Rainy Day Women Nos. 12 & 35
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" is a song written and performed by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, serving as the opening track on his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde, released in May 1966.[1] Issued as a single in March 1966 with "Pledging My Time" on the B-side, it features a raucous, Salvation Army-style brass arrangement recorded in Nashville on March 9 and 10, involving session musicians swapping instruments under the influence of alcohol to achieve its loose, celebratory sound.[2] The track peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, marking Dylan's highest-charting single up to that point and remaining on the chart for ten weeks.[1] The song's cryptic title draws from Proverbs 27:15 in the Bible, which compares a contentious woman to a continual dripping on a rainy day, while its refrain—"But I would not feel so all alone / Everybody must get stoned"—sparked immediate controversy for its apparent endorsement of marijuana use, despite Dylan's later insistence that the lyrics address societal persecution rather than literal intoxication.[3][4] Several U.S. radio stations banned airplay of the single upon release, citing its perceived drug references, though Dylan maintained it critiqued the stoning of societal outcasts, not recreational substance use.[5] This tension between authorial intent and public interpretation underscores the track's defining characteristic as a playful yet provocative entry in Dylan's mid-1960s electric period, blending bluesy irreverence with biblical allusion amid his shift toward rock-oriented production.[4]Recording and Production
Background and Sessions
Following his acoustic folk beginnings, Bob Dylan had transitioned to electric rock instrumentation with the 1965 albums Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited, seeking evolving sonic textures amid growing creative ambitions. Efforts to record his seventh studio album, Blonde on Blonde, commenced in New York studios in October 1965 but yielded unsatisfactory results due to challenges in achieving the intended loose yet precise feel. At the urging of Columbia producer Bob Johnston, a Nashville resident familiar with the city's tight-knit session players, Dylan shifted operations to Columbia's Studio A there, initiating core sessions on February 14, 1966, to leverage the musicians' expertise in country, blues, and rockabilly rhythms for his rock-driven material.[6][7] "Rrainy Day Women #12 & 35" emerged from these Nashville proceedings on March 9, 1966, with Johnston overseeing production in a notably informal environment that contrasted typical mid-1960s studio discipline. Dylan arrived weary from prior touring demands and the album's protracted development, fostering a session marked by spontaneity and reported alcohol use among participants, which producer Johnston encouraged to evoke a stumbling, Mardi Gras-like brass procession. This unorthodox approach, including breaking from sobriety norms, directly shaped the track's raw, convivial energy.[8][9] The song materialized in one complete take following minimal rehearsal, capitalizing on the assembled players' quick adaptability and Dylan's on-the-spot direction, thereby encapsulating the album's ethos of capturing elusive, live-wire performances amid logistical strains.[2][4]Personnel and Instrumentation
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" features Bob Dylan providing lead vocals, guitar, and harmonica, supported by a loose assembly of Nashville session players whose ad-hoc collaboration yielded the track's distinctive raw and raucous texture.[4] The core musicians comprised Charlie McCoy on trumpet, Wayne Moss on guitar, Hargus "Pig" Robbins on piano, and Kenny Buttrey on drums.[4][10]| Personnel | Instrumentation |
|---|---|
| Bob Dylan | Lead vocals, guitar, harmonica |
| Charlie McCoy | Trumpet |
| Wayne Moss | Guitar |
| Hargus "Pig" Robbins | Piano |
| Kenny Buttrey | Drums |
Composition
Musical Structure
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" is composed in the key of F major, employing a 4/4 time signature at a moderate tempo of 95 beats per minute.[14][15] The song follows a blues-rock structure centered on verse-chorus alternations, with each verse building tension through rhythmic drive before resolving into a raucous chorus refrain, punctuated by brass interjections that enhance the chaotic energy.[16] This form adheres to traditional blues progression elements while diverging through amplified rock instrumentation and horn sections.[17] The track draws stylistic influences from rhythm and blues alongside march-like rhythms, evoking the sound of a Salvation Army brass band through its stomping percussion and discordant horn blasts.[18][19] Producer Bob Johnston noted the arrangement's resemblance to a Salvation Army ensemble, achieved via live session interplay rather than overdubs, contributing to the raw, improvised feel.[18] Session musician Charlie McCoy's trumpet contributions introduce deliberate dissonance, clashing with the ensemble to amplify the song's unruly, celebratory tone without polished synchronization.[4] The overall composition eschews intricate solos for relentless forward momentum, with the brass sections serving as interjections that disrupt and propel the verses, mirroring R&B parade traditions while integrating rock's electric edge.[19] This blend yields a sound that prioritizes collective exuberance over technical precision, captured in a single take on March 9–10, 1966, at Columbia's Nashville studio.[20]Lyrics and Title Origin
The lyrics of "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" feature four verses that enumerate instances of social condemnation and punishment, portrayed through the repeated motif of being "stoned" for innocuous or personal behaviors. These include stoning for attempting to be virtuous, returning home, or even enjoying simple pleasures like walking to work or wearing fine clothing, with lines such as "They'll stone you when you're walking home / Then they'll stone you when you're there all alone."[21] The structure intersperses these accusatory vignettes with a recurring chorus: "But I would not feel so all alone / Everybody must get stoned," which underscores a paradoxical universality to judgment, implying that no one escapes societal scrutiny.[21] This refrain hinges on Dylan's characteristic wordplay, juxtaposing the archaic, biblical sense of "stoned" as execution by throwing stones—evident in the verses' evocation of moralistic persecution—with the modern slang for intoxication, though the text situates it amid themes of hypocrisy and shared vulnerability rather than endorsement.[3] The verses portray accusers as inconsistent enforcers who condemn others while presuming their own righteousness, as in "They'll stone you when you're at the breakfast table / They'll stone you when you are young and able," culminating in the chorus's resigned equalization of all humanity under criticism.[21] The song's title, absent from the lyrics, remains enigmatic, with contemporaneous speculation tracing it to biblical imagery or session anecdotes. One derivation connects it to Proverbs 27:15 (King James Version): "A continual dropping in a very rainy day and a contentious woman are alike," likening persistent nagging to incessant rain, potentially symbolizing burdensome or judgmental figures aligned with the song's persecutory theme.[3] [22] An alternative account from recording participants describes two women—a mother and daughter—entering the Nashville studio on a rainy day to escape the weather, with "12 & 35" denoting their ages, thus literalizing "rainy day women" as shelter-seeking figures amid the March 10, 1966, session.[1] The numbers 12 and 35 appear arbitrary or whimsically symbolic, lacking direct textual tie-in; later claims that their multiplication yields 420 as a coded cannabis reference constitute an urban myth, as such numerical slang gained cultural traction only in the 1970s, postdating the song's composition and release.[1] Dylan offered no contemporaneous clarification on the title's precise genesis, preserving its opacity as part of the track's interpretive allure.[3]Interpretations and Controversies
Lyrical Themes and Dylan's Intent
The lyrics of "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" portray a pervasive societal mechanism of judgment and condemnation, wherein individuals face metaphorical "stoning"—evoking biblical practices of communal punishment for moral or legal infractions, such as adultery or deviation from norms—regardless of their attempts at virtue or professional stature. Lines depict stoning for "trying to be so good," for everyday activities like eating at the breakfast table or walking home "with the Bible in your hand," and even for respected figures including doctors, lawyers, merchants, and captains of industry, underscoring that no one escapes scrutiny or penalty in a hypocritical world where frailty is universal yet selectively punished.[21] This draws from Old Testament precedents like Deuteronomy 22:22-24, which prescribe stoning for adultery, and echoes the New Testament's John 8:3-11, where accusers' hypocrisy is exposed by the challenge to the sinless casting the first stone, framing the song as a realist observation of inescapable human judgment rather than an endorsement of vice. Bob Dylan articulated the song's intent in a Stockholm press conference on April 28, 1966, describing it as addressing "a minority of, you know, cripples and orientals and, uh, you know, and the world in which they live," positioning it as a "protesty" commentary on marginalized existences amid broader relational and societal trials.[23] This aligns with the track's release amid Dylan's own experience of backlash for incorporating electric instrumentation, akin to the "stoning" by folk purists who decried his shift from acoustic traditions as a betrayal, reflecting personal persecution through collective moral outrage. The refrain's dual pun on literal stoning and intoxication serves to highlight mob mentality and frailty without prescribing behavior, emphasizing causal realism in how judgment arises from others' projections of their own shortcomings onto the nonconformist.[1] Critics and analysts, privileging the lyrics' structure over surface-level misreadings, interpret the piece as a critique of hypocrisy wherein accusers stone the flawed while ignoring their own sins, a theme empirically rooted in the song's enumeration of universal vulnerability rather than isolated vice. Dylan's evasion of reductive drug associations in contemporaneous statements reinforces this as a broader indictment of relational errors punished disproportionately, as informed by reports of severe penalties for personal failings in certain cultural contexts, underscoring the song's focus on inevitable trial rather than celebration of transgression.[22]Drug Interpretation Debate
Upon its 1966 release, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" gained widespread interpretation among 1960s counterculture audiences as a marijuana anthem, primarily due to the chorus pun "everybody must get stoned," which evoked getting high amid the era's rising drug experimentation.[1] This view persisted into the 1970s, with the song's playful brass-band arrangement and irreverent tone amplifying assumptions of endorsement, even as lyrics describe persecution for everyday actions like walking to work or playing with toys.[1] [4] Bob Dylan has repeatedly rejected drug-related readings, insisting the track addresses biblical and societal stoning—literal execution or metaphorical condemnation—rather than intoxication. In a 2012 Rolling Stone interview, he affirmed, "I have never and never will write a 'drug song,'" tying the theme to the Book of Acts, specifically the stoning of Stephen (Acts 7:54–60), as a symbol of inevitable criticism faced by nonconformists.[4] [1] He elaborated, "These are people that aren’t familiar with the Book of Acts," positioning the song's repeated "they'll stone you" as commentary on universal judgment, not advocacy for substance use.[4] The title's odd numbering has fueled speculative drug numerology, such as 12 × 35 = 420 (later slang for marijuana), but this is anachronistic, as "420" originated in 1971 among California high school students, five years after the song's March 10, 1966, Nashville recording.[1] Session organist Al Kooper recounted the origin as prosaic: during a rainy-day session, two women (a mother and daughter) sheltered in the studio, prompting Dylan to dub them "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" based on guessed ages, underscoring the song's whimsical, non-esoteric intent over contrived symbolism.[1] [4] While cultural projection onto the pun advanced drug normalization narratives, the lyrics' absence of explicit highs or endorsements, combined with Dylan's clarifications, reveals interpretive overreach rather than authorial promotion.[1]Censorship and Bans
In 1966, multiple U.S. radio stations banned "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" from airplay, interpreting the refrain "everybody must get stoned" as an explicit promotion of marijuana use, despite the phrase's double entendre referencing biblical stoning as punishment.[24][25] This reaction paralleled restrictions on The Byrds' "Eight Miles High," released earlier that year, which faced similar accusations of drug advocacy due to lyrical ambiguity around LSD.[24][26] The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) also declined to broadcast the track, aligning with its policies against content deemed to encourage illegal drug consumption amid contemporaneous cultural sensitivities.[27] No centralized industry-wide prohibition occurred through bodies like the Federal Communications Commission, but individual stations exercised self-censorship, reflecting localized moral concerns over rock music's evolving themes.[28] These prohibitions, grounded in a misreading of the song's idiomatic language rather than overt advocacy, failed to suppress its reach; the single ascended to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 1966, indicating that the backlash amplified public curiosity and commercial momentum.[25][27]Release and Commercial Performance
Single Release Details
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" was issued as a 7-inch 45 RPM single by Columbia Records in the United States on March 22, 1966, under catalog number 4-43592, with "Pledging My Time" as the B-side.[29][2] Both sides featured edited mono versions tailored for radio airplay: the A-side shortened to 2:26 from its 4:35 album length by excising the third verse and inserting a fade-out between the fourth and fifth verses, while the B-side was trimmed to 2:06 from 3:48 by removing its second verse and fading after the fourth.[29][2] The single's promotion aligned with Columbia's marketing of tracks from the forthcoming album Blonde on Blonde, released in June 1966, amid ongoing debate over Dylan's adoption of electric rock arrangements following his plugged-in set at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival.[29] A promotional advertisement ran in Billboard magazine dated April 2, 1966, with radio stations beginning airplay around March 25.[29] Internationally, variants appeared under the CBS label in multiple territories, including the United Kingdom on CBS 202307 in May 1966, retaining the U.S. edits.[29][2] Releases in countries such as Canada (Columbia 4-43592), Germany (CBS 2307), the Netherlands (CBS 2.307), Australia (CBS BA-221281), and Japan (CBS LL-928-C) followed similar formats, with some featuring unique pressings or picture sleeves.[2]Chart Performance
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" entered the Billboard Hot 100 on April 16, 1966, and peaked at number 2 during the week of May 14, 1966, remaining on the chart for 10 weeks.[1] [30] The single was kept from the top position by tracks including The Beach Boys' "Sloop John B."[1] In the United Kingdom, it debuted on the Singles Chart on May 18, 1966, at number 32 and reached a peak of number 7.[31] [1]| Chart (1966) | Peak Position | Weeks on Chart |
|---|---|---|
| Billboard Hot 100 (US) | 2 | 10 |
| UK Singles Chart | 7 | Not specified |
Reception
Critical Assessments
Upon its release in 1966, "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" received praise for its rowdy energy and the brass-driven arrangement that exemplified Bob Dylan's pivot to electric rock instrumentation. In his July 1966 review of Blonde on Blonde for Crawdaddy!, Paul Williams highlighted the album's "cache of emotion" and vibrant production, commencing with the track's boisterous sound as a bold departure from Dylan's earlier acoustic work.[35] This raucous style was seen as a transitional marker, capturing Dylan's integration of rock elements amid his evolving post-folk phase.[36] Retrospective assessments often portray the song as a lively but lightweight opener to Blonde on Blonde, contrasting its party-like frivolity with the album's deeper lyrical explorations in tracks like "Visions of Johanna." Critics have dismissed it as overly simplistic, likening its repetitive structure to a "nursery rhyme" that prioritizes rowdiness over substance.[37] Some rank it among Dylan's least representative works, calling it the "least Dylan-like song in his entire catalog" due to its departure from his typical introspective depth.[37] In a 2013 Rolling Stone readers' poll, it placed among the 10 worst Dylan songs, reflecting fan perceptions of it as a commercial outlier rather than artistic peak.[38] Despite mixed evaluations, the track's inclusion in Dylan's 1985 career-spanning anthology Biograph underscores its recognition as a key electric-era single, even if not consistently top-tier in critical polls of his output.[39] Later rankings, such as American Songwriter's 2010 list of his 30 greatest songs placing it at #18, affirm its energetic appeal while acknowledging its niche as a high-charting but lyrically straightforward entry.[40]Accolades and Rankings
"Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" has received recognition primarily through retrospective rankings of Bob Dylan's oeuvre rather than standalone awards. Rolling Stone magazine ranked the song number 72 in its 2015 list of the 100 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs, highlighting its role as a commercial hit from the Blonde on Blonde sessions despite its unconventional style.[41] The track appears in other curated Dylan catalogs, such as Mojo magazine's 2005 compilation of his 100 greatest songs, underscoring its place among staples of his mid-1960s output.[42] While not nominated for Grammy Awards independently, its inclusion in enduring "best singles" assessments reflects sustained appreciation for Dylan's electric-era experimentation, including the brass elements recorded in Nashville.[41]Performances and Covers
Dylan's Live Performances
Bob Dylan first performed "Rainy Day Women #12 & 35" live on May 17, 1966, at the Louisville Convention Center in Louisville, Kentucky, during the early dates of his controversial electric world tour backed by the Hawks (pre-The Band). The song quickly became a staple opener for the electric half of his sets throughout the 1966 tour, appearing in nearly every concert across North America, Europe, and Australia, where its raucous, brass-like energy set a defiant tone amid audience backlash against his shift from folk to rock. This period marked its most consistent and high-energy renditions, with Dylan delivering it in a raw, band-driven format that mirrored the studio's one-take session vibe. Over the subsequent decades, Dylan has performed the song more than 960 times, primarily during his ongoing Never Ending Tour starting in 1988, adapting it to varying band configurations and tempos while retaining its core rhythmic drive.[43] In the 1970s and 1980s, renditions occasionally slowed to emphasize lyrical phrasing over the original's march-like propulsion, as heard in select Rolling Thunder Revue and post-accident shows, though electric versions predominated. By the Never Ending Tour era, performances evolved into concise, blues-inflected rockers, often positioned mid-set or as encores, with Dylan alternating between piano, harp, and guitar leads to suit the night's improvisational flow.[44] Documented variations highlight Dylan's penchant for reinvention: early 1990s outings leaned into grittier, garage-band snarls, while later iterations incorporated swing elements or stripped-back arrangements during acoustic segments, though full acoustic treatments remained rare outside the 1995 MTV Unplugged taping. The song's endurance in his repertoire underscores its utility as a crowd-energizer, performed with empirical regularity—averaging dozens of times per tour leg—without fixed positioning, allowing spontaneous revivals even after multi-year absences.Cover Versions by Other Artists
The song has been covered extensively by other artists, with SecondHandSongs documenting 68 versions as of 2025.[45] Early adaptations include a 1966 studio recording by Bobby Brooks shortly after Dylan's original release.[45] Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs delivered a bluegrass rendition in December 1968, transforming the rock track into a banjo-driven folk arrangement that preserved the song's humorous, cautionary tone while emphasizing instrumental interplay.[45][46] In 1975, Merry Clayton recorded a soul-infused version for her album Keep Your Eye on the Sparrow, heightening the vocal dynamics and irony of communal judgment with gospel-tinged harmonies.[47] The Black Crowes offered a gritty rock cover in 1992, retaining the original's raucous energy and brass-like guitar riffs to underscore the theme of universal hypocrisy.[48] Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers performed a live rendition on August 24, 1993, capturing the song's barroom stomp in a concert setting that amplified its anthemic quality.[48] Later interpretations include Lenny Kravitz's funk-rock take on the 2014 tribute album Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of the Nobel Prize Laureate, which infused electric grooves while maintaining the lyrical wordplay on stoning as punishment.[49] In 2025, Joan Osborne released a live version on her album Dylanology (Live), featuring a sultry, band-driven arrangement with guests like Jackie Greene that leaned into the song's seductive undertones and preserved its defiant spirit.[50] Some covers, such as those by bluegrass or soul artists, shift emphasis toward the irony of judgment over any drug connotation, while rock versions often retain the original's irreverent bounce.[45] Bruce Springsteen joined Dylan and Neil Young for a one-time live collaboration in 2002, adding electric guitar layers to the track during a concert encore.[51]| Artist | Year | Type | Notable Adaptation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lester Flatt & Earl Scruggs | 1968 | Studio | Bluegrass instrumentation highlighting folk roots |
| Merry Clayton | 1975 | Studio | Soul vocals emphasizing emotional irony |
| The Black Crowes | 1992 | Studio | Raw rock preservation of rowdy energy |
| Lenny Kravitz | 2014 | Studio | Funk-infused tribute retaining lyrical bite |
| Joan Osborne | 2025 | Live | Sultry live band arrangement with guests |