This track is about is about questioning why the sky would choose to be blue if it had the choice to be anything else, “blue also meaning sad,” states frontman Aaron Pauley. “It's about comforting a loved one in a time of loss by telling them you feel blue, too.”
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People call say 'beware doll, you're bound to fall'
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh you've gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you're gonna have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on a 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
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To have you on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinking, thinking that they've got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?
People call say 'beware doll, you're bound to fall'
You thought they were all kidding you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hanging out
Now you don't talk so loud
Now you don't seem so proud
About having to be scrounging your next meal
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh you've gone to the finest schools, alright Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught you how to live out on the street
And now you're gonna have to get used to it
You say you never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And say do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
A complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ah you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on a 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
How does it feel, how does it feel?
To have you on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Ahh princess on a steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinking, thinking that they've got it made
Exchanging all precious gifts
But you better take your diamond ring, you better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can't refuse
When you ain't got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You're invisible now, you've got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel, ah how does it feel?
To be on your own, with no direction home
Like a complete unknown, like a rolling stone
Lyrics submitted by oofus, edited by sparrowhawk73
Like a Rolling Stone Lyrics as written by Bob Dylan
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Yes. I really think he was referring to Andy Worhal in the Chrome Horse and Diplomat part. Not only because this story is very much like Edie's but also because he didnt have a liking for Worhal. Worhal apparently video-taped Dylan when he was picking up Edie and in return. Dylan stole one of his paintings and used it as a dart board!
Edie also came from a very RICH RICH family.
"With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He's not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes"
Cheer
As others have noted, Warhol was homosexual/asexual. Both he and Dylan became famous at about the same time (early 60s). I have to wonder if the author of this comment has ever seen a photo of Andy Warhol if he/she would describe him as a beatnik.
If we can believe Wikipedia, Dylan did not meet Edie Sedgwick until after she had left Warhol's circle, in 1965, well after Dylan had established a hugely successful career.
Lastly, even thirty years after his death, Andy Warhol is not "obscure" and he certainly was a relevant figure in popular culture throughout the 1960s and 1970s.
The song may be about Sedgwick--who knows? Dylan has described it as a "revenge" song, so perhaps he wrote it to get the last word on a lover who jilted him. Others have described it as a "liberation" song (the woman is finally free of the material possessions/ emotional entanglements that bound her).
But it's not about Andy Warhol.
A 'chrome horse' I believe is slang for a motorcycle.
"You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn't you?"...a dime referring to a small amount of drugs for personal use. Many rich people (or any person for that matter) new to the drug scene are asked by people who have been in the scene for a while to "hook them up"...this being a reference to her, the rich girl, "hooking them up with a dime bag".
"You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you". Now, later in the song, she is more popular in these areas, and this is an allusion to the people, when they see her, running to her trying to be the dealer to score the sale.
"You never understood that it ain't no good
You shouldn't let other people get your kicks for you". Kicks being used in a different way here, I believe, than the OP intended, referring to the drug itself, as one can never trust another person to score the drugs they are seeking out. You never know what else is added or how much is skimmed.
Just my 2 cent addition to the original posters ideas , which I also feel, hit this song right on the head.
hit me up bandersnatch5703@yahoo.com
Edie also came from a very RICH RICH family.
There's a great book, simply titled "Edie", that should be on everyone's reading list.
it's a really tragic story. Also see 'Factory Girl'