Expecting Rain

I don't know... I remember reading somewhere that Robbie Robertson nipped out for some cigarettes, in which time they (extremely drunk/stoned at Dylan's instruction) cut Rainy Day Women, having knocked some poor trombonist out of bed at what sounds like 4:00 AM.

There's more to it. Columbia records changed the lyrics to "Blowin in the wind" because they were afraid of the outrage it would cause. Some lines from the real version:

"How many stones
must one man throw
before he makes people die?"

That also explains the main refrain "the answer my freind is blowin in the wind", because depending on the wind conditions, you may have to throw more stones.

i wish i had some stones to throw right now . . .

That song is way down at the bottom of the list for me. I always thought it was stupid. It's just a silly play on words, and it got old for me quickly. It's just a novelty song.

Nostalgic, don't get carried away with this. Dylan can get away with this type of thing, you can't. In fact, he advises ordinary people to be "like a rolling stone", big difference.

Three Legged, I'm with you, I never thought much of the song either. He used to do it as one of his encore songs, and it always made me mad, because if you lit up a stick of high test, everyone around you would want some. I'd just toss em' some rocks.

Isn't this strange: Two people, two totally different opinions.





I used to feel the same way as 3LG, now I enjoy it greatly, it
cracks me up, for some reason I relate to it, I think it's that little
devil wise ass inside, that is responsible.

People that take Bob very seriously don't like it, but it was a very big hit with the generation that understood Bob best.

oh you guys are just trying to take the fun out of listening to a stoner bob dylan song. Even if he didn't intend for the song to be a certian way you basicallly have to deal with the fact and the fact is that its a stoner song for millions of stoners who love Bob. not to mention the fact that it is kinda a "gateway" into mroe of Bob's music. It was for me. Sometimes an artist writes something for a particular intent and sometimes that intent is seen or understood, other times it isn't. O'well right! I mean its fun to "figure it all out" but sometimes it isnt bad to "go with the herd" and on this one I'd say I'm of the herd.

What's a stoner?

one who throws stones

I always thought it had something to do with Catholics?

I thought it meant a pot smoker. I guess it could mean several
things. I picture Bob in this song saying Hey everyboding I'm so
picked on by evil people, feel sorry for me okay? And you reply
Awe you poor guy that's alright, buck up, you'll get through it. And
all parties involved have got their tongue in their cheek and a
smirk on their face, having fun.

I'd sharply distinguish it from his songs where he is sincere and
trying to promote some form of goodness.

It's the first of two 1-4-5 blues tunes that open BOB just to annoy and bore you in preparation for Visions of Johanna. You know, get the crap out of the way first and then get down to the serious shit.




(just kidding, I like Pledging my time)

You definitely have got a lot of potential.

OK, enough with the jokes. Here's the real deal. When Dylan started smoking pot with his friends, he instantly saw that everybody was happy, laid back, nonviolent(as opposed to drunks), and having a good time. He knew then, that if everybody got stoned together, it would be a much more nonviolent world. He was right.

Unfortunately, he dropped the ball and never followed up this song with a bitingly sarcastic song about the neo-slavery drug laws. I hold this against him, even though he has spoken out so eloquently on civil rights issues. To me, the pot laws are a human rights issue. When you take someones freedom away for a non crime, that my friends, is a human rights issue. If the deadly but legal drug alcohol is legal, there is no reason in the world that the much less dangerous drug pot should be illegal. Get involved; demand change. If you want to light up, speak up!

I thought it was about women's outerwear

CH, you got a point. I got drunk twice on booze (in my youth) and
it was no fun. But I a-gonna definitely try pot as soon as those
right-wingers get it legallized. I'm anxious to see what the big
deal is.

(I'll still have to make sure my wife doesn't find out, she will
certainly chastize me, she's had lots of opportunity to hone her
techniques over the years and she's very skilled at it.)

Jim, you're right about getting drunk, it's no bargain. And the hangovers can be brutal. If you overdose on alcohol, it can kill you. If you overdose on pot, you could end up at Taco Bell.

By the way, I have nothing against alcohol, in moderation it is a wonderful drug. The Pope drinks it every day!

I remember reading about a simulated driving test designed to measure driving impairment due to substance abuse. Three groups were tested--drunks, potheads, and a straight-and-sober group.

The drunks were severely impaired; if they'd actually been out on the road there'd have been flying glass and bent metal everywhere.

The potheads scored slightly better than the straights, but the researchers said the difference was too slight to be significantly significant (they probably wanted to be sure they weren't misunderstood as advocating pot smoking to improve driving performance).

Nonetheless, I've adopted red wine as my drug of choice because I read that it's a health drink--and the Pope drinks it (in my town the speed limit is 25 mph).

Pin, that's an interesting study I've never heard of, but sounds accurate. Alcohol is involved in about 14,000 highway deaths a year in America. That's almost 40 people a day! That doesn't include murders, various illness's etc. The big problem is that the alcohol industry has been brilliant in putting everyone to sleep by not making them realize that alcohol IS IN FACT A HARD DRUG. Unfortunately for them, this is the freight train I am going to ride to change this horrid situation.

Did I say "significantly significant?" That should be "statistically significant."

I thought it was funny funny.

Okay back to the song. I see it as this.

Even though the verse lyrics are probably not about drugs there is no way that the rowdy chorus with laughing in the background - 'Everybody MUST get STONED;' - is anything but a funny line about .....getting stoned. I mean come on.

That Dylan claimed it wasnt about drugs doesn't mean anything. He also said it was about 'cripples and orientals and the world in which they live.'
Its just a play on words - being stoned as in being persecuted, and stoned as in...stoned.

Surely its as basic as that?

He probably wrote the verses then thinking of a chorus, trying to sum up the idea that everybody should be treated like him, struck on "everybody must get stoned". Hilarious.

Incidently the song sometimes annoys me and sometimes its great. depends what sort of mood i'm in. I view it a bit like The Beatles' Yellow Submarine - except i like this better.

Bob is of course most well known for giving exact details of his songs meanings to anyone who asks.