May 21: Bob Dylan Like A Rolling Stone, Newcastle, England 1966 (video)

bob dylan 1966 Newcastle

 

May 21: Bob Dylan Like A Rolling Stone, Newcastle, England 1966 (video)

And the gobsmacking  footage of his performance in Newcastle a couple of days later, included entire on the No Direction Home DVD, proves no less maelstromic. Here we can see he is visibly speeding out of his brains and probably more than a little miffed that the Mr. Jones puffing on his pipe in the front row thinks he’s attending a poetry recital.
~Clinton Heylin (Revolution in the Air: The Songs of Bob Dylan, 1957-1973)

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Odeon Theatre
Newcastle, England
21 May 1966

  • Bob Dylan (vocal & electric guitar)
  • Robbie Robertson (electric guitar)
  • Garth Hudson (organ)
  • Rick Danko (bass)
  • Richard Manuel (piano)
  • Mickey Jones (drums)

You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it
You said you’d 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 ask him do you want to make a deal?

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and 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 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

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They’re drinkin’, thinkin’ that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you’d better lift your diamond ring, you’d 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 got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal

How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

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-Egil

7 thoughts on “May 21: Bob Dylan Like A Rolling Stone, Newcastle, England 1966 (video)”

  1. I don’t know the basis for the assertion by Clinton Heylin that this performance dates from 21st May 1966 in Newcastle, England. I am however certain that if it is all of one piece, viz that the rush to the car is on the same evening as the performance, then the attribution is wrong.

    My suggestion would be a one day earlier, Friday 20th May in Edinburgh.

    One circumstantial piece of evidence to support Edinburgh is the fact that some of the shots are definitely from a cameraman located on stage. In the press reviews of the Edinburgh show, one journalist at least complained that Mr Dylan showed his disdain for his audience by turning his back on the audience and playing to the cameras which were filming the show!

    The conclusive proof that the trip to the limousine was not in Newcastle, or anywhere in England, lasts for barely 2 seconds at 8:33 on the video.

    It shows a policeman. But a Scottish policeman and not an English policeman, because the diced band, sometimes known locally as “Sillitoe tartan”on his police cap was at the time standard in Scotland but was not introduced into English police forces until some 6 or 7 years later.

    So the film is either from Glasgow or Edinburgh and I have stated why I opt for the latter, since I am certain that the cameras did not intrude on stage at any point in Glasgow..

    (I glanced at Wikipedia to clarify the dates above, though my memory of Glasgow remains clear, and I noticed that on their listings for the 1966 tour they claim, without attribution, that on 19th May Bob played 2 shows in Glasgow. That is not correct either.)

  2. There is only one Stone that Rolls and looks Kool doing that, That would be Bob Dylan rolling that stone. I Luv his music, his voice, everything that I know about him. I know their are so many things that we as Fans do not know about Dylan. Do we have to know everything ? Dylan is great and that’s enough for me Candy G

  3. Trying to find words to express how good this really is. I’ll have to get back to you on that.

  4. Superb can watch this over and over!! Just like the Blind Willie video for Martin S contained in your emails. Please please just leave it there so I can keep watching? Please?

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