Bob Dylan's 'Like a Rolling Stone' Recorded Today in 1965: A Timeless Classic
How long does it take to record one of the greatest songs of all time? Two days, if you're 24-year-old Bob Dylan in 1965.
On June 15, 1965, Dylan entered Columbia Records in New York City to record "Like a Rolling Stone," a song he had written after returning home from a tour in England. It took him two days to log the 6:13 track, which would eventually reach No. 1 on the Cash Box chart and No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
More importantly, "Like a Rolling Stone" would become not just one of the defining songs of the 1960s, but also one of the greatest songs of all time, per multiple publications.
Endless accolades
Rolling Stone ranked "Like a Rolling Stone" as the best song ever on its 2004 and 2010 lists of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The outlet dropped the song to No. 4 in 2021 and 2024, but that's still not too shabby a ranking.
"Just as Dylan bent folk music's roots and forms to his own will, he transformed popular song with the content and ambition of "Like a Rolling Stone," Rolling Stone wrote. "And in his electrifying vocal performance, his best on record, Dylan proved that everything he did was, first and always, rock & roll. "‘Rolling Stone' is the best song I wrote," he said flatly at the end of 1965. It still is."
In 1995, the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame named "Like a Rolling Stone" one of the 500 Songs That Shaped Rock, and Consequence of Sound ranked it the third-best song of all time in 2012.
"Like a Rolling Stone" inspired at least one other rock legend
In 1988, Bruce Springsteen inducted Dylan into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. During his speech, he reflected on the impact "Like a Rolling Stone" had on him as a teenager.
"The first time I heard Bob Dylan, I was in the car with my mother listening to WMCA, and on came that snare shot that sounded like somebody'd kicked open the door to your mind," Springsteen said.
"The way that Elvis freed your body, Dylan freed your mind, and showed us that because the music was physical did not mean it was anti-intellect," the "Born to Run" singer added. "He had the vision and talent to make a pop song so that it contained the whole world. He invented a new way a pop singer could sound, broke through the limitations of what a recording could achieve, and he changed the face of rock'n'roll for ever and ever."
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jun 15, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published June 15, 2026 at 8:21 AM.