home run by Clete Boyer. Mickey Mantle and Roger Maris each went 1-for-4. For the Orioles, so did Brooks Robinson.
* The New York Mets lost to the Cincinnati Reds, 8-4 at Crosley Field in Cincinnati. Jim O'Toole outpitched Al Jackson. Leo Cárdenas hit 2 home runs. Frank Robinson went 0-for-4. Pete Rose went 1-for-4 with an RBI.
* The Cleveland Indians beat the Washington Senators, 5-0 at Cleveland Municipal Stadium. Luis Tiant allowed just 1 hit, a leadoff single in the 7th inning by Woodie Held. He also walked 3 batters and hit 1. That was the closest he ever got to a no-hitter.
* The Detroit Tigers beat the Boston Red Sox, 9-4 at Tiger Stadium in Detroit. Willie Horton went 3-for-4 with a home run and 5 RBIs. Al Kaline went 1-for-4 with a walk. Carl Yastrzemski went 2-for-5 with a home run and 3 RBIs.
* The Chicago White Sox beat the Minnesota Twins, 3-1 at Comiskey Park in Chicago. Harmon Killebrew went 0-for-4.
* The Philadelphia Phillies beat the Milwaukee Braves, 6-2 at Milwaukee County Stadium. Hank Aaron went 1-for-3 with a walk and an RBI. Pat Corrales, later to manage the Phillies, and also the Texas Rangers and the Cleveland Indians, hit his 1st major league home run. He would finish his playing career with 4.
* The Pittsburgh Pirates beat the St. Louis Cardinals, 10-9 at the 1st Busch Stadium, formerly the last Sportsman's Park, in St. Louis. Roberto Clemente went 1-for-2, before leaving the game due to an injury. Willie Stargell went 3-for-5 with a home run and 4 RBIs.
* The California Angels swept a doubleheader from the Kansas City Athletics, 7-1 and 5-4 at Kansas City Municipal Stadium.
* The Houston Astros beat the Chicago Cubs, 3-2 at the Astrodome in Houston. Bob Aspromonte singled Joe Morgan home with the winning run in the bottom of the 13th inning. Ernie Banks went 0-for-6.
* And the Los Angeles Dodgers beat their arch-rivals, the San Francisco Giants, 2-1 at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles. Sandy Koufax outpitched Bob Shaw. Willie Mays went 2-for-4.
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