#9 Highway 61 Revisited by Bob Dylan

The 100 Greatest Albums of All Time

2025 Album Rank

9

2011 Album Rank

15

Total Points

2469

Year Released

1965

Billboard 200 Chart Peak

3

Weeks at #1

N/A

RIAA Sales Certification

1,000,000 (Platinum)

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Highway 61 Revisited Album Details

Released in August 1965, Highway 61 Revisited marked a pivotal transformation in Bob Dylan's career, a full embrace of electric instrumentation, surreal lyricism, and uncompromising rock and roll. Coming just months after the mostly acoustic Bringing It All Back Home, the album fused blues, folk, and garage rock into a new, prophetic form that broke entirely with traditional song structure and subject matter.

Opening with the epochal "Like a Rolling Stone," Dylan delivered a snarling, six-minute anthem of alienation that redefined what a pop single could be. The rest of the album, from the cryptic menace of "Ballad of a Thin Man" to the gallows humor of the title track, bristles with intelligence, irony, and cultural provocation. Backed by a tight band including Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper, Dylan steered American music down a wilder, more literate road and never looked back.

Interesting Facts about Highway 61 Revisited

• "Like a Rolling Stone" was originally written as a 10-page piece of verse before Dylan condensed it into a song. The finished track was so long that Columbia Records executives were initially reluctant to release it as a single.
• Al Kooper, who played the distinctive organ on "Like a Rolling Stone," wasn't supposed to be on the session, he was a guest. He snuck onto the track after convincing producer Tom Wilson to let him try an overdub. His improvised part became one of the song's most iconic features.
• The album title refers to Highway 61, the legendary road running from Dylan's hometown of Duluth, Minnesota, down through the Mississippi Delta. It has deep ties to American blues history, artists like Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters were shaped by the region it cuts through.
• The track "Highway 61 Revisited" features a police whistle played by Dylan himself, a spontaneous addition during the session that added an absurdist edge to the already manic performance.
• "Desolation Row," the album's closing track, is over 11 minutes long and was the only acoustic song on the album. It was recorded with just Dylan and Nashville session guitarist Charlie McCoy, who played a classically inspired lead on a borrowed acoustic guitar.
• The lyrics to "Tombstone Blues" and "Ballad of a Thin Man" are filled with grotesque imagery and obscure references. Dylan drew inspiration from beat literature, French symbolism, and contemporary politics, blending them into a new kind of literary rock poetry.
• Mike Bloomfield, lead guitarist from the Paul Butterfield Blues Band, played on most of the album. Dylan reportedly chose him because he wanted someone with a raw blues attack, not a polished studio sound.
• The sessions were fast and loose, most of the songs were recorded in just one or two takes. The spontaneity gives the album a live-wire intensity that matches its confrontational tone.
• Though considered a departure from folk purity, Dylan's transformation caused massive upheaval in the folk scene. His infamous electric performance at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival, shortly before the album's release, was a flashpoint in popular music history.
• Several alternate takes from the sessions surfaced on The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965-1966, including early versions of "Like a Rolling Stone" with different tempos and lyrics, and a more chaotic rendition of "Tombstone Blues."
• The cover photo was shot by Daniel Kramer outside the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York. Dylan wears a Triumph motorcycle shirt, signaling the rock icon he was becoming, with manager Albert Grossman barely visible in the background.
• The album's innovative mix of electric blues and poetic lyrics paved the way for countless others, from the Velvet Underground to Patti Smith, and remains one of the most influential records in rock history.

Highway 61 Revisited Track List

1. Like a Rolling Stone - Reached #2 on Billboard's Hot 100 chart
2. Tombstone Blues
3. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
4. From a Buick 6
5. Ballad of a Thin Man
6. Queen Jane Approximately
7. Highway 61 Revisited
8. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
9. Desolation Row

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