It's a Hard Rain's a Gonna Fall ((Dylan lyrics)

[ishmael]

I'll tell ya, this Jew-boy from Duluth was on to sumpthin'. Just heard this on the radio.



First Release

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

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.

[Dutch Rub]

How many times will the cannon balls fly...before theyre forever banned?

Blowin in the wind- my personal Dylan favorite.

[Chris Coose]

Besides a couple of Dixie Chicks CD purchases, I have upgraded a bunch of my old Dylan vinyl.

A little polish and it sounds better than the old days.

[Paul Denison]

Speaking of vinyl, I need to get a new stylus for my Yamaha turntable. The guys at Best Buy looked at me like I had two heads. Who knows where can I get one?

[Meerkat]

Originally posted by Paul Denison:
Speaking of vinyl, I need to get a new stylus for my Yamaha turntable. The guys at Best Buy looked at me like I had two heads. Who knows where can I get one?By typing in "phonograph needle" (with quotes!) I got this out of yahoo:
http://search.yahoo.com/bin/search?p=%22phonograph+needle%22&ei=UTF-8

The first site in the list is http://www.needledepot.com and clicking on Yamaha in their catalog brought up 3 web pages with pics, part numbers and prices. I looked at a couple of other links, but this one seemed by far the best. YMMV - I don't know anything about the company.

[ 04-14-2003, 01:44 AM: Message edited by: Meerkat ]

[huisjen]

How about something surreal, and maybe occasionally reminicent of the bilge:

On the Road Again
by Bob Dylan

Well, I woke up in the morning
There's frogs inside my socks
Your mama, she's a-hidin'
Inside the icebox
Your daddy walks in wearin'
A Napoleon Bonaparte mask
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, do you have to ask?

Well, I go to pet your monkey
I get a face full of claws
I ask who's in the fireplace
And you tell me Santa Claus
The milkman comes in
He's wearing a derby hat
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, how come you have to ask me that?

Well, I asked for something to eat
I'm hungry as a hog
So I get brown rice, seaweed
And a dirty hot dog
I've got a hole
Where my stomach disappeared
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, I gotta think you're really weird.

Your grandpa's cane
It turns into a sword
Your grandma prays to pictures
That are pasted on a board
Everything inside my pockets
Your uncle steals
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, I can't believe that you're for real.

Well, there's fist fights in the kitchen
They're enough to make me cry
The mailman comes in
Even he's gotta take a side
Even the butler
He's got something to prove
Then you ask why I don't live here
Honey, how come you don't move?

[ 04-14-2003, 07:36 AM: Message edited by: huisjen ]

[R.I.Singer30]

For stylus's you probably have to go to a music store because nowadays anyone who can stop a record and make it move back and forth, you know the ,vrrt vrrt,vrrt sound ,are considered musicians in the (c)rap world. Dylan was the first music book I bought back in 1978,it's all in pieces now but that's how you know a books been used.Sort of like my bike/car repair books.

I think it's " an acid rain's a gonna fa a all"

Isis is the one I used to like the most, The way Dylan can just ramble on for twenty+ verses reminds me of some of the forumites write.

[ 04-14-2003, 10:54 AM: Message edited by: R.I.Singer30 ]

[Wild Dingo]

Originally posted by R.I.Singer30:
The way Dylan can just ramble on for twenty+ verses reminds me of some of the forumites write.Ouch!! :eek: I resemble that remark! :D

lay lady lay... I sang to possumpoop on our first heavy date which led to the wedded lifelong bliss ;)

[ishmael]

It's a hard RAAAIIIN'S, a gonna fall.

[John Gearing]

I read somewhere that when Dylan wrote "hard rain" he was very worried about nuclear war, that it might be imminent, so he took some of his stockpiles of "good lines" and wove them together with others to make this song. Supposedly the term "hard rain" refers to the rain of nukes that would happen if The Big One took place.

[Wayne Jeffers]

John,

I believe the song was written against the backdrop of the Cuban Missile Crisis and the US/USSR nuclear arms race (missile gap, throw-weight, 100-megaton bomb, atmospheric nuclear tests, etc.)

Jack,

I find it curious that one so enthusiastic for the new American imperialism should post the lyrics of an anti-war anthem from 40 years ago.

BTW, Dylan is from Hibbing, MN, not Duluth.

From the same album, Masters of War, also written by Bob Dylan

Come you masters of war
You that build all the guns
You that build the death planes
You that build the big bombs
You that hide behind walls
You that hide behind desks
I just want you to know
I can see through your masks

You that never done nothin'
But build to destroy
You play with my world
Like it's your little toy
You put a gun in my hand
And you hide from my eyes
And you turn and run farther
When the fast bullets fly

Like Judas of old
You lie and deceive
A world war can be won
You want me to believe
But I see through your eyes
And I see through your brain
Like I see through the water
That runs down my drain

You fasten the triggers
For the others to fire
Then you set back and watch
When the death count gets higher
You hide in your mansion
As young people's blood
Flows out of their bodies
And is buried in the mud

You've thrown the worst fear
That can ever be hurled
Fear to bring children
Into the world
For threatening my baby
Unborn and unnamed
You ain't worth the blood
That runs in your veins

How much do I know
To talk out of turn
You might say that I'm young
You might say I'm unlearned
But there's one thing I know
Though I'm younger than you
Even Jesus would never
Forgive what you do

Let me ask you one question
Is your money that good
Will it buy you forgiveness
Do you think that it could
I think you will find
When your death takes its toll
All the money you made
Will never buy back your soul

And I hope that you die
And your death'll come soon
I will follow your casket
In the pale afternoon
And I'll watch while you're lowered
Down to your deathbed
And I'll stand o'er your grave
'Til I'm sure that you're dead

Wayne

[ishmael]

Maybe so John. I've heard similar, apocryphal, stories, that the song is about the biggest mother of all mother's battle. It's also incredibly poignant.

"I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it."

[ 04-14-2003, 02:43 PM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[ishmael]

Wayne,

"I contradict myself? Very well, I contradict myself. I contain multitudes."

I don't like the current political world. If I were in charge it would be very different But...I'm not. No one is. The US merely has a certain measure of power.

My beliefs are aimed at avoiding some ultimate catastrophe that many, including Dylan, have presaged.

As I've always admitted, I could be wrong. My complaint with you is that you never look at the other side. You pick a way and that's it. Period!

YOU, and your ilk, are the fosters of the current world. You are fundamentalists, and you will be the ruin of a beautiful experiment unless you wake.

[ 04-14-2003, 03:00 PM: Message edited by: ishmael ]

[km gresham]

Dylan could write, but listening to him was like listening to fingernails on a chalk board :eek:

Shane, I can never hear lay lady lay without laughing, cause Charles likes to mutilate lyrics and it was "lay,lady, lay. lay across my big ass bed."

:D

[Wayne Jeffers]

Jack,

Well, I guess I'm pretty much a fundamentalist with respect to opposition to imperialism, however finely disguised.

I should like to be proven wrong. I wish to discover that my country is not conquering another country mainly to plunder its resources. But I don't expect it. Only time will tell.

American imperialism has always been justified behind a veneer of lofty principles. The southern slaveholders, with apparent sincerity, even justified black slavery on the basis that such slavery was much to the benefit of the slave. Like slavery, I believe imperialism is wrong in all its forms.

Do you suppose Dylan supports this war?

Wayne

[R.I.Singer30]

He sure has had his better days tonally. I've seen him a few times and thought the show was great . He had G.E. Smith from SNL with him then.The next time it wasn't quite as good.The band he had with him didn't seem to click, but if he performed solo the emotions were there.I think that was his strength.I'd heard Eric Clapton say it was a challenge to play with him because he would change chord progressions without any one else knowing. He said it kept him on his toes.
Pearl jam did a great cover of"Masters of War". My other personal favorites would be "Thom Thumb Blues" ".... they got alot of pretty woman there and they'll really make a mess out of youuu...."
I didn't say I didn't like the rambling verses .I enjoy them , I'm rather amazed that some people have such a depth and can spill their guts so easily and openly.

Something like past lives.Tom Petty said he doesn't write songs he hears them in the air. smile.gif

[ 04-15-2003, 01:59 AM: Message edited by: R.I.Singer30 ]

[Wild Dingo]

Thats what I meant EXACATAKALLY Karen ;) ... one changes the words for the environment and moooood of the time... soooo seductive that song can be!!! :cool:

But then Bobs voice is sweet honey compared to mine :rolleyes: ...not a wonder halfway through the first changed stansa she threw a pillow over me noggin and clambered on top and said "YES!!! Yer damned drongo!! Just shut the flamin singing up!!" :D