WCSX Classic Cuts
Bob Dylan: “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35”
The Hook: A session trombonist was called into the session at four o’clock in the morning.
Album: Blonde on Blonde
Year: 1966
Writer: Bob Dylan
Stats: Peaked at number-two on the Billboard Hot 100.
Background: Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 and 35” — often known by the last line of its chorus, “Everybody must get stoned” — was recorded very late one night at Columbia Records’ Nashville studios. With Dylan looking for a good time-y, brass band feel on the song, keyboardist Al Kooper recalls making a suggestion.
Al Kooper on the trombone you hear on Bob Dylan’s “Rainy Day Women #12 & 35.” OC:…went home. :27
“I said to one of the guys on the session, I wish we had a trombone player. He said, ‘Well, we can get one.’ I said, ‘What, at four o’clock in the morning?’ He said, ‘Yeah.’ So they made a call and we waited about 25 minutes. This guy showed up at 4:30 in a suit with a shirt and tie on with after shave lotion on and sat down and played two takes of the song – he did not know who Bob Dylan was – and then went home.”
