On This Day in 1965, Bob Dylan Scored His First Hit With a Song That Stunned John Lennon and Inspired a Radical Militant Group

On this day (May 15) in 1965, Bob Dylan’s “Subterranean Homesick Blues” peaked at No. 39 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was the now-legendary singer/songwriter’s first single to break the top 40 in the United States. Moreover, it was his first single to reach the Hot 100, despite releasing two previous songs that would become cultural touchstones in the years to come.

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Dylan is one of those artists who prove that chart success and quality aren’t always the same thing. His first three singles failed to chart. Decades later, they’re hailed as classics. First, he released “Mixed-Up Confusion” backed with an early cut of “Corina Corina.” He followed that with “Blowin’ in the Wind” backed with “Don’t Think Twice It’s All Right.” His third single was “The Times They Are a-Changin’” with “Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance” on the B-Side.

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” didn’t kick off a line of major hits for Dylan. It did, however, mark the beginning of a period of moderate chart success.

[RELATED: Paul McCartney Left Confused After Watching Bob Dylan Perform: “I Would Like To Hear It. And I Paid”]

Bob Dylan Made Waves with “Subterranean Homesick Blues”

While “Subterranean Homesick Blues” was barely a top 40 hit for Bob Dylan, it made waves in American culture and beyond. For instance, it shook John Lennon to his core. According to Songfacts, he was so stunned by the song that he worried he’d never be able to write anything that would compete with it.

The song stuck with the former Beatle. He quoted it during a 1980 interview. “Listen, there’s nothing wrong with following examples. We can have figureheads and people we admire, but we don’t need leaders,” he said. “Don’t follow leaders, watch the parking meters,” he added, quoting a line from the track.

Another line struck a handful of people a few years later. The line “You don’t need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows” impacted Bill Ayers and Bernardine Dohrn, who were the leaders of the Weather Underground Organization. They were also known as the Weathermen. The lyric was also the title of their manifesto. The militant group was connected to a series of bombings in the late 1960s and early ’70s.

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