Harmonic Design

 C  Dm7  Em  F  G … F  Em  Dm  C

Musicians often favour the inclusion of chords in their progressions whose roots move by 4ths and 5ths, particularly if the bass line moves by step. This is usually achieved by using chord inversions. As you can see, however, Dylan uses a chord progression where the roots move by step, in parallel with the bass line. He mirrors this with a descending bass line later in the verse, and a reverse of the progression. This root movement by step is often avoided by using a C/E in place of the Em chord. C/E avoids the constant parallel motion of the bass and the chord roots.
But curiously, Dylan’s voice sings a constant C over these verse chords, and in effect creates (or you might even say “forces”) the Em chord to sound like a C/E. That momentary clash of the note B from Em while Dylan sings a C comes across as completely in keeping with the style of the music, and certainly in keeping with his singing manner.
The chords are typical of the kind one would find in the mid-60s world of electric rock music. But sometimes the best thing a songwriter can do is to identify the most important aspect of a song, and allow other elements to stay out of the way. With this song, as with most of Dylan’s output, a song’s topic and lyric always need to stand front and centre.
But other songs have lyrics that are meaningful. Why does “Like a Rolling Stone” seem to resonate so much with songwriters? Dylan has a unique ability to balance complexity with simplicity. The intricacy of the lyric balanced with the simplicity of formal design. He’s not just writing and singing to us; he’s writing for us, and expressing deeply-held thoughts and opinions in an unadorned fashion. You have to look long and hard to find any Dylan song that uses altered chords. That kind of musical development would simply be a distraction to such a supreme lyricist.
So what can songwriters learn from “Like a Rolling Stone”?

1. Repeated notes will help deliver a lyric’s message with more punch and relevance. Dylan repeated the tonic note, but experiment with others. You’ll find that as the melody note repeats, it starts to work as a type of “inverted pedal point“, and it even may not be crucial to have the note exist in the chord of the moment.
2. Make a decision as to what the most important aspect of your song is, and allow other elements to take a back seat. In Dylan’s case, it’s his lyric, so he avoids harmonic and melodic complexity, allowing the words to stay in the limelight.
3. Short, catchy hooks can be used over and over, stringing them together to create entire song sections. The melody for the chorus of “Like a Rolling Stone” consists of one short 4-note hook that repeats for the duration of the chorus. The shortness of the hook, combined with its placement as the highest notes of the song, make the chorus very memorable.
4. Make your highest notes happen in the chorus. In “Like a Rolling Stone”, the build of the verse dwells on the note C, with the final note of the verse sitting on a D. The chorus, particularly the start of it, focuses mainly on the note E. That C-D-E advancement of the melody as the verse moves from the verse to the chorus builds energy in a very attractive way.