It is beyond doubt that Bob Dylan is one of the most important and influential persons of 20th century popular music. His many songs are loved and renowned for their extraordinariness in terms of the lyrics, which are often ascribed a very high literary quality. Dylan has repeatedly been said to be one of the few persons who are able to combine music with poetry.
Dylan's song 'Like a Rolling Stone', recorded in 1965, certainly belongs to his most important pieces of work. It has been covered by countless artists such as Dylan's contemporaries Bob Marley and Jimi Hendrix, but also by much younger and 'newer' artists like for example Green Day, a British 1990's and 2000's punkrock band. Another indicator for the quality and reputation of the song is the fact that the Rolling Stone – one of the world's most influential music magazines – voted it the best song ever in 2004.
The enormous popularity of the song is said to have several reasons; one of them surely is the fact that Like a Rolling Stone, respectively the album Highway 61 Revisited, marked a significant change in Dylan's music and career, moving away from the previously dominant folk music towards R'n'B and rock music.
This essay will concentrate on the lyrics of the song. There will be a close and detailed analysis of the most important passages of the song (mainly the chorus) with regard to their supposed meanings and implication. However, Dylan's lyrics usually tend to be very ambiguous and thus allow more than one 'right' or 'true' interpretation. This, of course, will be taken into account during the analysis. Another important element in Dylan's songtexts which can also be refound in Like a Rolling Stone is intertextuality; as a consequence, the lyrics of the song will be also put into context with Jack Kerouac's novel On The Road from 1957. At the end of this paper, there will be a short conclusion that sums up the previous analysis.
Inhaltsverzeichnis (Table of Contents)
- Introduction
- Analysis
- Ambiguity: Lyrics and Interpretation(s)
- Intertextuality: Dylan, Kerouac and Beat culture
- Conclusion
- List of References
Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte (Objectives and Key Themes)
This essay examines the lyrics of Bob Dylan's song "Like a Rolling Stone," focusing on their ambiguity and intertextual connections to Jack Kerouac's novel "On the Road." It aims to analyze the multiple interpretations possible within the lyrics and explore how these interpretations relate to broader themes of social and cultural change in the 1960s.
- Ambiguity and multiple interpretations of Dylan's lyrics
- Intertextual connections between Dylan's work and the Beat Generation, particularly with Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"
- The role of the song as a reflection of social and cultural change in the 1960s
- The use of music and lyrics to convey emotions and perspectives
- The influence of Bob Dylan on popular music and culture
Zusammenfassung der Kapitel (Chapter Summaries)
The introductory chapter provides background information on Bob Dylan's significance in 20th-century music and discusses the song's popularity and its importance within Dylan's career. It then outlines the essay's focus on the lyrics' ambiguity and intertextuality with Kerouac's novel.
The first section of the analysis chapter focuses on the ambiguity within the lyrics, highlighting the uncertainty surrounding the song's message and the different interpretations that are possible. It explores the use of imagery and the relationship between the music's major keys and the potentially pessimistic lyrics. The chapter also examines the multiple potential audiences of the song, including a single individual or the American people as a whole.
The second section of the analysis chapter explores the intertextual connections between Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone" and Kerouac's "On the Road." This section aims to examine the influence of Beat culture on Dylan's lyrics and how themes of rootlessness and a rejection of traditional societal norms resonate in both works.
Schlüsselwörter (Keywords)
The main keywords and focus topics of this essay include: Bob Dylan, Like a Rolling Stone, ambiguity, intertextuality, Beat Generation, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, lyrics, music, social change, cultural change, 1960s, interpretation, counterculture, and youth culture.
- Quote paper
- Felix Kästner (Author), 2015, Ambiguity and Intertextuality in Bob Dylan's 'Like A Rolling Stone', Munich, GRIN Verlag, https://www.grin.com/document/309381
