Dylan Revisited: Highway 61 Revisited (1965)

Dylan's rock masterpiece helped to define the future of popular music and was the first Dylan album I bought for myself.

This is a series by DylanRevisited based on former Twitter threads, now available here in an easier to read and longer lasting format.

June 16, 1965. Session musician and songwriter Al Kooper is about to blag his way into rock history by playing an instrument he doesn't even know how to turn on. Such is the unplanned majesty of Bob Dylan’s Like a Rolling Stone and the album it opens, Highway 61 Revisited.

Producer Tom Wilson had invited Kooper along to watch the second day of Bob Dylan and his band attempting to record an unusual and awkward new song. But the ambitious Kooper had no intention of sitting on the sidelines behind the glass and instead sidled in among the musicians.

When Wilson moved Paul Griffin from the Hammond organ to piano, Kooper filled the vacated seat, relieved that Griffin had left the power on. Despite being unfamiliar with his instrument and the song he was about to play, Al Kooper turned out to be one hell of an organ player.

On hearing the playback, Dylan asked W…