A breakthrough was made when it was tried in a rock music format, and rookie session musician Al Kooper improvised the Hammond B2 organ riff which contributed to the track's signature sound.

Critics have described "Like a Rolling Stone" as revolutionary in its combination of musical elements, the youthful, cynical sound of Dylan's voice, and the directness of the question "How does it feel?"

It completed the transformation of Dylan's image from folk singer to rock star, and is considered one of the most influential compositions in postwar popular music.

[3] It has been covered by many artists, from the Jimi Hendrix Experience and the Rolling Stones[4] to the Wailers, Cat Power, Titus Andronicus and Green Day.

In early 1965, after returning from the tour of England documented in the film Dont Look Back, Dylan was unhappy with the public's expectations of him and the direction his career was taking, and considered quitting the music business.

[10] In 2014, when the handwritten lyrics were put up for auction, the four-page manuscript revealed that the full refrain of the chorus does not appear until the fourth page.

[16] In addition to Bloomfield, the musicians enlisted were Paul Griffin on piano, Joe Macho, Jr. on bass, Bobby Gregg on drums, and Bruce Langhorne on tambourine,[15] all booked by Wilson.

[28] The complete recording sessions that produced "Like a Rolling Stone", including all 20 takes and the individual "stems" that comprise the four-track master,[29] were released in November 2015 on the 6-disc and 18-disc versions of The Bootleg Series Vol.

[31][32] Author Oliver Trager characterizes the lyrics as "Dylan's sneer at a woman who has fallen from grace and is reduced to fending for herself in a hostile, unfamiliar world".

The song's subject, "Miss Lonely", previously opted for easy options in life—she attended the finest schools and enjoyed high-placed friends—but now that her situation has become difficult, it appears that she has no meaningful experiences to define her character.

[32] The opening lines of the song establish the character's former condition: Once upon a time you dressed so fine Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?

Dylan biographer Robert Shelton gave this interpretation: A song that seems to hail the dropout life for those who can take it segues into compassion for those who have dropped out of bourgeois surroundings.

[40] Greil Marcus alluded to a suggestion by art historian Thomas E. Crow that Dylan had written the song as a comment on Warhol's scene:

I heard a lecture by Thomas Crow ... about "Like a Rolling Stone" being about Edie Sedgwick within Andy Warhol's circle, as something that Dylan saw from the outside, not being personally involved with either of them, but as something he saw and was scared by and saw disaster looming and wrote a song as a warning, and it was compelling.

"[45] Mike Marqusee has written at length on the conflicts in Dylan's life during this time, with its deepening alienation from his old folk-revival audience and clear-cut leftist causes.

Andy Gill recalls the strangeness contained in the lyrics: "Who, fascinated fans debated, was Miss Lonely, Napoleon in rags and—most bizarre of all—the diplomat who rode a chrome horse while balancing a Siamese cat upon his shoulder?

"[47] The diplomat in question, in the third verse: You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat Ain't it hard when you discover that He really wasn't where it's at After he took from you everything he could steal[33] One interpretation was formulated in Jean-Michel Buizard's 2021 essay, Like a Rolling Stone Revisited: Une relecture de Dylan [French:A Re-reading of Dylan], which sheds new light on the possible identity of Miss Lonely and company.

Other legendary bluesmen appear in the song: presumably Blind Lemon Jefferson as "the mystery tramp" in the second verse and Robert Johnson, "Napoleon in rags", in the final one.

In the days following the rejection, Considine took a discarded acetate of the song to the New York club Arthur—a newly opened disco popular with celebrities and the media—and asked a DJ to play it.

[64] Created by the digital agency Interlude, the video is interactive, allowing viewers to use their keyboards to flip through 16 channels that imitate TV formats, including game shows, shopping networks and reality series.

Video director Vania Heymann stated, "I'm using the medium of television to look back right at us – you're flipping yourself to death with switching channels [in real life].

"[65] The video contains an hour and 15 minutes' worth of content in all[66] and features appearances from comedians Marc Maron, Carly Aquilino, Jessimae Peluso, and Nicole Byer, rapper Danny Brown, The Price Is Right host Drew Carey, SportsCenter anchor Steve Levy, TV personality Nessa, Jonathan and Drew Scott of Property Brothers, and Pawn Stars cast members Rick Harrison and Austin "Chumlee" Russell.

[68] Many of the audience's folk enthusiasts objected to Dylan's use of electric guitars, looking down on rock 'n roll, as Bloomfield put it, as popular amongst "greasers, heads, dancers, people who got drunk and boogied".

[20][74] The song's sound has been described as revolutionary in its combination of electric guitar licks, organ chords, and Dylan's voice, at once young and jeeringly cynical.

[76]Paul Rothchild, producer of the Doors' first five albums, recalled the elation that an American musician had made a record that successfully challenged the primacy of the British Invasion groups.

[82] The success of "Like a Rolling Stone" was influential in changing the music business convention regarding the length of singles, whereby they were restricted to durations of less than three minutes.

"[85] Richard Austin, of Sotheby's auction house, said: "Before the release of Like a Rolling Stone, music charts were overrun with short and sweet love songs, many clocking in at three minutes or less.

James Gerard, writing for AllMusic, characterized the song as "one of the most self-righteous and eloquent indictments ever committed to wax", and declared it significant for beginning a new phase in Dylan's career as a songwriter and performer.

[89] In an analysis of Dylan's vocal performance in "Like a Rolling Stone" published in Far Out, Sam Kemp highlighted the ironic quality his delivery lent the song, while also praising the ambiguity of the lyrics.

[99][100] On June 24, 2014, Sotheby's sold Dylan's original hand-written lyrics of "Like a Rolling Stone" at a New York auction devoted to rock memorabilia.