A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall

Bob Dylan was not only a very inspirational topical musician, but he was also, and maybe more-so a poet. His lyrics were very appropriate for what was going on in this country during the 60's. Although he was very reluctnant to discuss the meaning behind his writing, I think when given the chance to really sit down and read the lyrics without the music, you begin to see a deeper, more sensitive side of him and his writing. To think that he was only in his early 20's when a good majority of his most prolific songs were written is beyond my comprehension. I was no where nearly as in touch with the world at that age.

Something I find very interesting that you never read about in your history books, is the fact that Bob Dylan performed at the March in Washington when Martin Luther King gave his "I have a dream" speech. He was 21 years old when he was there supporting that cause.

I've always loved his music, but until reading it as poetry, I never really thought about what he meant. Especially during the times that he was writing these lyrics. That was a hard time in this country. They had "bomb drills" in classrooms like we had tornado drills as children. Can you imagine growing up like that? What if we get to that point again? I don't want the children that are raised by our generation to have to endure those things. Sometimes, I feel like this world is really scary, and we have yet to see the worst of it. I feel like a hard rain's gonna fall on us too sometimes. Something big. Something bad.

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall


Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains,
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways,
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests,
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans,
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
Oh, what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it,
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it,
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin',
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin',
I saw a white ladder all covered with water,
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken,
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder, it roared out a warnin',
Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world,
Heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin',
Heard ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin',
Heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin',
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter,
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley,
And it's a hard, and it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard,
And it's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony,
I met a white man who walked a black dog,
I met a young woman whose body was burning,
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow,
I met one man who was wounded in love,
I met another man who was wounded with hatred,
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?
Oh, what'll you do now, my darling young one?
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin',
I'll walk to the depths of the deepest black forest,
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty,
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters,
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison,
Where the executioner's face is always well hidden,
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten,
Where black is the color, where none is the number,
And I'll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it,
And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it,
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin',
But I'll know my song well before I start singin',
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.