A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

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"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"
Image:Freewheelinbobdylan.jpg
Song by Bob Dylan
Album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Released May 27, 1963
Recorded December 6, 1962
Genre Folk
Length 6:55
Label Columbia Records
Writer Bob Dylan
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan track listing
  1. "Blowin' in the Wind"
  2. "Girl from the North Country"
  3. "Masters of War"
  4. "Down the Highway"
  5. "Bob Dylan's Blues"
  6. "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall"
  7. "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right"
  8. "Bob Dylan's Dream"
  9. "Oxford Town"
  10. "Talkin' World War III Blues"
  11. "Corrina, Corrina"
  12. "Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance"
  13. "I Shall Be Free"
"A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" is a song written by Bob Dylan in 1962 in Chip Monck's apartment in the basement of the Village Gate (now The Village Theater) on the corner of Bleecker and Thompson Streets in Greenwich Village.

It was first recorded in Columbia Records' Studio A on 6 December 1962 for his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. The lyric structure is based on the traditional ballad "Lord Randall", Child Ballad No. 12.

Contents

[edit] Analysis

The surrealistic lyrics of this song are usually construed as referring to the aftermath of a nuclear war.

The song premiered shortly before the Cuban Missile Crisis, and drew many comparisons to it due to the bleakness of the lyrics that reflected the worried mood of the time. However, the meaning behind the words has stayed relevant throughout the years as they seem to have a broader sweep in their descriptions of injustice, suffering and warfare.

Some have suggested that the refrain of the song refers to nuclear fallout, however Dylan disputes that this was a specific reference: "It's not atomic rain, it's not fallout rain... I [just] mean some sort of end that's just got to happen."

[edit] Use in advertising

In 2006 a hard rock cover version of the song was featured in a television commercial advertising an SUV with the slogan "Get hard". Dylan drew criticism for allowing this.[citation needed]

[edit] Live performance

Although Dylan may have first played the song to friends, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" was formally premiered at Carnegie Hall on 22 September 1962 as part of a hootenanny organized by Pete Seeger. Although he was originally given a ten-minute set to do three songs, Dylan's set was extended to twenty minutes to make room for "Hard Rain's" six-and-a-half minutes of apocalyptic vision.

[edit] Cultural References

Tony Hoagland's poem "Hard Rain" uses this song as an example of commercialization of the revolutionary.

[edit] References

Clinton Heylin (2001). Bob Dylan Behind The Shades: The Biography - Take Two: pp.101-102, 735

[edit] Covers

[edit] External links

  • Lyricses:A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall

fi:A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

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