This song is a testament to the poetic and prophetic genius of Bob Dylan. For a man of less than 22 years to be so socially conscious and aware is amazing. Now add deep and meaningfully poetic ability and you get the greatest American song writer of all time. Bob Dylan.
This song is saturated with metaphors about the human condition and the state of the world. “My blue eyed son” is Bob himself or any young man who has eyes to see the world around.
The song asks: Where have you been; what have you seen; what have you heard; who have you met? And then it asks the question that matters most: What are you gonna do about it.
Through brilliant imagery and language that few can match, Bob Dylan paints a portrait of society riddled with both internal and external turmoil. Lines like “I saw a white man who walked a black dog” drive home the cold reality of racism. “I saw guns and sharp sword in the hands of young children” remind us of how we continue to send our children to die in wars.
All in all he makes it very clear that something big is coming, that bad times are here and more are headed our way: “A hard rain is gonna fall”, and we better be ready to do something about it.
After expounding upon all he has seen and done, he replies in true Dylan fashion:
“And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it,
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it”
Bob Dylan didn’t simply criticize and complain without actively taking steps towards being part of the solution. In fact, his career is proof that he spent much of his life trying to raise awareness of the atrocities in the world, hoping that people would listen and maybe make a difference on a personal level.
I guess one could say that this song is very autobiographical.
Or, since it was written early in his career, maybe it would be more true say it was a foreshadowing of his life’s work.
I could go into greater detail if I really picked apart the meaning of every line, but many of them are self sufficient at driving the point home. Just let me know if care to hear more.
Note: A perfect companion to this song is “The times they are a changing” (Yet another example of Dylan’s eternal concern and critique concerning the state of the world and the human condition)
This song is a testament to the poetic and prophetic genius of Bob Dylan. For a man of less than 22 years to be so socially conscious and aware is amazing. Now add deep and meaningfully poetic ability and you get the greatest American song writer of all time. Bob Dylan.
This song is saturated with metaphors about the human condition and the state of the world. “My blue eyed son” is Bob himself or any young man who has eyes to see the world around.
The song asks: Where have you been; what have you seen; what have you heard; who have you met? And then it asks the question that matters most: What are you gonna do about it.
Through brilliant imagery and language that few can match, Bob Dylan paints a portrait of society riddled with both internal and external turmoil. Lines like “I saw a white man who walked a black dog” drive home the cold reality of racism. “I saw guns and sharp sword in the hands of young children” remind us of how we continue to send our children to die in wars.
All in all he makes it very clear that something big is coming, that bad times are here and more are headed our way: “A hard rain is gonna fall”, and we better be ready to do something about it.
After expounding upon all he has seen and done, he replies in true Dylan fashion:
“And I'll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it, And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it”
Bob Dylan didn’t simply criticize and complain without actively taking steps towards being part of the solution. In fact, his career is proof that he spent much of his life trying to raise awareness of the atrocities in the world, hoping that people would listen and maybe make a difference on a personal level.
I guess one could say that this song is very autobiographical. Or, since it was written early in his career, maybe it would be more true say it was a foreshadowing of his life’s work.
I could go into greater detail if I really picked apart the meaning of every line, but many of them are self sufficient at driving the point home. Just let me know if care to hear more.
Note: A perfect companion to this song is “The times they are a changing” (Yet another example of Dylan’s eternal concern and critique concerning the state of the world and the human condition)