Later in his life, Bob was crushed because he and his wife divorced. During that period Bob wanted to do something different so he arranged to visit Johnny Cash the older and very established country singer who lived in Tennessee. During that visit Bob and Johnny recorded one of Bob's songs that they sang in duet called The Girl from the North Country. It is a beautiful song, as so many of Bob's were. It is on his album Nashville Skyline and is a lovely duet from two famous singers who were from two different types of music. It helped Bob get through a difficult period of his life, his divorce, and he and Johnny become lifelong friends. You should listen to that duet, it is very beautiful.
You just heard one of the greatest Bob Dylan songs from only his 2nd album...when he was a very young man...aside from this great song, the album (Freewheelin Bob Dylan) is a masterpiece.
What makes that album stand up so well is that it's a great mix of serious topical songs relevant to the times with ones that are humorous. "Talkin' WWIII Blues" is both humorous with serious intent. It showed his versatility. He could be deeply insightful with mind bombs or could be off-the-cuff funny, both in subject matter & delivery. And dig that intro on guitar. People who claim Dylan plays rudimentary guitar aren't really listening: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-TYtVc56o9oo.html
Dylan wrote this song around the time of the Cuban Missile Crisis. I believe he said he didn't think he had time to write all the songs he wanted to write before the "hard rain" ravaged half the world, so he tried to write each line that could be a song in itself. He structured the song according to the old English Ballad, Lord Randall. "Oh where ha'e ye been, Lord Randall my son? O where ha'e ye been, my handsome young man?"
The 'hard rain' metaphor has been likened to nuclear fallout after a nuclear war. It could also mean the nuclear bombs themselves raining down. While those are both legitimate as symbolism, I prefer the 'hard rain' of Biblical implications: The Great Flood that washed the old world away, to be renewed. Throughout Dylan's career, his references to the Bible & its passages & its personae, is a constant thread centered on the idea of redemption & the freedom after salvation. Scholars have written about this. And we shouldn't forget his Christian conversion in the late 1970s. In fact, Dylan uses different sorts of 'languages' in nearly every song. That's why they work so well. He could have a line that is in use in the common vernacular, or common man on the street slang terms, or 'hillbilly' utterances followed by a line that has the grandiosity & sweep of Bible verses or Classic Literature. One can almost think of it as a combination or contrast between the Sacred & the Profane, as if one is a relatively short step from the other: Reality versus the Utopian vision. He uses it to great effect. Not many are capable of that.
@@tonysienzant6717 When Studs Terkel interviewed him, he assumed that the hard rain was nuclear fallout, but Bob responded very vigorously by saying, no! Not fallout, just a hard rain.
Pure genius. Another mind blowing song he wrote is "With God on Our Side." Try to listen to the studio version, he tends to leave verses out in all the live preformances. I really enjoy your insightful reviews. ❤
This is one example of why Dylan was presented the Nobel award for literature. He was a genius when it came to capturing and expressing the pulse of his generation.
A great Dylan song. For people like me who grew up in the 1960s with parents who sang folk songs around the campfire (and I mean that literally), this is only one of many songs we sung. (And yes, we also sung "Kumbaya" and "Guantanamera" absolutely unashamedly.) Pete Seeger's versions were how our parents (and consequently us kids) were introduced to this music: "A Hard Rains Gonna Fall" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-CAIQ8unomcw.htmlsi=54GQERYLh47x5Kmc "Guantanamera" (Jose Marti) ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-G1az3ik6wSE.htmlsi=h3ddUAen5QnZAFoF
Great commentary on this Dylan masterpiece, Biz. Listen to Romance in Durango...or...Lay Lady Lay...for his romantic side. Or Girl From the North Country.
Great song Biz from a great album. His second Lp released in 1963 and he was only 22 yrs of age when he wrote this stuff, genius on every level. Here's a nugget for you. This Lp originally had four alternate tracks on it and for reasons still not clear to this day, they were removed and replaced with four new tracks is what we all hear. A handful of the original tracks got out to the public and are highly sought after. A Stereo copy turned up a few years ago and brought $35,000. Mono copies bring over $15,000 and a Stereo radio DJ copy came to market a couple of years ago and brought well north of $100,000. These alternate track copies are some of the rarest records on the planet. Much scarcer than even The Beatles Butcher covers which are a tough find but they do pop up. I have a Stereo 1st state Butcher in perfect condition in its original plastic bag cover with a Sears price sticker which makes even more special because Sears pulled these after only one day on their shelves. Mine would bring around $20,000. I keep mine in a safety deposit box. Also have a first state Mono copy in NM condition which are very valuable but not as much as the Stereo copies. Also have 2nd state Stereo and Mono with the trunk Lp covers. When Capitol recalled the Butchers for some reason at one of their plants they weren't all destroyed but instead some of them they just pasted the new Trunk covers over the Butcher covers. They're out there but not easy to find at all and are worth a pretty penny. This one by Dylan though is like trying to find hens teeth, they're just not out there. Trust me, I've been hoping to find one for over four decades now with no luck. At least with the Butcher's since 1972 I've been able to find a total of seven. Look up this Dylan and The Beatles Butcher covers Biz. There histories are pretty fascinating. I think you would enjoy learning the histories of these rarities. Only take you a few minutes to Google them. Peace ❤
This shows me that times are the same through the decades. It's literally a poetic way of what was going on then and much can be said the same today in these trying times ... Timeless
Dylan was 22 when he wrote this song. I’ve been listening to him since I was 17 I’m 72 now. He changes always over the course of nearly 40 albums. Man has a lot to say. We need to listen.
So much imagery just pours out of this song. Dark and apocalyptic. It's a masterpiece. I love the couple of lines that I presume are about him and Suzie (The woman with him on the cover). Her giving him the rainbow and Bob being wounded in love. It's about 30 years or so since I first heard this song and I've never grown tired of it.
Great reaction to a Bob Dylan classic. Some other Dylan songs you may want to check out are With God On Our Side; Only A Pawn In Their Game; Dignity; Clean Cut Kid; It's All Good; I Feel A Change Coming On; George Jackson; Goodbye Jimmy Read; Beyond Here Lies Nothing,: Mississippi; Where Are You Tonight (Journey Through Dark Heat); among many others. Take care. ☮
DID YOU CATCH THAT ( NO HARMONICA ) AT ALLLLL!!! DARK SONG WAS A GOOD WAY TO PUT THAT BIZ! :) DID YOU DO ( JOAN BAEZ ) DIAMONDS AND RUST :) THAT'S HER ON THE FREEWHEELIN ALBUM, THEY WERE TOGETHER FOR AWHILE BIZ, DIAMONDS AND RUST THE VIDEO CLIP IS FYYYYRRR MY FRIEND! :) IT'S JOAN'S EPIC SONG FOR SURE
Great reaction, thanks! Would appreciate a reaction to workingman’s blues #2 by Bob Dylan. Is a from 2006, he has released some great songs and albums in later years. This song is from modern times.
The Jews of old, published a book, with many prophets and predictions. Prophets are still around, Bob Dylan is one, George Carlin is another, I've been collecting Dylan's Psalms and songs for the past 60 years. I am so glad to see the youth and followers of other styles of music, hearing his messages and abstractions.
Love your reaction! I listened to this as a very young child….shaped my heart and soul. He is a poet and poetry reflects tragedy and beauty. So heartening to see his words transcending time 💕Bless you son! 😽🎶
For me Dylan wrote this as a comment about the sheltered or willfully ignorant lives most Americans lived in the 50’s and early 60’s and even, to some extent, live today. He contrasts the ‘pleasant’ lives they live with the horrors that can happen in the world. They get up, go to work, come home for dinner, talk about the weather and so on. All the while these horrible things are going on around the world that they don’t want to hear about. But he has broken with them, he can't live with blinders on and has gone to face the world.
SO IT LOOKS LIKE YOU NEED TO GO BACKKKK TO THE BEGINNINGS OF DYLAN BIZ 😮AND HERE'S SOME EARLY 1'S : BLOWIN IN THE WIND, DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALL RIGHT, LIKE A ROLLING STONE, RAINY DAY WOMEN #12 & 35 👍SO THERE'S SOME GR8'S AT LEAST BIZ💯, HOPE YOU GET TO TAKE THEM IN FOR SURE!😊BLESSINGS MY FRIEND!
Great song, and I think you understand it well. My favorite Dylan is early electric Dylan, but I like his early folk music too, so rather than repeat my recommendations from your "Maggie's Farm" video, I'll add some acoustic ones. Since you liked the darkness and complexity of the lyrics here, my top acoustic recommendation is "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)". Also great, but rather different lyrically, are "Don't Think Twice, It's Alright" and "My Back Pages".
A Hard Rain can sometimes be referred to fallout from a Nuclear Bomb. In any case Dylan was preaching about apocalypses if we didn't get things right. On another issue that Dylan tackles, If you want to be stung with grim reality of what poverty can do to a family then you must listen to Dylan's The Ballad of Hollis Brown.
One of my favorite songs off of that album is a little nondescript thing called "Bob Dylan's Dream." Unlike many of his 'topical' songs about social injustice, it's a personal reflection of friends he had left behind when he trekked to NYC. "The old wooden stove where our hats were hung..." I also love what he does during the harmonica break, one of his better improvisations on it that fit the song perfectly. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-WAgWklREPWI.html
Three you have yet to do from Dylan that I'd highly recommend are , "Lily, Rosemary & the Jack of Hearts" with its superb storytelling of a bank heist in the Wild West, "Boots of Spanish Leather" - about two lovers a world apart and their realization that it is over and "Desolation Row" - with its fantastical, surreal lyrics. Forget trying to figure out what its about and just enjoy the mental images it conjures up.
The 'hard rain' metaphor has been likened to nuclear fallout after a nuclear war. It could also mean the nuclear bombs themselves raining down. While those are both legitimate as symbolism, I prefer the 'hard rain' of Biblical implications: The Great Flood that washes the old world away, to be renewed. Throughout Dylan's career, his references to the Bible & its passages & its personae, is a constant thread centered on the idea of redemption & the freedom after salvation. Scholars have written about this. And we shouldn't forget his Christian conversion in the late 1970s. In fact, Dylan uses different sorts of 'languages' in nearly every song. That's why they work so well. He could have a line that is in use in the common vernacular, or common man on the street slang terms, or 'hillbilly' utterances followed by a line that has the grandiosity & sweep of Bible verses or Classic Literature. One can almost think of it as a combination or contrast between the Sacred & the Profane, as if one is a relatively short step from the other: Reality versus the Utopian vision. He uses it to great effect. Not many are capable of that.
WoW well 1st of all i **Luv** **Bob Dylan** my genius hero & nemesis heh but man i was going to tell ya the story about **Mavis Staples** back when this 1st came out she said she was like (paraphrasing) i could NOT believe a lil white boy had these words coming out of him something like that i saw it in a documentary & i was trying to look up the exact quote but could not find it BUT ha Whoa WoW i DID find something else that i had no clue about until right now (& i mean i have seen & read & listened to like EVERYthing i possibly could on Dylan) but yet i somehow missed this ha smh so yea just found out from an article i found instead of the original quote i was looking for & in it she says he asked her to marry him several times! anyway just wanted to put that out there & also **The Staples Singers** covered this song & "Masters Of War" & wow if ya are interested in learning more bout her & her life besides with Dylan tho apparently that was a interesting part of her & his lives the article i was reading is on here & seems really awesome so far its from the new yorker title is "Profiles: The Gospel According To Mavis Staples" june 27th 2022 wow just wild sorry for such a long comment was just going to do the quote & tell ya they covered his songs anyway **LUV** your reaction i could see in your face how the words were hitting ya yea man **Dylan** is something else...once again **Otherworldly** **LightningStruck** **PixieHugz&LuvzALL**
It's a cliche to talk about song lyrics as poetry, but this... is. Powerful, powerful lyrics. There was nothing like it then and there's been damn-all like it since. I always smile at the bit where he gets the timing slightly wrong and stifles a laugh. It based on the structure of an old English folk song. "Visions of Johanna" next? Or maybe "Love Minus Zero/No Limit"?
My friend, Bob Dylan was there at Dr. Martin Luther King's march on Washington in August 1963, singing "Only a Pawn in Their Game.” His set also included “When the Ship Comes In,” “Blowin' in the Wind,” and “Keep Your Eyes on the Prize.”
You don't get it do you? Not many people do. A blue eyed son is the saying for someone who is gullible, who believes everything that is written or told. What he is saying is don't believe all the bullshit that people and the media broadcast. The hard rain is the negative comeback for all the bullshit that has been spread. Brian Ferrys version has the accompanying singers laughing after each verse
Bob Dylan was a great songwriter Jerry Reed was a great performer please check out dont think twice its alright please check out the album version it is one of my all time favorites its a masterpiece then watch billy string cover same song Dylan🥳🥳🥳🤯🤯🤯 legendary
"I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children." It is chilling that this still applies. Patti Smith sang this beautifully at the Nobel Prize ceremony.
Please listen to Desolation Row. It's a little long, but it is a prime example of his straem of consciousness writing. Vivid images one after the other.
Hootenanny is like a gathering of folk singers and was a popular way for folks to get together at that time. There was even a TV show called Hootenanny that featured various folk singers.
