Rainy Day Women #12 and 35

[admin]

While I have listened to my fair share of 1960s music over the years, I continue to ask myself why certain songs soar up the charts when the recording lacks a polished performance. To take it a step further, it may be argued that some songs reach the pinnacle of popularity in spite of their musical short-comings.

At the end of the day, perhaps no song in and of itself seems to attain universal loathing largely because the context in which it emerges is so critical. We can all think of examples of exemplary songs that failed and lack lustre tunes that leap to the summit in record time leaving us scratching out head.

By way of examining how bland becomes brilliant, I have chosen a track by Bob Dylan that I have never enjoyed - Rainy Day Women #12 and 35. Should the lyrics and melody have escaped you either in recent times or entirely why not give it a listen.

I have included the lyrics in this post so that you can follow along

Rainy Day Women #12 and 35

Well, they'll stone ya when you're trying to be so good,
They'll stone ya just a-like they said they would.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to go home.
Then they'll stone ya when you're there all alone.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone ya when you're walkin' 'long the street.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to keep your seat.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' on the floor.
They'll stone ya when you're walkin' to the door.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table.
They'll stone ya when you are young and able.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck.
They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck."
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you and say that it's the end.
Then they'll stone you and then they'll come back again.
They'll stone you when you're riding in your car.
They'll stone you when you're playing your guitar.
Yes, but I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

Well, they'll stone you when you walk all alone.
They'll stone you when you are walking home.
They'll stone you and then say you are brave.
They'll stone you when you are set down in your grave.
But I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

By way of further introduction, this song hit the charts in the United States in April 1966, remained there for 7 weeks and attained the lofty position of number 2. Was this merely a fluke? It would seem not as in May 1966 it reached number 4 on the United Kingdom charts where it stayed for five weeks.

So why was this song, discordant to the ears of some but embraced by others, so successful. While I will leave it to the historians, this may have been Bob Dylan's most successful song, should chart position be a relevant criterion of the same.

Musically this song is all about creating a party atmosphere and I can easily envision walking next to a jazz band through a street in New Orleans as they play this number. That there may be an enticing instrumental "hook" is acknowledged, but for the sober, it easily becomes monotonous by the third time through. Could it be Dylan's voice that we have become accustomed to, this song following "Like A Rolling Stone" a year earlier. Or was this tune a pleasant contrast to "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window" that fell on its face after one week in January 1966? While melody is in the temporal lobe of the listener, I suspect that the vocal did not fully satiate reward centres in many listeners of the day.

While dismissing the melody as playing second fiddle to the success of the song may be unfair, it seems more likely that the favourable chart position of this song was based on the lyrics. The idea that no matter what a young person tries to do, they will be chastised or ridiculed because they are seen to be inappropriate, will be embraced by most adolescents regardless of their generation. By way of example Dylan reminds us -

They'll stone ya when you're at the breakfast table.
They'll stone ya when you are young and able.
They'll stone ya when you're tryin' to make a buck.
They'll stone ya and then they'll say, "good luck."
Tell ya what, I would not feel so all alone,
Everybody must get stoned.

In the end, the solution that is offered for the youth of the day is simply to "get stoned." While "they" are not defined, the song is cleverly written to allow the listener to dismiss those with whom they do not get along. "They" are your parents, your teacher, the police and the like.

All things considered, the lyrics are the highlight and offered to the listeners just at the right time as they were trying to break away from "the rules."

This song was very successful, in my view, as it allowed for the strong identification by its listeners, much like rap music has done in more recent times.

This reflection has modified my position on Rainy Day Women #12 and 35. I actually think that the lyrics and melody, whether random or by design, are more brilliant than I thought when I heard it in 1966. It only took me 40 years to get it!

I would be interested in your analysis of why this song was successful and invite you to chose another song under a separate title to discuss that includes the lyrics and music for others to consider.

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

As far as this one, I've always loved it. The wry, close to the edge lyrics, the real (not faking it) party atmosphere, the great horn riff by The Band, the 1966 release which lended extra context and shock value. "Get stoned" on drugs, or in the biblical way? "Everybody must" as in a command, or as a conclusion reached by dylan as to what everyone really probably does? And why the title?

The song is fun, but it makes you think, and wonder, and it even attempts to force your hand into facing/defending some sort of philosophy.

In the end, at the time, it was a cultural call to arms. I think most of the people who liked the song and its messenger took it to mean "The time has come for all good people to smoke some marijuana and have fun."

The song still reeks of the cultural upheaval it has come to represent.

[kenposurf]

When this one hit the airwaves, US radio for the most part was not playing songs with certain refrences..artists were still slipping the message in..White Rabbit (think that one slipped by..pretty obvious)..Mamas and Papa's Straight Shooter ("if you know what I mean")...As I recall, a group of Hell's Angles provided the "party feel" for this Dylan effort...when it came on the car radio..down went the windows..up went the volume and if you pulled up next to an uptight business dude..all the better..hey we were kids...sort of...."but if I really say it, the radio won't play it, unless I lay it between the lines"...the times changed...

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Here are about eleventy links regarding this very song!

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=597768

[royclough]

As I came to post this noticed George has already mentioned it, but is an example of IMO terrible lyrics but dark lyrics, encouraging the drug laden period of 67/68 when many songs were indeed influenced by them.

In this song the infectious "beat" pulls the listener along even if, like I probably was to be frank,one is oblivious to the message contained therein.



One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall

And if you go chasing rabbits
And you know you're going to fall
Tell 'em a hookah smoking caterpillar
Has given you the call
Recall Alice
When she was just small

When men on the chessboard
Get up and tell you where to go
And you've just had some kind of mushroom
And your mind is moving low
Go ask Alice
I think she'll know

When logic and proportion
Have fallen softly dead
And the White Knight is talking backwards
And the Red Queen's "off with her head!"
Remember what the dormouse said:
"Feed your head
Feed your head
Feed your head"

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

That infectious beat came about while riffing on Ravel's "Bolero" according to Mr. Cassady in an interview I just heard on the radio. I never thought about that before, but now I can't escape it!

[kenposurf]

Then we have the not so subtle Velvet Underground doing Heroin and I'm Waiting For My Man...always thought that these two songs painted such a glum picture of drug abuse that they were somewhat anti-drug use...

[lyle_from_minneapolis]

Here's a buried treasure: Traffic's "Dealer".

[admin]

Mark: I really enjoyed your comments with regard to Rainy Day Women #12 and 35. You are right, in my view, with respect to Dylan's command.

"Everybody must" is key to the song and reflects the rules forced by the authority of the day. Also, as you say the context in which the song was presented is important. I especially like the "cultural call to arms" comment.

George: "Roll down the windows" is an interesting comment and an event that most will remember well from that period. During this time, those in authority were beginning to see the impact of music on youth more than ever.

Roy: There was no effective treatment for that infectious beat in White Rabbit. We were all destined to be swept away by it.

[charlyg]

I was thinking of Traffic's hit, 40,000 Headmen, Have a blast with THAT one!

[admin]

Roy: Thanks for posting the lyrics above. My favourite phrase from White Rabbit is

"When logic and proportion
Have fallen softly dead"

This is a powerful statement minimized by the softness of Grace Slick's well-crafted vocal that lulls the listener into a sense of complacency that all is well. Before the user realizes, the cognitive faculties are gone and not always reversible following withdrawal. The contrast between the raw instrumentation and the tranquil tones of Slick's voice play out through the fading in and out of the drug's effect. Perhaps this is purely coincidental, but effect nonetheless.


Another intriguing and famous verse from "White Rabbit" was well ahead of its time and prophetic of the extent to which drugs, illicit or prescribed would become commonplace in the everyday living of the boomers.

"One pill makes you larger
And one pill makes you small
And the ones that mother gives you
Don't do anything at all
Go ask Alice
When she's ten feet tall"

In contrast to "Rainy Day Women #12 and 35" Dylan's comment on the more generalized dampening of thoughts "everybody must get stoned" are traded for the more specific action of drugs. Perhaps one of the earliest song references to designer drugs.

How ironic that the observation "One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small", would be applicable forty years hence as the boomers begin to lose virility.

[admin]

Charly: Here you go.

(Roamin Thru The Gloamin' With) 40,000 Headmen lyrics

Forty thousand headmen couldn't make me change my mind
If I had to take the choice between the deaf man and the blind
I know just where my feet should go and that's enough for me
I turned around and knocked them down and walked across the sea

Hadn't traveled very far when suddenly I saw
Three small ships a-sailing out towards a distant shore
So lighting up a cigarette I followed in pursuit
And found a secret cave where they obviously stashed their loot

Filling up my pockets, even stuffed it up my nose
I must have weighed a hundred tons between my head and toes
I ventured forth before the dawn had time to change its mind
And soaring high above the clouds I found a golden shrine

Laying down my treasure before the iron gate
Quickly rang the bell hoping I hadn't come too late
But someone came along and told me not to waste my time
And when I asked him who he was he said, 'Just look behind'

So I turned around and forty thousand headmen bit the dirt
Firing twenty shotguns each and man, it really hurt
But luckily for me they had to stop and then reload
And by the time they'd done that I was heading down the road

Interesting lyrics with a perception of reality that is bent by an unidentified source. What is your take on it Charly. A hallucinatory experience with or without substance, a dream?

The moral: Wealth, however measured, in circustances real or imaginary may not get you out of a difficult situation. Sometimes timing is everything.

[charlyg]

Peter - Thanks, the reason I mentioned it, is I have never been able to figure it out. I kept looking from the stuffed it up my nose aspect and tried to make it about drugs, and didn't see the bigger picture.

I do like your take!

[royclough]

Be interested in Peter's eloquent take on these lyrics by my favourite band The Searchers.

Track originally done by a American called Tim Wilde, only other version I know of was by The Fall, terrible version.

The lyrics in some ways are applicable today,the cynical "people are dying, babies are crying, don't nobody care at all" to even "Coffee each morning, Don't park or no warning,They tow your machine away"

But in 67 I suspect The Searchers did not have a clue what the lyrics where about.

Larry Weiss and Scott English wrote the lyrics, they were also responsible for Hi Ho Silver Lining and believe it or not English wrote Mandy (Manilow) though he called it Brandy.


POPCORN DOUBLE FEATURE


Everybody's going through changes
Everybody's got a bag of his own
Everybody's talking about places
That can only be found in the greater unknown
People are dying
The babies are crying
Don't nobody care at all?
There's love and disaster
And good things come after
Just follow the paths along

Popcorn double feature
The whole world's a funny farm
That man is your teacher
No need to be alarmed

Music's coming out of the woodwork
Sounds so strange, nobody sleeps
I met a little man on the corner
Waving a flag and making a speech

Coffee each morning
Don't park or, no warning
They tow your machine away
There's so much confusion
That's built on illusion
What's making the music play

Popcorn double feature
The whole world's a funny farm
That man is your teacher
No need to be alarmed
NOT MUCH

Coffee each morning
No popcorn a-warning
They tow your machine away
There's love and disaster
But good things come after
What's making the music play

Popcorn double feature
Popcorn double feature
Popcorn double feature
Popcorn double feature
Popcorn double feature
Popcorn double feature
Popcorn double feature world

[rictified]

Little late to this thread but Everybody's got to get Stoned came at a time when it was still very much an underground counterculture thing to do to smoke pot. This song was the first that I know of to celebrate it if in fact in a veiled way or at least that was a big hit. The joke was on the establishment who were censoring songs back then. The party atmosphere was meant to throw the squares off the scent that it was really about marijuana. Getting stoned was also a slang term for getting drunk, but kind of old fashioned by the time this song came out.