I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’ I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest Hard Rain is full terrific images and phrases they tickle the ear. And there is Hard Rain sitting half way through the year. Dylan was only 21 when he wrote A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall, in which he warned of the impending apocalypse. Song Analysis of "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" When poetic and literary devices are used properly in works of literature, it is beneficial to the meaning of the novel, play or even song. It also influenced Dylan. This joke is funny because it takes the idiom raining cats and dogs and makes it precipitate harder by hailing taxis . Indeed Dylan did say every single line of Hard Rain is a different song. And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it. Where the people are many and their hands are all empty, Child considered that folk ballads came from a more democratic time in the past when society was not so rigidly segregated into classes, and the “true voice” of the people. Dylan was after something else. What makes it so infernally powerful and demanding is the fact that V – I (the last two chords in the repeated sequence in the middle of each verse) is a standard resolution of a song. We also have a discussion group “Untold Dylan” on Facebook. Water literally washes us. I was too young to go out and change the world (what with my mum telling me to be in by 9.30 and the homework to do each night, not to mention the piano practice and me teaching myself the guitar) but it was in my head that somehow I might one day be able to do something against all this grotesque injustice. “A highway of diamonds with nobody on it”…”ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard”…”ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken”… Tim Riley  1  calls it a “surrealistic downpour” and “expressively untamed writing”. Verse three (just to make sure we were not getting the hang of these changes) is the same again – 11 lines. Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son? It is certainly comprehensive with amazing new insights and things to think about. ´You better come on in my kitchen Professor Child and Frederick Furnivall then went on to found The Ballad Society, with a view to publishing other important early ballad collections. Never Ending Tour, 1996, part 4. We think it is done and he’s off again. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is based on an old folk ballad variously titled "Lord Randall" or "Lord Ronald," in which a mother repeatedly questions her son (beginning with "Where have you been? You are a talented writer in your own right. I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin’, But when I wrote it, I thought I wouldn’t have enough time alive to write all those songs so I put all I could into this one.”  It can’t be true, but its a good thing to say. I’ve no idea if Dylan knew of the history of the discovery of the song – but it would be nice to think so, because whatever else it is. A songwriter might start with an idea of what the song is about, or a single line (which leads to the idea of what the song is about), or a melody, or a chord sequence, or a guitar accompaniment or maybe even just a thought. It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall. Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’, This joke plays with the word hailing, meaning to call a taxi from the side of the street, or falling ice. It's a Hard Rain Gonna Fall Lyrics: Tell me where have you been, my blue eyed son? Of course everything then split into bits between those turning up at the freak show of the  Million Dollar Bash, and those who continued the struggle, and those who joined political groups, and those who read revolutionary poetry…. Yeats, Ezra Pound, T.S. Play every version of every song performed or written by Bob Dylan plus notable interpretations legally for free…. Misty, crooked, sad, dead in verse one alone. I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest, I saw a white ladder all covered with water, Your writing is very salient and quite frankly opened me up to points about Dylan’s music that I had not considered before. It is all there. Professor Child and Frederick Furnivall then went on to found. I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it, We are actively promoting a link to this interesting topic on The Bob Dylan Project at: If you are interested, we are a portal to all the great information related to this topic. There was no question of leaning on Lord Randal after Dylan had got the original concept. I can only second what Dearblha Egan has said! The version being sold comes from the … Hard Rain is a lost love song. During 1962 Dylan wrote at least 21 songs that are still remembered and played by fans today. And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall. There’s a lot of alliteration. This is an antiwar song. And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it, The song has has been associated with this historical episode, and in fact most people believe that the … It grasps the attention, much as you have described, with various devices, and yet, there seems to be some mystical spring of knowledge invoked, that defies explanation. In verse one we have a nine line verse (five in the middle, starting with the misty mountains). I do read them, but then write a regular highly critical blog pointing out the distortions in one specific realm the papers cover. I remember being confused and fascinated that night because, on one hand, the song itself excited me, and on the other, I was acutely aware that it represented the beginning of an artistic revolution. We know it was amended in those early days, but even so, the impetus seems to have been unstoppable once the notion of the original structure had been taken. It’s from a lecture given in 1979 though the song would have been remembered from th late 50s. Tim Riley 1 calls it a “surrealistic downpour” and “expressively untamed writing”. Of course he got there in the end, but this was the first brave, and as it turned out, tentative, step. Who did you meet, my darling young one? And if that were the complete list it would be a pretty big accomplishment, but that isn’t my point. A song about mankind in his evolution learning by choices governed by how others view them. / Where have you been, my darling young one? In the end my view was simple – if we could liberate the creativity within everyone we could take people out of their entrapment into a broader world. I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it I noted this fact in the text. It contains reviews of every Dylan composition that we can find a recording of – if you know of anything we have missed please do write in. Lays he had learned of long ago Think earthquakes and tsunamis wiping out every part of civilization, think dead oceans, dead forests, worldwide starvation, disease and horror. From the blues to love songs, from anti-racism to the extraordinary heartfelt song about a friend dying which started the year, from songs of leaving to protest against the way the rural poor have been treated. And as one returns to the song after all these years it is clear that Dylan had listened not just to one ancient border song but lots of them, and that he was taking the first tentative step out of folk music towards a musical equivalent of what Ginsburg and co were doing – the first step on the journey that eventually led from Blowing in the Wind to Johnny’s in the basement mixing up the medicine – the Subterranean Homesick Blues and the musical response to the beat poets. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall. Todd Harvey notes that the melody is unique to Dylan, unlike many early songs that were derived from traditional songs. And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it The first thing I thought of when he met a young girl whose body was burning was the unforgettable picture from the Vietnam war of the naked girl running down the road with bad napalm burns. This song was written in 1962 and the USA started backing South Vietnam in the conflict in November 1955. I met a young child beside a dead pony, So this is not to say that Dylan should have been developing Hard Rain (no one of course … (We also have reports that Bob was in the habit of knocking out a new song on the typewriter, fixing in some sort of melody and accompaniment and then rushing off to the Gaslight Club and playing it – just like that). There’s more repetition in the chorus: “it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, and it’s a hard”. Dylan raised his hand and asked what he should do since one of his songs was ten minutes long. Thank you for this review, it indicates demonstrably that the teacher can still learn. There are many fine versions of this immense song but what I think is a recent one is by Laura Marling and was used at the end of the recent BBC series “Peaky Blinders”. “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” In Keys to the Rain: The Definitive Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, Oliver Trager describes Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” as “”[a]s stark a piece of apocalyptic visionary prophesy as anything ever committed” to any media.It was unlike anything else Dylan had written up that time. It came out of nowhere, and for a while at least it led nowhere. Any alternate readings welcome …. Additionally of course it is the Song of Adjectives. etc. Some joker got lucky, stole her back again Dylan borrowed the question and response pattern from Child Ballad No. The singer is called ‘old Bruce’. Dylan starts the song off rather quietly and slowly builds it to a dramatic and powerful conclusion. Oh, what’ll you do now, my darling young one? I learned quite a bit. Is it? This is about all of the things that drove us to 1968; War, Politics, Economics, Segregation, Exploitation and Greed. At that point , one might say “just enjoy it.” But that’s not the point either. The students were absorbed by the lyrics but oh how I would have loved to have had this erudite review available then. I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard, Dylan starts the song off rather quietly and slowly builds it to a dramatic and powerful conclusion. ´You better come on in my kitchen Well, it’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoors Ah, the woman I love, took from my best friend Some joker got lucky, stole her back again Tony. They had too many performers, so Seeger announced that each performer would be limited to three songs with no performer playing more than ten minutes in total. Never has there been a greater contrast. I met a white man who walked a black dog, And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son? It was the sleeve notes on Freewheelin’ album that first reported the story that the Cuban Missile Crisis was the inspiration for the song – something later denied by Dylan, and seemingly impossible since the song was written before the crisis. The first performance of Oxford Town came just two months after the first performance of Hard Rain’s a Gonna Fall, and yet Oxford Town sounds as if Hard Rain hadn’t happened. And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it, I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’, There are more which have been left behind as notes, incomplete recordings and amendments of folk songs. Otherwise great website, great overview of the facts behind the songs. The it’s a ten line verse with six in the middle (“I met a young child beside a dead pony”), and we finish with the all encompassing 16 line verse (12 in the middle) “I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’”. Oxford Town: Dylan’s protest song, slightly detached, Bob Dylan’s Hard Rain’s a gonna fall. Hard Rain is gonna fall is inspired on ‘Come On In My Kitchen’ from Robert Johnson. Perhaps Tony Attwoods heroic quest can be affirmed & inspired by Gordon Lightfoots gentle yet powerful song Don Quixote & for all of us in touch with our Sacred Fire,that is not an impossible dream!Rod B. Rodney I dont think anyone has ever described something I have done as a heroic quest before. Think white hot volcanic ash, landing with the impact of machine-gun bullets, covering the earth. If nuclear missiles should ever fall from the sky, then indeed, “a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.” Yet, rain, and water generally, can also be seen as cleansing. And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall. 2016 Nobel Prize ceremony. In September 22, 1962, Dylan performed “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” for the first time. Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son? What is clear was that Dylan in writing this magnificent piece, didn’t know what to do with it, so he went back to what he knew. So what Dylan took was the device – just as Lord Randal either took or gave the device to  the English nursery rhyme Billy Boy with the question, “Where have you been all the day Billy Boy Billy Boy?” That was a song that lasted well into the 20th century – I can recall my mother singing it to me when I was a child. Thank you for your review, lots of new insight into this beautiful, powerful, timeless, song….it also speaks of tsunami’s, children with guns, poetry dying, famine, emotional trauma….and more…one of the most powerful songs in lyrics and chord progression ever written…. Musically the song is as powerful and innovative as it is lyrically. It’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoors’. In an interview Dylan pointed out that these songs are connected. Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word; Part VII: Now I understand, Beautiful obscurity: the cover versions of Watching the River Flow, Love is just a four letter word Part VI: You been double-dealing, All Directions: the build up to religion (but everyone is wearing a disguise). The song ends when he falls dead to the ground. Many observers have noted that the lyrics were influenced by the French Symbolists. The young Lord talks with his mother, and we discover he has been poisoned by his lover. Check out Bryan Ferry’s cover of it. The show would be the biggest of Dylan’s career. I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’, I feel mighty honoured! “A highway of diamonds with nobody on it”…”ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard”…”ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken”…. I would say 'hard rain' depicts napalm and that the song is about a father talking to his son about his experiences serving in the Vietnam War upon his return. After writing this epic the landscape quickly faded out of reach and he was back using the traditions of folk and blues, and not in any way matching up to the new world order of Ginsburg et al. The status quo is about to discover that it can’t stop the hard rain or protect its fragile sandcastles. Baez’s version,  featuring  her  dead-on Dylan impression. Dylan, who hadn’t performed in public for several years, reportedly wheeled in for the show on his bicycle. But this was nonetheless a momentary sighting of the land he seemed to want to reach. Thank you very much for this. It peaked at number 17 on the Billboard Hot 200 in the United States. Required fields are marked *, The meaning behind the music and words of Bob Dylan. The changes we can note are not particularly profound – rather the sort of changes that virtually all young poets would undertake when looking at one of their works. Required fields are marked *, Get every new post delivered to your Inbox. The use of ‘a' that you see is an old usage. In an interview Dylan pointed out that these songs are connected. It signifies an ending, not a mid-point. Maybe he was right after all, and I’m wrong to dismiss that. Oh, where have you been, my darling young one? Never Ending Tour 1996 part 3: Berlin and Beyond, Untold Dylan: “I’ll let you be in my dream if I can be in yours”. I received for Christmas a book entitled Bob Dylan 100 Songs and I am only now getting to make my way through it. the son answers – “been” is repeated twice, “saw” seven times, “heard” seven times, “met” six times, “where” six times. I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways, that the line was “aren’t flooding their waters”! It is a beautiful powerful song, eloquent and emotional, but quite a different sort of composition. Of course it didn’t – every creative act has some sort of context. Lea you are too, too kind. And here it started as a very unstructured poem, and then he put the melody and chords to the song, and there it was. "), leading him to reveal he has been poisoned. Dylan’s songs like Hard Rain are great, because the never seem to loose their relevance. “twelve misty mountains”… “seven sad forests”… “ten thousand talkers”… “guns and sharp swords”… “one hundred drummers”… “sound of a clown”… There’s a lot repetition: the mothers questions – where have you been/seen/heard/will do? Example: in a typical rendering from Beowulf It is in my opinion very good. Not just a year of incredible productivity but also a year in which the songs that we now particularly remember were so varied musically and lyrically. And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall. 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