Expecting Rain

Brilliant- except for the fact that when the song was recorded, the musicians were all under the influence of drugs.

Crap. It's a genius song from a man under pressure, and at the very height of his 24 year old powers. Back to Street Legal with you sir.

This is what it's really about.

Have they legalised sarsperilla (or whatever it's called) in Illinois??

Toss. It's a genius song that kicks off one of the greatest albums of all time. Hang your head in shame boy.

It's Dylan's All You Need Is Love, without the cameras (why wasn't Pennebaker in Nashville for the recording of Blonde on Blonde? What a pity).

By the way: if you slag off Rainy Day Women, then you ain't a fan of the Bobmeister.

Eddie: "He's cute, ain't he? Only problem is, he's got a little bit of Mississippi leg hound in him. If the mood catches him right, he'll grab your leg, and just go to town. You don't want him around if you're wearing short pants if you know what I mean. A word of warning though: If he does lay into you, it's best to just let him finish."

-- National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Snappy. (your right-wing leg's jes' fine, duuude Is it true y'all bombed them Germans at Pearl Harbour?)

some people got their bottoms reddened.

There's a fairly detailed account of the genesis of this song in a biography of Dylan by Howard Sounes (p 203):

"Bob never talked much to the musicians, but late one evening he asked them: 'What do you guys do here?' Moss and the others muttered something about playing golf. 'That's not what I mean. What do (italics in original) you do here?' They realized he was asking what they did to get high. They said they occasionally had a beer. Bob said he had a new song, the lyric of which included the refrain 'everybody must get stoned.' He said, 'I'm not going to do this with a bunch of straight people. We'll send out for something.'"

After they recorded it through once (p 204):

"They were slapping one another on the back and saying what a great song this was going to turn out to be when it was finished. Buttrey put his arm around Bob. 'Hey, Bob, what's the name of this song we're working on?' he asked, facetiously. They had heard 'everybody must get stoned' so many times it seemed obvious this would be the title.
'Rainy Day Women #12 & 35' replied Bob, without a flicker of smile. Furthermore, it had not been a rehearsal. The song was finished. It was released as a single one month later and rose to number two in the charts."

I remember I couldn't believe my ears when I first heard this being played on the radio. It was banned on a lot of stations, but like it or not, it's one of Bob's signature songs.


[/i]

I deffinatly think it means some1 throwing rocks at people. The voices in the backround sugest that.

Does any1 know who the voices in the backround are? Are they just Bob or some1 else?

The voices in the background were studio session men, for the most part. Some were drunk (on Leprechaun cocktails), some were high on pot and some played it straight.

(p 203) "Bob said he wanted a sound like a marching band, but not too slick.... The other musicians decided to swap instruments to give the track the raggedy-march feel Bob was looking for....
"Although he was on the floor, Strzelecki had his head up by a microphone and was braying with laughter. 'I was so stoned, I was laughing through the whole track, man.'"

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 is a song I can rarely tolerate. Typically the hype or expectations are overblown and the song simply deflates into a lifeless, empty mass... like a punctured balloon.

However, there is one performance, easily the best performance, no holds barred, from the Hammerstein Ballroom - August 20, 2003 when Freddy Koella and Larry Campbell were joined by Andy York (John Mellencamp's guitarist). It rips the roof off the auditorium. This sole performance is an indication of what could have (should have) been all along.

Oh yes... I nearly forgot. The for nearly five years the circulating recordings had some crowd noise and the levels were skewed. A cleaned up, dynamite version is now available and this is one of the incredible gems of 2003. Andy York played on Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues also. Jazz sensation, Chuck Loeb joined Bob and His Band for Watching the River Flow, Things Have Changed, This Wheel's On Fire, Mr. Tambourine Man, and All Along the Watchtower. Tommy "Mad Dog" Morrongiello, Bob's guitar tech, played most of the show, albeit in the background. Unbelievable performance from start to finish!!! An absolutely, positively, Must Have performance.

No person on the planet, nay, in this solar system, should have to live their life without having this show for their daily listening pleasure! It's that good.

^
I always skip it on the boots. Seems to gain some life live when he's joined by guests, like in the one you mention. Or in 1999, when Brian Setzer joined in (with all the horns). Or my favorite-- Konstanz, July 3 1996. The Dave Matthews band came on stage--there's violin and tons of saxophone.

The Honky Tonk Blues boot with the Brian Setzer Orchestra is the other one that I like. Admittedly, I haven't listen to the Konstanz, July 3 1996 show in a month of Sundays... it will be played today. Thanks for the reminder, Mr. Stetson. As always, you can be counted on for wisdom, direction, and insight.

sheer, calculated silliness

Finally an arrangement that is half-way decent!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTl4X3R1 ... ure=relmfu

And Bob's guitar work is supreme. He comes to the fore with his palying and singing taking a ho-hum forgetable song and making it a must experience NET hit!

Coupled with the new arrangement of Cry A While, this may be the best NET tour since Spring of 2004. Bob and Charlie seem to be having a tremendous amount of fun playing together and the results are certainly there.

^ Predictably dreadful. As a matter of interest, how many hours of this crap are you capable of listening to every day?

The original album version is a wonderful one-off. Wouldn't mind betting it part-influenced/ inspired (even if only subconsciously) the Sgt Pepper eponymous opener, one year later. Mind you, the whole album probably influenced/ inspired Pepper into attempting to be a cohesive entity, and helped usher in the slew of inferior concept albums that would follow. BoB is an entity, a late night party that kicks off with Rainy Day Women, and only reaches its empty glasses, full ashtrays end as the rest of the world is waking up.

Oh dear God, the humanity...

I haven't heard any crap on this tour... actually haven't heard any crap from a tour since the Never Ending Tour began... In fact, from Before the Flood to the present, haven't heard anything I'd consider crap.

Rainy Day Women is generally a "skip" song though. I can't say I ever remember saying I'd like to hear Rainy Day Women tonight and fortunately, have only had to suffer through it once when I've seen Bob. But I wouldn't mind hearing this arrangement. Aside from a few times when he's joined on stage with other musicians, this appears to be the best arrangement he's ever played.

I really dig the Before the Flood version. That one is so good.

In the many times I've experienced it, I must admit, I'm "oh shitting" with a smile. It's tolerable and he's playing it so I try to concentrate on the band, which is usually very good. I'd rather he shelf this one (right next to Leopard). I'm pretty sure that I'm good with never seeing those live again.

Sorry. Didn't realise you were deaf.