z+A+Hard+Rain's+a+Gonna'+Fall

Emma Peterson

"A Hard Rain's A Gonna' Fall" by Bob Dylan

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son? And 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, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son? And 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, it's a hard, it's a hard, and it's a hard, It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

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

And what'll you do now, my blue-eyed son? And 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 dark 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, And the executioner's face is always well hidden, Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten, Where black is the color, where none is the number, And I'll tell it and speak itand think it and breathe it, And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it, And 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, and it's a hard, It's a hard rain's a-gonna fall.

I chose this song because I thought that Bob Dylan sang about the war very cleverly. He disguised what he meant to say by saying it in another way. One example of this is when he says, "Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters," but what he's talking about is how American citizens are getting lied to by the newspapers and radios. The pellets of poison would be the lies, and the waters would be the people. The song's message is that the war is going to keep going, like a "hard rain." But, like every hard rain, it's got to end sometime. I think that this song states Dylan's opinion, but it could also make people want to take action. This is because he is telling the truth, which isn't very pleasant. One line that shows this is, "Heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world," which means that a nuclear bomb, the wave, could destroy the world. This truth would make many people want to pull out of the war. That line shows the danger of nuclear bombs, and war. I think that many different type of people would be able to relate to this song because Dylan tries to touch on many bad aspects of the war. Some of the people who would be able to relate with this song are soldiers who were separated from their families, young soldiers who were drafted, and parents of children who might be drafted into the war in the future. I think the reactions of the parents would be that they would be horrified and very scared for their child. This song exposed several of the horrors of war.

back to "Songs of the Vietnam Era"