Rolling stone is top tune
2004-11-18 13:02
Los Angeles - Music legend Bob Dylan's classic Like a Rolling Stone has been voted the greatest song of all time by Rolling Stone magazine, officials said on Wednesday.
The song, penned by the 24-year-old Dylan in 1965, topped the magazine's list of 500 Greatest Songs of All Time that will appear in a special edition to hit news-stands on Friday.
The hit that captured the searching spirit of the 1960s was voted the best song ever by 172 writers and artists including Joni Mitchell, Elvis Costello and KD Lang.
The music of the turbulent and artistically-rich sixties dominated the ranking, producing more than 200 of the 500 songs, with The Beatles leading the musical charge.
Britain's Fab Four were responsible for 23 of the top 500 songs, while The Rolling Stones scored 14 and Dylan 12.
Following Like a Rolling Stone on the list was the Rolling Stones' I Can't Get No Satisfaction (1965) in second place and former Beatle John Lennon's 1971 song Imagine in third.
Fourth was Marvin Gay's 1971 hit What's Going On followed by Aretha Franklin Respect (1967), The Beach Boys Good Vibrations (1966) and rocker Chuck Berry's Johnny B Goode (1958).
In eighth spot was The Beatles' Hey Jude from 1968, followed by grunge rock band Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit (1991) and soul king Ray Charles's What'd I Say (1959).
Some 144 of the top tunes were penned in the 1970s, while the 1980s glam rock era contributed only 55 songs.