Greil Marcus has written the definitive biography of the greatest pop single ever made. Recorded in Columbia's Studio A in New York on 16 June 1965, "Like A Rolling Stone" was instantly of its time-and so strong it has escaped time altogether. The musicians gathered in the studio never managed a second successful recording: they caught it once and only once. Then it was gone, arguably never to be bettered in Bob Dylan's countless live performances of the song.

Dylan's career as a folk singer--and the career imposed upon him, his unwanted role as "voice of a generation"--had hit a wall. Marcus recreates the brilliantly competitive pop world of 1965, and the energy, the anger, the thrill and the horror that Bob Dylan turned into a revolutionary six-minute single. Forty years later it remains the signal accomplishment of modern music. It drew to itself disparate traditions of American music and speech; it redrew the map of the country itself; it left behind a world that was not the same. The whole adventure is here. [close]