Released: July 20, 1965
Songwriter: Bob Dylan
Producer: Tom Wilson (producer)
[Verse 1]
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 a-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 your next meal
[Chorus 1]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?
[Verse 2]
Aw, you've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But ya know ya only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught ya 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?"
[Chorus 2]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
A complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
[Verse 3]
Aw, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for 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?
[Chorus 3]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To hang on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
[Verse 4]
Aw, princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchangin' all precious gifts
But you'd better take your diamond ring, ya 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 ya, ya can't refuse
When ya ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose
You're invisible now, ya got no secrets to conceal
[Chorus 2]
How does it feel?
Aw, how does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
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 a-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 your next meal
[Chorus 1]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be without a home?
Like a complete unknown?
Like a rolling stone?
[Verse 2]
Aw, you've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But ya know ya only used to get juiced in it
Nobody's ever taught ya 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?"
[Chorus 2]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
A complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
[Verse 3]
Aw, you never turned around to see the frowns
On the jugglers and the clowns when they all did tricks for 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?
[Chorus 3]
How does it feel?
How does it feel?
To hang on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
[Verse 4]
Aw, princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They're all drinkin', thinkin' that they got it made
Exchangin' all precious gifts
But you'd better take your diamond ring, ya 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 ya, ya can't refuse
When ya ain't got nothin', you got nothin' to lose
You're invisible now, ya got no secrets to conceal
[Chorus 2]
How does it feel?
Aw, how does it feel?
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
- Highway 61 Revisited (1965)
- Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits (1967)
- More American Graffiti: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1979)
- Biograph (1985)
- The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991 (1991)
- The Rolling Stone Collection - 25 Years Of Essential Rock (1993)
- The Essential Bob Dylan (2000)
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (2005)
- The Bootleg Series Vol. 12: The Cutting Edge 1965–1966 (2015)
- Murder Most Foul
- Blowin’ in the Wind
- The Times They Are A-Changin’
- All Along the Watchtower
- Like a Rolling Stone
- Make You Feel My Love
- Hurricane
- Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right
- Mr. Tambourine Man
- A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
- Subterranean Homesick Blues
- Desolation Row
- Tangled Up in Blue
- Masters of War
- Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door
- It’s Alright, Ma (I’m Only Bleeding)
- Girl from the North Country
- Tempest
- It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue
- Ballad of a Thin Man
- Visions of Johanna
- I Contain Multitudes
- To Fall in Love with You
- Shelter from the Storm