In 1966 Bob Dylan recorded the song Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 for his Blonde on Blonde album. Its chorus includes the line “everybody must get stoned”. 1966 was not 1967 when using the word “high” in a song got that song banned from the radio but the banning of tunes because of drug references had already begun and Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 did indeed get banned.
Dylan, being Dylan, probably recorded that tune specifically to make a point about censorship. He knew his fans were loyal enough to seek out his new single wherever it was getting played on the radio which means they would be tuning away from whichever stations refused to play it. It’s a deliberate attempt to “censor” the radio stations involved in censorship.
Although the word “stoned” predominately featured in each chorus and almost every line in the verses begins with “They stone ya when...” he didn’t use the term as part of the title. I don’t know exactly what the “#12 & 35 means but Rainy Day Women is probably a variation on the term “fair weather friends” which refers to people who show support only when it benefits them. That’s an apt description of the radio stations that touted Dylan as the new Messiah, only if he said what they liked. That wouldn’t sit well with a guy like Bob Dylan. After all, he did name his album after a lesbian sex act.
Of course he also could simply have been referring to being “stoned” in the biblical sense as in being persecuted by having rocks thrown at your head and getting your song banned because its lyrics are misconstrued is a good example of that persecution. But since people present at the recording studio during the recording of Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 claim Dylan passed around joints and was himself, stoned, so it probably is a drug reference after all.
Dylan, being Dylan, probably recorded that tune specifically to make a point about censorship. He knew his fans were loyal enough to seek out his new single wherever it was getting played on the radio which means they would be tuning away from whichever stations refused to play it. It’s a deliberate attempt to “censor” the radio stations involved in censorship.
Although the word “stoned” predominately featured in each chorus and almost every line in the verses begins with “They stone ya when...” he didn’t use the term as part of the title. I don’t know exactly what the “#12 & 35 means but Rainy Day Women is probably a variation on the term “fair weather friends” which refers to people who show support only when it benefits them. That’s an apt description of the radio stations that touted Dylan as the new Messiah, only if he said what they liked. That wouldn’t sit well with a guy like Bob Dylan. After all, he did name his album after a lesbian sex act.
Of course he also could simply have been referring to being “stoned” in the biblical sense as in being persecuted by having rocks thrown at your head and getting your song banned because its lyrics are misconstrued is a good example of that persecution. But since people present at the recording studio during the recording of Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 claim Dylan passed around joints and was himself, stoned, so it probably is a drug reference after all.
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