You can search your whole life but you'll never figure out Bob Dylan. As soon as you think you have it, he's done a 180 and gone in a totally different direction.
Bob just keeps on coming, right in your face, swamping your mind with sharp edged images. He's puzzled now where it all came from, just as we were then.
Dylan said in a 60 Minutes interview that he doesn't understand how he wrote these songs. He quoted lines from "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), which you should react to. He is literally stunned at what he wrote in the early 60s. He challenges the interviewer - You sit down one day and try to write this. He was stunned by his own writing. In those years, The Beatles were writing "She loves you yeah, yeah yeah." Dylan was on a completely other level of vibration.
@@ramonarellano4988 Dylan likes to needle people, he often says tongue in cheek stuff, like when he said he was a song and dance man - Dylan can't dance !!!!! Lol. Love him for it too
@dyl-annfan6 , I remember an interview with Rolling Stone magazine where he implied to the journalist that he was death already, he even showed him the old newspaper article where it says that Robert Zimmerman died on a motorcycle accident in 1966, I was like "oh come on Bob" !!.
@@ramonarellano4988 Tongue in cheek stuff, he wasn't keen on the press asking silly questions etc. so he'd reply with silly answers. "Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press" famous lyric. He has said many ambiguous stuff, just to keep the "mystic" going, throw them off the scent, press fell for it.
When you get into Dylan you go deep you will end up insane, He's the greatest creator of songs ever. His phrasing and delivery and Imagery is like a film coming out of your speakers,
BLOWIN IN THE WIND, DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALRIGHT, I SHALL BE FREE 👍SO THERE'S A FEW GREATS FROM THIS ALBUM ( THE FREEWHEELIN BOB DYLAN ) SAEED 😊 CYA!
I am watching you from my bedroom in Bangkok, at almost 77 yrs old, been listening to Dylan since 1963 ALL THE TIME. and as a result owned 3 record stores so that I could feed my appetite for new music and make enough money to pay for my University fees.....and always, there was Dylan sending me his tunes......they were blowin in the wind.
I had always thought that Dylan was covering a traditional song with this, but he wrote it himself in 1962, when he was 21. It wasn't a classic then, but it is now.
This song comes from my favorite Bob Dylan album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It's his 2nd album released in 1963. (but the first with mostly Dylan penned songs) Freewheelin is loaded with classics including this song and Blowin in the Wind, Masters of War, and Don't Think Twice. Freewheelin announced to the world that a serious, exquisite songwriter had taken the stage.
Remember, many of these songs were written when he was 21 - 25 yrs. old. That's called raw talent. Baez does this song, and many others also, but Baez does it better than the "many others". RAW TALENT. It was a Gift he shared with us all; and we are better for it, and we thank him for it. (Try One Too Many Mornings or One More Night.) He wrote many topical songs, ballads, and some of the very best unrequited love songs. Thank you for listening to him.
I thought you might like this one, thanks!! Hard to believe Bob was only 21 when he wrote this! I find it a very emotional song. Def one of my favourites and written over 60 years ago!
THERE SEEMS SOMETHING ABOUT BEING A YOUNG PERSON, like Dylan's young man writing these rich ascerbic words ... That young rage, that clear eyed horror, the pain of that young disenchantment, isolation ... Thoroughly enjoyed your musings on this and lennon's 'Mother'
Take a note - Dylan was 21 when he wrote this. Btw, the album cover is Greenwich Village, the famous artsy neighborhood back in the 1960s (and today, to a degree - nowadays up and coming artists don't have enough money to rent in the Village though).
I have never seen anyone interpret Dylan on the fly like you did here. That was amazing and you gave me a lot to think about with this song. Of course, Dylan is just a genius. He is in a different world of songwriters. Great reaction my friend
Incredible writing and there is so much to unpack. It's definitely music i will be revisiting at different times in my life and see if i can catch more or if personal experience changes some interpretations. Thanks so much for watching.
This song is based on a poem called Lord Randal. "Oh where ha'e ye been, Lord Randall my son? O where ha'e ye been, my handsome young man?" "I ha'e been to the wild wood: mother, make my bed soon, For I’m weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."
😮 I picked this song and sang it at my nephews funeral. (Way before Cash passed) I thought later maybe it’s wasn’t fitting. I didn’t know this about Cash. Wow.
The overall story I understand about bob is that he always knew who he was to be. He said The hardest thing about knowing this is not telling anyone ' cause when you tell people your dreams ,they'll kill it' so much truth.
Agree listen to "Chimes of Freedom" - "Jokerman" "Ballad of Hollis Brown" so so much to listen to from Bob Dylan, no one comes close to his canon of work from all genres etc
Patti Smith played this song in the Nobel Prize cerenomy for Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan's songs helped me through my toughest times in my life. You can't feel lonesome while listening to those songs. And I played them a lot when I was a young student as a street musician in South Europe. You're an inspiration for understanding Dylan's songs when you're first listening ❤🎉......and I know my song well before I start sinking......Greetings from Germany ❤
@@SaeedReacts. The live version of Chimes Of Freedom from Bruce Springsteen in 1988 before 100,000 people in East Berlin, a full year before the wall came down has to be seen.
That last verse gets me every time. "'And I'll know my song well before I start singin.'" Genius. Written at a time when the Cold War (the Cuban Missle Crisis) made nuclear war a very real possibility. You know, like it still is. Sigh.
Think it was written pre Cuban missile crisis but regardless Dylan has said the song is not about nuclear war in that sense but just about the general state of the world and foreboding.
I came across an interesting documentary recently, where Bob Dylan was discussing the meanings of his songs from the 60's & 70's. Surprisingly, he said he looks back now and feels that at that time he was sort of 'possessed' to write the way he did, and he could not replicate it now.
Highly recommend you watch this on youtube - very unusual and unique thing to do: Swedish TV personality Fredrik Wikingsson has a truly one-of-a-kind experience when he sees Bob Dylan perform in Philadelphia. A long-time fan of Dylan's, Wikingsson attends the concert completely by himself. No one else is in the audience. The reason is to gauge how a human experiences a significant moment differently with or without someone to share that moment with. The results are deeply insightful.
It's greats to see how easily you understand the depth of these songs. Especially on your first listen. Congrats. Keep up the good work. I believe you have the most insightful dylan reactions I have watched. And I've watched many. ...
If I remember correctly, when the first Gulf War was in early 1990, and the Grammy Awards was on American TV, Bob Dylan appeared and played this song, not his current music, which would have been up for awards. Dylan had his message to tell. On 9/11/2001, during the planes attacks, I was in Chicago, in Art graduate school, and we could bring in CD's to play in the Art rooms while we worked. I had Dylan's 3rd album from 1963, and it was in rotation with other music - wanted to distract my mind. His song "With God on our Side" came on,....and it freaked me out, on that day. Dylan recounts some of American history, and that each side believes God is on their side,....and on 9/11/01 we didn't initially know who/why the the attacks were happening - yet, I knew Dylan's song was correct, that both America, and our "enemy" would claim God was on their side in this conflict -and it would not be an easy conflict. Music can share, make one think, and emotions.
Dylan was highly influenced by Pete Seger and other populist folk singers who came out of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Dylan was born in 1941, and his imagination was captured by these singers who sang of the hardship of the common people. That was how he started, but very soon he seemed to become a conduit for a stream of mind-boggling creativity. He himself doesn’t know where it came from. It’s the mystery of the creative spark and process.
And now you know why Bob Dylan is considered "The Prophet of our Generation!" Bob and Jackson Brown were considered the The Poets and Prophets of our Generation because of lyrics and music like this and could be collected and literally become a "Bible" And now you know why Bob Dylan got a few years ago a Nobel Peace Prize in Literature because of his poetic profound deep lyrics!!! This album was included in the Prize award.
I think the "hard rain" is the consequences of where the world was headed in the early '60's, and we sure haven't learned a damn thing since. Similar in thought to his other song, "The Times They Are A'Changin".... "You better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone...."
It's such a pleasure to see you appreciate Dylan's genius. His songs took me through so many changes in my life, since I was a kid. Please listen to 'Bob Dylan's Dream' and the hauntingly beautiful 'Girl From North Country' which was the only other songwriters song Crosby Stills and Nash performed at their shows. They said it's the song they should have written ❤
Thanks for your spontaneous and heartfelt reaction to this powerful powerful song. Listening to you experience it for the first time made it new for me too, like the first time all over again. That song is just mesmerizing. And I like how you said, how does someone write something like that at such a young age?
Such an intense poetic song. I love the last verse: After all of the troubling, searing imagery of the earlier verses, Dylan brings it back to the necessary human response to suffering and danger, which is: COURAGE. The courage to see, to speak, to act. Totally relevant today.
Robert Zimmerman, a good Jewish man, from Minnesota, where they mined Iron Ore, for industry, did want to work in mines -he escaped to play his guitar, and write epic lyrics, and influence minds.
I think this is my favourite Dylan song, if it is actually possible to choose only one. I believe I once read that each line he wrote were the beginnings of songs he didn’t have time to write. Something like that in any case. The hard rain is nuclear war. So happy you got to this one, excellent reaction. My other favourite from this album is Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright. Very different, the lyrics are not vague, but still profound in its own way. Another dis track but different from the others you’ve reacted to.
If you react to American Pie (named 5th greatest song of the 20th century) one of the verses refers to Dylan as "the Jester in a coat he borrowed from James Dean"...this is the coat in the picture. You can Google Images on James Dean.
You're right. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is about an impending doom. Written in 1962, the year of Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world was so close to a nuclear war. Speaking about Nobel Prize, it's exactly this song was performed at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, but by Patti Smith, as Dylan did not attend. The album cover photo was taken in Greenwich Village, NYC, and the girl clinging with Dylan was his then girlfriend, Suze Rotolo. You will hear her name a number of times when you check Dylan's early folk period love songs, or diss songs. People will tell you the songs are about her. By the way, I think the definitive Dylan biopic movies you should be interested is 2007's "I'm Not There", directed by Todd Haynes. The flim is very "Dylanish", but has an ununsal big cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett(!) playing different personas of Dylan. So Batman and Joker are there, and can't ne missed.
Yeah, this is a good one. How do I always seem to forget the depth of his mastery between listens? His lyrics, his poetry, his voice, his phrasing, his playing … simply the master ❤ ps Slow train coming!
I was born in 1959 when Orlando International Airport was still McCoy Air Force Base. When I was maybe 3. I heard and saw a very loud jet fly close over our house, only a few miles away from the jetport. It's the only time that ever happened because the jets and their sonic booms could damage things in a residential neighborhood. It's always the practice of the military to only pass Mach 1 off the coast of very rural areas. I recounted the memory to my brother who was 6 at the time and asked if that could have been during the Cuban Missile Crisis. He told me it definitely was and it happened a couple of times. Which is how I dated the memory to October 1962. Bob Dillon was the voice of the first generations to know that the world as we knew it could be destroyed on a whim or worse, an accident. It's a hard rain always felt as if the protagonist were telling about an alternative reality buried under this one.
Thanks for sharing your insightful analysis as always. I think Dylan is an enigma; one of those rare geniuses who happen every 400 years or so like Shakespeare. We can only marvel at his writing and not comprehend how his mind clearly sees the world and truths and captures it perfectly in his poetry in ways that bring us awe.
An amazing song, keep on with your Dylan journey. Talkin' World War III blues off the same album covers the same ground but in a much more lighthearted manner (yes really).
Documentary/commentary on Bob trajectory from N.Y. to early 90's by two handfulls of Brits including Clinton Heylin, a prolific writer whose life has spent on Dylan and Shakespeare. "The Bob Dylan Phenomenon | Music Documentary | Peter Doggett | Malcolm Dome | Mick Gold"
Dylan says he always had a Bible on hand wherever he lived. He loved to put cryptic references in his songs even back then. So, yes. Coming destruction brewing on the horizon referenced by the Biblical Great Flood. Anyway, that's what I've always understood from that line in the middle of this particular song.
Really great, thoughtful reaction. Many things I never thought of, some things I interpret quite differently - and THAT is the beauty and magic of Dylan's music (and all true art, in my opinion), that it can inspire profound and personal thoughts and emotions that don't have to adhere to only one interpretation. Dylan's music really is "something else" - well said. One small detail about this recording that speaks to Dylan's authenticity and confidence and style; on the "who did you meet" line, the first time he says "what did you meet" by mistake and laughs at himself, and KEPT IT IN. That speaks volumes about the artist, the man, and what was important to him. I'm a part time musician/performer, and I always think of the last line, "I'll know my song well before I start singing." But it's so profound for anyone in any context. Basically, get your shit together before you act upon the world!
Thanks! Exactly, that is the amazing thing about such great writing. And thanks for sharing that story about this line. Very interesting and telling indeed!
One of my favorite Dylan songs that demonstrates how brilliant he was is Who Killed Davey Moore? There are lots of amazing songs love pretty much all of them BUT.. THE REASON I SAY THIS ONE IS AMAZING? IS that Davey Moore was a boxer that died from a boxing match.. 3 DAYS later Dylan a big boxing fan had a concert and did this song.. wrote this gem in 3 days. Check it out.. have never seen anyone react to that one.. Also listen to Only A Pawn in Their Game.. Dylan breaks down that racism is created to distract us by those who are controlling us.
On the subject of books - I would like to recommend "I Am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes. It's older, but still frighteningly in tune with current events. We live in scary times.
Dylan has bright blue eyes , 10000 broken tongues maybe reference to “Tower of Babel” thus the name. Bob more than often goes Biblical , it seems always on his mind. Mr Robert Zimmerman has purpose in this world May his best work be soon to come.
Thank you soooo much...very good what you see in this song...believe me it changes all your life...like so many dylan Songs changes its meaning to me in my life....please make chimes of freedom....i know you like it very much....greetings from germany...
You have seen and understand his lyrical ability. "Back in the day" he was vilified by the Ultra-Conservatives as an upstart, a communist, a socialist, Un-American, a radical. It was a hard time because some groups in power tried to keep him from telling the truth.
You gotta remember this is one of Dylan's first albums and the love of his life was deciding to leave their relationship and move to Italy. These songs were not authored in a vacuum. He was facing emotional change and upheaval.
This was written around the time of the Cuban missile crisis when it seemed nuclear war was about to break out. Dylan here is influenced by William Blake's mystical poetry, and these images just poured out of him, almost supernaturally. There's a lot of Biblical language in this, too. The "hard rain" was most likely nuclear missiles, or else a metaphor for the final calamity.
I always thought that a hard rain alluded to nuclear radiation from a coming world war but Dylan said no! On farms a hard rain is a devastating event. So, who knows? Was Dylan a unwitting prophet? Who didn’t understand his own transmissions of a spiritual message? Was Dylan a conduit? For who? Who is the source of the cryptic messages? I’m not religious or superstitious but I often wonder. Also, George Orwell is a hero of mine. Orwell had an amazing biographer, the late great thinker, Christopher Hitchens. Please listen to Dylan’s, MASTERS OF WAR. Thanks for your insights and work on this fantastic channel.
@@Cheryworld i remember those days. I never doubted what it was about until I heard that radio interview when Dylan said what he was was thinking and writing about….maybe he wrote before the Cuban missile crisis… but nuclear fallout has been in my mind ever since I read “Hiroshima” by John Hershey. Horror, to put it mildly.
That is very interesting! Now that you mention nuclear fallout, it definitely makes sense. Maybe he was not consciously thinking of it. Masters of War is definitely on my to do list. Thansk so much for watching and taking the time to comment.
Another great reaction! Should definitely react to the live version from '75, it's a wildly different version and was professionally recorded (and released by Netflix a few years ago in a documentary), really killer arrangement of it: ua-cam.com/video/iUD5snx-XOo/v-deo.html
Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad has a similar sense of putting yourself there that you were referring to Saeed. There's an amazing live version with Tom Morello guesting on vocals and guitar 👍
I reacted to it, but its currently blocked. That performance definitely made an impact. Its on the free tier of my patreon until that issue is resolved on YT.
I don’t think I ever connected today that these lyrics are very strongly inspired by a very old folk song “Henry My Son.” Look it up. Sample: Where have you been all day, Henry my son? Where have you been all day, my beloved one? Away on the meadow, away on the meadow, Make my bed I've a pain in my head, and I want to lie down.
The depth and quality of lyrics from Dylans first few albums is unsurpassed. I guess you could call it "something else". Once again, a great song analysis.
Great reaction again bro.. Yessir.. Shakespeare with a guitar.. react to.. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.. or Hattie Carroll or Black Diamond Bay or etc,, lolol
It's apocalyptic look at what was and is happening to the world--the images will evoke different meanings to different folks, as they did to you. Their anbiguity gives them power. "You who are so good at being vague," Joan Baez said in "Diamonds and Rust."
Dylan wrote this song about the time of the Cuban missile crisis and the danger of a nuclear war. I read somewhere that Dylan did not know how many more songs he would get to write and that each line of "Hard Rain" was meant to be an idea for a separate song that he would never maybe get to write. Hard Rain may refer to nuclear fallout but Dylan denies that...
For “romantic”, softer Bob Dylan, try The Wedding Song, from the album Planet Waves. We played it at our wedding. IMO it’s the most romantic and descriptive love song ever written!
Good analysis. I’ve always thought the ‘black branch’ was a reference to lynching. Also, the ‘highway of diamonds’ reminds me of those huge highways in China they build then never actually use, or the high-end art world buying stuff for millions when the money could be going to something more helpful. (No disrespect to artists.)
Hopefully the "Hard Rain" won't happen too soon. Someone suggested The Ballad of Hollis Brown, you should check that one out along with The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest.
When Beat poet Allen Ginsburg heard this song, he said he wept knowing the torch had been passed from the Beats to the next generation of poets.
You can search your whole life but you'll never figure out Bob Dylan. As soon as you think you have it, he's done a 180 and gone in a totally different direction.
Bob just keeps on coming, right in your face, swamping your mind with sharp edged images. He's puzzled now where it all came from, just as we were then.
Dylan said in a 60 Minutes interview that he doesn't understand how he wrote these songs. He quoted lines from "It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding), which you should react to. He is literally stunned at what he wrote in the early 60s. He challenges the interviewer - You sit down one day and try to write this. He was stunned by his own writing. In those years, The Beatles were writing "She loves you yeah, yeah yeah." Dylan was on a completely other level of vibration.
@@DanMcManus I saw that interview, and people were saying that he sold his soul to the devil 😈 😳 😂.
@@ramonarellano4988 Dylan likes to needle people, he often says tongue in cheek stuff, like when he said he was a song and dance man - Dylan can't dance !!!!! Lol. Love him for it too
@dyl-annfan6 , I remember an interview with Rolling Stone magazine where he implied to the journalist that he was death already, he even showed him the old newspaper article where it says that Robert Zimmerman died on a motorcycle accident in 1966, I was like "oh come on Bob" !!.
@@ramonarellano4988 Tongue in cheek stuff, he wasn't keen on the press asking silly questions etc. so he'd reply with silly answers. "Someone's got it in for me, they're planting stories in the press" famous lyric. He has said many ambiguous stuff, just to keep the "mystic" going, throw them off the scent, press fell for it.
👏The deepest rabbit hole of all 👍
Great observations. "It's Alright Ma, I'm only Bleeding' is another lyricall masterpiece
That is a great song! Reacted to that one as well.
When you get into Dylan you go deep you will end up insane, He's the greatest creator of songs ever. His phrasing and delivery and Imagery is like a film coming out of your speakers,
BLOWIN IN THE WIND, DON'T THINK TWICE, IT'S ALRIGHT, I SHALL BE FREE 👍SO THERE'S A FEW GREATS FROM THIS ALBUM ( THE FREEWHEELIN BOB DYLAN ) SAEED 😊 CYA!
I am watching you from my bedroom in Bangkok, at almost 77 yrs old, been listening to Dylan since 1963 ALL THE TIME. and as a result owned 3 record stores so that I could feed my appetite for new music and make enough money to pay for my University fees.....and always, there was Dylan sending me his tunes......they were blowin in the wind.
That is amazing! Thanks for sharing that.
I had always thought that Dylan was covering a traditional song with this, but he wrote it himself in 1962, when he was 21. It wasn't a classic then, but it is now.
This song comes from my favorite Bob Dylan album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. It's his 2nd album released in 1963. (but the first with mostly Dylan penned songs) Freewheelin is loaded with classics including this song and Blowin in the Wind, Masters of War, and Don't Think Twice.
Freewheelin announced to the world that a serious, exquisite songwriter had taken the stage.
Remember, many of these songs were written when he was 21 - 25 yrs. old. That's called raw talent. Baez does this song, and many others also, but Baez does it better than the "many others". RAW TALENT. It was a Gift he shared with us all; and we are better for it, and we thank him for it. (Try One Too Many Mornings or One More Night.) He wrote many topical songs, ballads, and some of the very best unrequited love songs. Thank you for listening to him.
I thought you might like this one, thanks!! Hard to believe Bob was only 21 when he wrote this! I find it a very emotional song. Def one of my favourites and written over 60 years ago!
Just mindblowing!
Thanks for watching.
there is a reason he won the Noel prize for literature
man i love your interpretations. Dylan always makes you think.
He definitely does! Thanks so much for watching!
THERE SEEMS SOMETHING ABOUT BEING A YOUNG PERSON, like Dylan's young man writing these rich ascerbic words ... That young rage, that clear eyed horror, the pain of that young disenchantment, isolation ... Thoroughly enjoyed your musings on this and lennon's 'Mother'
Well said! The pain of young disenchantment. I feel that!
Thanks for watching.
Take a note - Dylan was 21 when he wrote this.
Btw, the album cover is Greenwich Village, the famous artsy neighborhood back in the 1960s (and today, to a degree - nowadays up and coming artists don't have enough money to rent in the Village though).
Yeah, definitely not today - New York Town ain't what it used to be...
@@andro99991 With his then girlfriend Suze Rotolo.
Another interesting reaction!
He really was way ahead of his time 👍🏻👍🏻
100%. To write this at 21 🤯
@@SaeedReacts. Definitely mind-blowing
One of Dylan's best songs is Don't Think Twice It's Alright, do the studio version. Killer lyrics about the end of a relationship.
I have never seen anyone interpret Dylan on the fly like you did here. That was amazing and you gave me a lot to think about with this song. Of course, Dylan is just a genius. He is in a different world of songwriters. Great reaction my friend
Incredible writing and there is so much to unpack. It's definitely music i will be revisiting at different times in my life and see if i can catch more or if personal experience changes some interpretations. Thanks so much for watching.
Woody Guthrie inspired Dylan.
This song is based on a poem called Lord Randal.
"Oh where ha'e ye been, Lord Randall my son?
O where ha'e ye been, my handsome young man?"
"I ha'e been to the wild wood: mother, make my bed soon,
For I’m weary wi' hunting, and fain wald lie down."
Interesting! Thanks for sharing that.
Some say his magnum opus is every grain of sand which was performed at the funeral of Johnny Cash..
😮 I picked this song and sang it at my nephews funeral. (Way before Cash passed) I thought later maybe it’s wasn’t fitting. I didn’t know this about Cash. Wow.
Its a masterpiece, but i wouldn't call it his magnum opus. Unless you mean during the Christian trilogy of albums.
@@carlahelin5203 I believe it was performed at the service by Emmylou Harris and Sheryl Crow..
@@meltimmins6368 wow! I wonder if it was taped, although kind of grim to do that.
The overall story I understand about bob is that he always knew who he was to be. He said The hardest thing about knowing this is not telling anyone ' cause when you tell people your dreams ,they'll kill it' so much truth.
Great reaction Sareed. You can put into words what I've had circling in my mind for the last 48 years. Keep the reactions coming. From Bob, England.
Ditto
Thank you, Bob. The writing is just so layered! Love it.
Agree listen to "Chimes of Freedom" - "Jokerman" "Ballad of Hollis Brown" so so much to listen to from Bob Dylan, no one comes close to his canon of work from all genres etc
Thank you for that reaction. For me it's the most important song I've heard, it changed me at the age of 14.
Such a powerful song. Thanks for watching.
Patti Smith played this song in the Nobel Prize cerenomy for Bob Dylan. Bob Dylan's songs helped me through my toughest times in my life. You can't feel lonesome while listening to those songs. And I played them a lot when I was a young student as a street musician in South Europe.
You're an inspiration for understanding Dylan's songs when you're first listening ❤🎉......and I know my song well before I start sinking......Greetings from Germany ❤
Much respect for Street musicians! That is awesome!
Pls Listen to "chimes of freedom" by him 🙏🏼 it's profound as usual
That one is on my to do list!
@@SaeedReacts. The live version of Chimes Of Freedom from Bruce Springsteen in 1988 before 100,000 people in East Berlin, a full year before the wall came down has to be seen.
The Times They Are A Changing
That last verse gets me every time. "'And I'll know my song well before I start singin.'" Genius.
Written at a time when the Cold War (the Cuban Missle Crisis) made nuclear war a very real possibility. You know, like it still is. Sigh.
Incredible song.
And it seems once again very relevant today.
You need to listen to master's of war next . Still relevant today as it was in 1965. An angry Dylan.
Think it was written pre Cuban missile crisis but regardless Dylan has said the song is not about nuclear war in that sense but just about the general state of the world and foreboding.
This is the song I'm talking about to ....people who might want to understand things, but it is also very scary, a crude portrait of reality.
I came across an interesting documentary recently, where Bob Dylan was discussing the meanings of his songs from the 60's & 70's. Surprisingly, he said he looks back now and feels that at that time he was sort of 'possessed' to write the way he did, and he could not replicate it now.
Dylan sent Patty Smith to the Nobel prize ceremony and she sung this song
Highly recommend you watch this on youtube - very unusual and unique thing to do: Swedish TV personality Fredrik Wikingsson has a truly one-of-a-kind experience when he sees Bob Dylan perform in Philadelphia. A long-time fan of Dylan's, Wikingsson attends the concert completely by himself. No one else is in the audience. The reason is to gauge how a human experiences a significant moment differently with or without someone to share that moment with. The results are deeply insightful.
Definitely sounds interesting. Must look that up.
Fredrik's reaction is just wonderful, tear jerking to watch (well for me it was !!)
So many great Dylan songs! Keep going!
Definitely will explore more!
I would recommend It's Alright Ma, I'm Only Bleeding, for amazing lyrics. But there's many more.
He did it.
I reacted to that song. Video should be in the Bob Dylan reactions playlist.
Biblically speaking, oceans are peoples. Masters Of War and With God on our side , are worth listening to. Cool reactions.
Thanks for pointing that out and the recommendations.
It's greats to see how easily you understand the depth of these songs. Especially on your first listen. Congrats. Keep up the good work. I believe you have the most insightful dylan reactions I have watched. And I've watched many. ...
Thank you so much for the kind words! Have a wonderful day.
If I remember correctly, when the first Gulf War was in early 1990, and the Grammy Awards was on American TV, Bob Dylan appeared and played this song, not his current music, which would have been up for awards. Dylan had his message to tell.
On 9/11/2001, during the planes attacks, I was in Chicago, in Art graduate school, and we could bring in CD's to play in the Art rooms while we worked. I had Dylan's 3rd album from 1963, and it was in rotation with other music - wanted to distract my mind. His song "With God on our Side" came on,....and it freaked me out, on that day. Dylan recounts some of American history, and that each side believes God is on their side,....and on 9/11/01 we didn't initially know who/why the the attacks were happening - yet, I knew Dylan's song was correct, that both America, and our "enemy" would claim God was on their side in this conflict -and it would not be an easy conflict. Music can share, make one think, and emotions.
The young Bob Dylan was the Arthur Rimbaud of our generation.
You're really giving Dylan your consideration. Its cool to watch.
This has been a masterclass in songwriting. Amazing. Thanks for watching!
Loving your Dylan reaction, Saeed. ❤
Thanks so much, Carla!
YEAH SAEED, ( NO DIRECTION HOME ) 2005 FROM SCORCESE, ABOUT 3-1/2 HOURS 😮😊HE WAS REALLY INTO THE GUTHRIE'S SOUND, BOTH ( WOODY & ARLO ) 👍
Definitely need to explore Guthrie's music as well.
There is RAW and then there is Bob.........together it's brilliant !
Dont look back (doc) is an essential watch
We were very close to thermonuclear war when he wrote this. He put an album's worth of work into one simple song, an urgency born of fear.
Excellent breakdown once again....appreciated
Thank so much for watching!
Yes !! Keep it going !!
You are a very insightful man💛
Thank you so much, Helen!
Love your work, glad there's new seekers of the deep great Mystery.
Thanks so much! Love digging into these. A lot to be learned!
Dylan was highly influenced by Pete Seger and other populist folk singers who came out of the Great Depression of the 1930’s. Dylan was born in 1941, and his imagination was captured by these singers who sang of the hardship of the common people.
That was how he started, but very soon he seemed to become a conduit for a stream of mind-boggling creativity. He himself doesn’t know where it came from.
It’s the mystery of the creative spark and process.
And now you know why Bob Dylan is considered "The Prophet of our Generation!" Bob and Jackson Brown were considered the The Poets and Prophets of our Generation because of lyrics and music like this and could be collected and literally become a "Bible" And now you know why Bob Dylan got a few years ago a Nobel Peace Prize in Literature because of his poetic profound deep lyrics!!! This album was included in the Prize award.
I think the "hard rain" is the consequences of where the world was headed in the early '60's, and we sure haven't learned a damn thing since. Similar in thought to his other song, "The Times They Are A'Changin".... "You better start swimming, or you'll sink like a stone...."
It's such a pleasure to see you appreciate Dylan's genius. His songs took me through so many changes in my life, since I was a kid. Please listen to 'Bob Dylan's Dream' and the hauntingly beautiful 'Girl From North Country' which was the only other songwriters song Crosby Stills and Nash performed at their shows. They said it's the song they should have written ❤
Will add that one to my list. Thanks so much for watching!
Thanks for your spontaneous and heartfelt reaction to this powerful powerful song. Listening to you experience it for the first time made it new for me too, like the first time all over again. That song is just mesmerizing. And I like how you said, how does someone write something like that at such a young age?
Incredible writing. Genius. Thanks so much for watching.
Such an intense poetic song. I love the last verse: After all of the troubling, searing imagery of the earlier verses, Dylan brings it back to the necessary human response to suffering and danger, which is: COURAGE. The courage to see, to speak, to act. Totally relevant today.
Yes, well said. This guy is something else.
Incredible! Thanks for watching.
@@SaeedReacts. 👍
Robert Zimmerman, a good Jewish man, from Minnesota, where they mined Iron Ore, for industry, did want to work in mines -he escaped to play his guitar, and write epic lyrics, and influence minds.
I think this is my favourite Dylan song, if it is actually possible to choose only one. I believe I once read that each line he wrote were the beginnings of songs he didn’t have time to write. Something like that in any case. The hard rain is nuclear war. So happy you got to this one, excellent reaction. My other favourite from this album is Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright. Very different, the lyrics are not vague, but still profound in its own way. Another dis track but different from the others you’ve reacted to.
Dylan, when asked, said it wasn’t a nuclear rain but a hard rain. I think of it like the flood in the bible, of a reckoning that is to come.
Another great track. Very interesting how he wrote this one.
Thanks for watching and the recommendation.
Recommendation for another Dylan: “Masters of War.” Hard-hitting.
If you react to American Pie (named 5th greatest song of the 20th century) one of the verses refers to Dylan as "the Jester in a coat he borrowed from James Dean"...this is the coat in the picture. You can Google Images on James Dean.
Oh wow! Thanks for letting me know about that.
You're right. "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is about an impending doom. Written in 1962, the year of Cuban Missile Crisis, when the world was so close to a nuclear war. Speaking about Nobel Prize, it's exactly this song was performed at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony, but by Patti Smith, as Dylan did not attend.
The album cover photo was taken in Greenwich Village, NYC, and the girl clinging with Dylan was his then girlfriend, Suze Rotolo. You will hear her name a number of times when you check Dylan's early folk period love songs, or diss songs. People will tell you the songs are about her.
By the way, I think the definitive Dylan biopic movies you should be interested is 2007's "I'm Not There", directed by Todd Haynes. The flim is very "Dylanish", but has an ununsal big cast: Christian Bale, Heath Ledger, Richard Gere and Cate Blanchett(!) playing different personas of Dylan. So Batman and Joker are there, and can't ne missed.
Thanks so much for taking the time to share some info about this song and about the the biopic. Great cast!
Yeah, this is a good one. How do I always seem to forget the depth of his mastery between listens? His lyrics, his poetry, his voice, his phrasing, his playing … simply the master ❤ ps Slow train coming!
It truly is amazing. So many layers! Thanks for watching.
Good. Keep showing Dylan to the youngfolk. Do "Girl From The North Country."
Thanks for the recommendation!
@@SaeedReacts. You're awesome; you're a teacher. It's cool. Thanks.
I was born in 1959 when Orlando International Airport was still McCoy Air Force Base. When I was maybe 3. I heard and saw a very loud jet fly close over our house, only a few miles away from the jetport. It's the only time that ever happened because the jets and their sonic booms could damage things in a residential neighborhood. It's always the practice of the military to only pass Mach 1 off the coast of very rural areas. I recounted the memory to my brother who was 6 at the time and asked if that could have been during the Cuban Missile Crisis.
He told me it definitely was and it happened a couple of times. Which is how I dated the memory to October 1962.
Bob Dillon was the voice of the first generations to know that the world as we knew it could be destroyed on a whim or worse, an accident.
It's a hard rain always felt as if the protagonist were telling about an alternative reality buried under this one.
I heard you mention the Martin Scorsese documentary. I highly recommend this one, if you can find it. The title is "No Direction Home-Bob Dylan"
Will look it up!
Thanks for sharing your insightful analysis as always. I think Dylan is an enigma; one of those rare geniuses who happen every 400 years or so like Shakespeare. We can only marvel at his writing and not comprehend how his mind clearly sees the world and truths and captures it perfectly in his poetry in ways that bring us awe.
He truly is. Well said!
An amazing song, keep on with your Dylan journey. Talkin' World War III blues off the same album covers the same ground but in a much more lighthearted manner (yes really).
@@atomicnumber34 yes haw goof, haha yes, you got it right there
Must check out a more lighthearted song too at some point 😃
Thanks for watching.
21 years old. The same year the Beatles wrote Love Me Do. lol
Pretty insane he wrote these incredible songs at such a young age.
Documentary/commentary on Bob trajectory from N.Y. to early 90's by two handfulls of Brits including Clinton Heylin, a prolific writer whose life has spent on Dylan and Shakespeare. "The Bob Dylan Phenomenon | Music Documentary | Peter Doggett | Malcolm Dome | Mick Gold"
When Dylan describes these conditions and then talks about a "hard rain" I think about Noah and the Great Flood. Maybe another one is coming.
Dylan says he always had a Bible on hand wherever he lived. He loved to put cryptic references in his songs even back then. So, yes. Coming destruction brewing on the horizon referenced by the Biblical Great Flood. Anyway, that's what I've always understood from that line in the middle of this particular song.
Really great, thoughtful reaction. Many things I never thought of, some things I interpret quite differently - and THAT is the beauty and magic of Dylan's music (and all true art, in my opinion), that it can inspire profound and personal thoughts and emotions that don't have to adhere to only one interpretation. Dylan's music really is "something else" - well said. One small detail about this recording that speaks to Dylan's authenticity and confidence and style; on the "who did you meet" line, the first time he says "what did you meet" by mistake and laughs at himself, and KEPT IT IN. That speaks volumes about the artist, the man, and what was important to him. I'm a part time musician/performer, and I always think of the last line, "I'll know my song well before I start singing." But it's so profound for anyone in any context. Basically, get your shit together before you act upon the world!
Thanks! Exactly, that is the amazing thing about such great writing.
And thanks for sharing that story about this line. Very interesting and telling indeed!
One of my favorite Dylan songs that demonstrates how brilliant he was is Who Killed Davey Moore? There are lots of amazing songs love pretty much all of them BUT.. THE REASON I SAY THIS ONE IS AMAZING? IS that Davey Moore was a boxer that died from a boxing match.. 3 DAYS later Dylan a big boxing fan had a concert and did this song.. wrote this gem in 3 days. Check it out.. have never seen anyone react to that one.. Also listen to Only A Pawn in Their Game.. Dylan breaks down that racism is created to distract us by those who are controlling us.
Will add that one to my list. Thanks for sharing this.
On the subject of books - I would like to recommend "I Am Pilgrim" by Terry Hayes. It's older, but still frighteningly in tune with current events. We live in scary times.
I just looked it up on Goodreads and saw one of my friends rated it 5 stars. I added it to my reading list. Thanks!
Dylan has bright blue eyes , 10000 broken tongues maybe reference to “Tower of Babel” thus the name. Bob more than often goes Biblical , it seems always on his mind. Mr Robert Zimmerman has purpose in this world May his best work be soon to come.
This is it. This is mystical shit.
Great job in this reaction!
Thank you, Aaron!
Thank you soooo much...very good what you see in this song...believe me it changes all your life...like so many dylan Songs changes its meaning to me in my life....please make chimes of freedom....i know you like it very much....greetings from germany...
What an incredible song! Chimes of freedom is on my todo list! Thanks for watching. Greetings from Belgium!
Dylan is a mystery. The more I learn about him the less I think I know 😄
You have seen and understand his lyrical ability. "Back in the day" he was vilified by the Ultra-Conservatives as an upstart, a communist, a socialist, Un-American, a radical. It was a hard time because some groups in power tried to keep him from telling the truth.
Such a great song❤
You gotta remember this is one of Dylan's first albums and the love of his life was deciding to leave their relationship and move to Italy. These songs were not authored in a vacuum. He was facing emotional change and upheaval.
This was written around the time of the Cuban missile crisis when it seemed nuclear war was about to break out. Dylan here is influenced by William Blake's mystical poetry, and these images just poured out of him, almost supernaturally. There's a lot of Biblical language in this, too. The "hard rain" was most likely nuclear missiles, or else a metaphor for the final calamity.
I always thought that a hard rain alluded to nuclear radiation from a coming world war but Dylan said no! On farms a hard rain is a devastating event. So, who knows? Was Dylan a unwitting prophet? Who didn’t understand his own transmissions of a spiritual message? Was Dylan a conduit? For who? Who is the source of the cryptic messages?
I’m not religious or superstitious but I often wonder.
Also, George Orwell is a hero of mine. Orwell had an amazing biographer, the late great thinker, Christopher Hitchens.
Please listen to Dylan’s, MASTERS OF WAR.
Thanks for your insights and work on this fantastic channel.
Came out just after Cuban Missile Crisis. A coincidence?
@@Cheryworld i remember those days. I never doubted what it was about until I heard that radio interview when Dylan said what he was was thinking and writing about….maybe he wrote before the Cuban missile crisis… but nuclear fallout has been in my mind ever since I read “Hiroshima” by John Hershey. Horror, to put it mildly.
That is very interesting! Now that you mention nuclear fallout, it definitely makes sense. Maybe he was not consciously thinking of it.
Masters of War is definitely on my to do list.
Thansk so much for watching and taking the time to comment.
Another great reaction! Should definitely react to the live version from '75, it's a wildly different version and was professionally recorded (and released by Netflix a few years ago in a documentary), really killer arrangement of it: ua-cam.com/video/iUD5snx-XOo/v-deo.html
Thanks for watching and sharing this one!
It was written during the cuban missile crisis in 1962.
The cover photo was taken on a freezing 1963 day in Lower Manhattan (the village) with his girlfriend Suze Ratollo
Springsteen's Ghost of Tom Joad has a similar sense of putting yourself there that you were referring to Saeed. There's an amazing live version with Tom Morello guesting on vocals and guitar 👍
From Steinbeck's "The Grapes of Wrath".
I reacted to it, but its currently blocked. That performance definitely made an impact. Its on the free tier of my patreon until that issue is resolved on YT.
@@SaeedReacts. Can't wait to check out your reaction thanks 👍
I don’t think I ever connected today that these lyrics are very strongly inspired by a very old folk song “Henry My Son.” Look it up.
Sample:
Where have you been all day, Henry my son?
Where have you been all day, my beloved one?
Away on the meadow, away on the meadow,
Make my bed I've a pain in my head, and I want to lie down.
So far, nobody has conversed with you in the comments, so I'll start the ball rolling by saying "Hi".
Thanks for being here and got the ball rolling. I will roll it right back. Hey there 👋
The depth and quality of lyrics from Dylans first few albums is unsurpassed. I guess you could call it "something else". Once again, a great song analysis.
Something else for sure! Thanks for watching!
Great reaction again bro..
Yessir..
Shakespeare with a guitar..
react to..
Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts..
or
Hattie Carroll
or
Black Diamond Bay
or etc,, lolol
Thanks so much! Definitely want to check out these as well.
It's apocalyptic look at what was and is happening to the world--the images will evoke different meanings to different folks, as they did to you. Their anbiguity gives them power. "You who are so good at being vague," Joan Baez said in "Diamonds and Rust."
I think the blue eyed son is the blue-eyed Bob Dylan. The symbolism likely extends to Caucasians generally.
Dylan wrote this song about the time of the Cuban missile crisis and the danger of a nuclear war. I read somewhere that Dylan did not know how many more songs he would get to write and that each line of "Hard Rain" was meant to be an idea for a separate song that he would never maybe get to write. Hard Rain may refer to nuclear fallout but Dylan denies that...
For “romantic”, softer Bob Dylan, try The Wedding Song, from the album Planet Waves. We played it at our wedding. IMO it’s the most romantic and descriptive love song ever written!
Definitely interested in hearing that one.
Based around the ballad Lord Randall
Only the melody
Good analysis. I’ve always thought the ‘black branch’ was a reference to lynching. Also, the ‘highway of diamonds’ reminds me of those huge highways in China they build then never actually use, or the high-end art world buying stuff for millions when the money could be going to something more helpful. (No disrespect to artists.)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. Definitely can see all those things you describe in this song. Incredible writing.
Hopefully the "Hard Rain" won't happen too soon. Someone suggested The Ballad of Hollis Brown, you should check that one out along with The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest.