2 Leadership Lessons Everyone Can Learn From Bob Dylan’s Accidental Hit

The Story

In 1966, Bob Dylan was recording a new song to follow up on his iconic Like a Rolling Stone. According to legend, Dylan had a vision in his head for how the song should sound but just couldn’t get the musicians to perform it exactly right.

Frustrated, Dylan left the studio only to arrive a while later with an anecdote to their problems: alcohol. He encouraged the band members to get a little inebriated and switch instruments. He hoped this would loosen them up and allow them to have more fun.

So that’s what they did. While passing around some beers, the musicians traded instruments. The trumpeter played bass. The bassist played guitar. The keyboardist played the tambourine.

Then, they started recording again. Throughout the routine, the band laughed, yelled, and walked freely around the studio. They weren’t as worried about getting the song perfect. They assumed that this was just practice.

To their surprise, the drunken, sloppy version of the song made it into the album Blonde on Blonde a few months later. The song is titled Rainy Day Women #12 & 35, perhaps best known for its chorus: “Everybody must get stoned.”