Who Played the Organ on Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"?
EVERYBODY MUST GET STONED. Oops! Wrong song. EVERYBODY knows the words to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"! Oops, not quite right. EVERYBODY knows SOME OF THE WORDS to Bob Dylan's "Like a Rolling Stone"!
"Like a Rolling Stone" just may be the greatest rock n' roll song of all time. Rolling Stone the magazine thinks so. They voted it #1 on their RS 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list saying, "No other pop song has so thoroughly challenged and transformed the commercial laws and artistic conventions of its time, for all time."
"Once upon a time you dressed so fine
Oh we can wail that much out when the band kicks in. The rest of the words, well...more than a little iffy.
But that's not what this piece is about. The OTHER thing that EVERYONE remembers about the greatest rock song ever written is THAT KILLER ORGAN PART! Neeeee, nee nee nit neeeeeeeee! HOW DOES IT FEEL!? Freaking awesome.
But who played that organ part? Dylan? (He CAN play the keys, and could have played that memorable riff, but it didn't happen that way.)
In the shadows of rock and roll legends, and great rock and roll tracks, there are always some key (no pun intended) players that seem to remain on the fringe of fame -- perhaps right where they want to be -- who nonetheless leave an indelible mark on popular music, even if anonymously.
Such a GREAT fringe musician/producer/personality is the man who played that unforgettable Hammond B-3 lick in 1965 for Bob Dylan and his producer Tom Wilson: Al Kooper. (No kids, not Alice Cooper, a legend in his own right and deserving of a separate story entirely, which we'll deliver.)
It seems a little odd and ironic that legendary producer, A&R man, and musician Al Kooper would get his first break on a "novelty song" which these days is more known as a Nair hair-removal commercial than a rock standard. But such was the case when in 1958, Al Kooper as part of the Royal Teens (Al was only 14!), broke into the bigtime with the "short" Top 5 hit, "Short Shorts." Here are the entire lyrics. (Compare THIS to Dylan's '65 epic...YOU CAN REMEMBER THIS! We think each of the four writers credited to the song had 1.5 words each and the title "Short Shorts" was a group effort!):
Short Shorts Lyrics
Spoken: Ooh man, dig that crazy chick
Who wears short shorts
 The Royal Teens were actually a much more significant rock band than their one "short" hit would indicate. Al Kooper likely wouldn't have been there otherwise...such was his intuitive nature.
"'I was playing sessions on guitar. People would hire me because their only alternative was to hire these jazz players to play this teenage music. These guys were smoking cigars, emulating what kids would play. So, they would hire me to get that 'dumb, kid sound.' I assume that's why I was hired, because I really couldn't play anywhere near as well as those other guys.
"As time went by, Kooper got better, got confident and got known. Producers called on him to lay down guitar parts for scads of teen records, 'Certainly, a lot of them you've never heard of,' he laughs. 'It was a very educational part of my life,' he continues. 'I learned how to read and write music for the studio. I made friends with the players. They were all very nice to me with some exceptions. I didn't claim to be up to their musicianship, but it was a great university. The difference between the first time and the fifth time I was on a session was immense. The first time they should have thrown me out, but I was lucky!'
"In addition to session work, he apprenticed as an audio engineer. He also teamed up with songwriters Bob Brass and Irwin Levine. This partnership yielded the chart topping smash, 'This Diamond Ring,' performed by Gary Lewis and the Playboys. It has now exceeded its 3-millionth radio performance.
"One of the friends he made during this time, producer Tom Wilson, invited Kooper to watch a Bob Dylan session. By the afternoon's end, Al had played the signature organ riff on Dylan's 'Like A Rolling Stone,' alongside blues guitarist Mike Bloomfield." —AlKooper.com
"Kooper had been invited to the session as an observer, and hoped to be allowed to sit in on guitar, his primary instrument. After hearing a guitar player who turned out to be Mike Bloomfield warming up, and recognizing that Bloomfield was a much better player, Kooper put his guitar aside and went to the control room. During the recording of 'Like a Rolling Stone,' Paul Griffin moved from organ to piano.
"Kooper told producer Tom Wilson that he had a good organ part for the song (which he later noted was just a ruse to get into the session), and Wilson responded 'You're not an organ player, you're a guitar player,' but Kooper insisted that he play. Before Wilson could explicitly reject Kooper, he got a phone call. Kooper went and sat down at the organ, though he had rarely played organ before the session. Wilson soon returned, surprised to find Kooper in the studio. You can hear the organ coming in just behind the other members of the band at many places in the song, to make sure he was getting the chords right. During recording, Dylan famously said, 'Turn the organ up,' and a classic rock organ part was born. While the combination of piano and organ was common in church settings, it was relatively new to pop music and attracted considerable attention.
"The organ was the iconic Hammond B-3. Kooper later revealed that because it is a somewhat complicated instrument to turn on (hold one switch for a count, then flip the other switch) -- had it not already been done by someone else at the studio -- he probably wouldn't have figured it out on his own, and would never have maneuvered his way in to the role as organist on these sessions." —Wikipedia
That was just the beginning for Al Kooper. He worked extensively with the late/great blues guitartist Mike Bloomfield. He went on to co-found NYC cult blues band The Blues Project. He co-formed Blood, Sweat and Tears. He discovered and produced southern rock icons Lynyrd Skynyrd and played on literally hundreds of classic rock records with the likes of the Stones, B.B. King, the Who...and many many more. Kooper is even an important figure in the rap and hip-hop arena: he is one of the most sampled artists/producers in the genre.
Kooper's talents and accomplishments have also been noted by the academic world: He has taught songwriting and production at the famous Berklee College of Music in Boston.
Recently, Kooper co-produced the critically-acclaimed For the Love of Harry: Everybody Sings Nilsson
Al Kooper -- maybe forever on the fringe, but a man with a long long tail (and tale!) in music, sprouted so many years ago from those itty bitty "Short Shorts." SIDEBAR: Maybe Kooper's most challenging (but most fun!) role yet is that of musical guru to the infamous Rock Bottom Remainders, the sometimes-traveling rock troupe comprised of best-selling authors Dave Barry, Ridley Pearson, Stephen King, Scott Turow, Amy Tan, James McBride, Mitch Albom, Roy Blount, Jr., Matt Groening, and others. Now that's scary cool.
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
How does it feel
You've gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
How does it feel
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
How does it feel
Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
How does it feel
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. This tribute to the late singer-songwriter and longtime Kooper friend, 
