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A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan
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Written by: Bob Dylan
From: "The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan" (1963)
Tabbed by: maguri
Tuning: Drop-D (D-A-D-G-B-e) / Standard (E-A-D-G-B-e)
These are the chords played on the studio version from “Freewheelin’”.
The key is E, but here I suggest using a Drop-D tuning with a capo 2nd fret.
Drop D is easy to do: Just tune down the 6th string (low E) down two steps
to D and leave the other strings as they are.
What makes Dylan's usage of Drop D tuning interesting is the continuous drone
in the verses. I made a quick demo recording, so you can hear what this
tab sounds like: https://soundcloud.com/maguri/a-hard-rains-a-gonna-fall
For novice players:
(1) Use Standard Tuning with the voicings suggested below.
(2) Additionally one could just leave out the notes after the slashes - instead
of G/D play a regular G shape, instead of A/D play a regular A. You can use
the "Simplify" button at the bottom of the screen to make the slash chords
disappear from the chord sheet.
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capo: 2nd fret
tuning: Drop D
key: E
For original chords without capo transpose these chords +2 to E.
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CHORDS
Tuning Drop D Standard
D-A-D-G-B-e E-A-D-G-B-e
D 0-0-0-2-3-2 x-x-0-2-3-2
A 2-0-2-2-2(0) x-0-2-2-2-0
G (0)2-0-0-3-3 3-x-0-0-0-3
G/D 0-0-0-4-3-3 (actually: Gadd2/D) x-x-0-0-0-3
A/D 0-0-0-6-5-5 (actually: Aadd4/D) x-x-0-2-2-0
D* 0-0-0-7-7-5 x-x-0-7-7-5
D* - this voicing is used fleetingly in the last bar (before the final chord)
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[Intro]
| D | % | G/D | D |
| D | % | % |
[Verse] 1
D G/D D
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
D A
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
G/D A/D D
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
G/D A/D D
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
G/D A/D D
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
G/D A/D D
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
G/D A/D D
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
D A D G
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
D A [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
[Interlude]
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % |
[Verse] 2
D G D
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
D A
And what did you see, my darling young one?
G/D A/D D
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
G/D A/D D
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
G/D A/D D
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
G/D A/D D
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
G/D A/D D
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
G/D A/D D
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
G/D A/D D
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
D A D G
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
D A [ D ]
And it’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
[Interlude]
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % |
[Verse] 3
D G D
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
D A
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
G/D A/D D
I heard the sound of a thunder that roared out a warnin’
G/D A/D D
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
G/D A/D D
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
G/D A/D D
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
G/D A/D D
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
G/D A/D D
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
G/D A/D D
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
D A D G
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
D A [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
[Interlude]
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % |
[Verse] 4
D G D
Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son? [Dylan actually sings "what did you meet"]
D A
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
G/D A/D D
I met a young child beside a dead pony
G/D A/D D
I met a white man who walked a black dog
G/D A/D D
I met a young woman whose body was burning
G/D A/D D
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
G/D A/D D
I met one man who was wounded in love
G/D A/D D
I met another man who was wounded in hatred
D A D G
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
D A [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
[Interlude]
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % | % | % |
[Verse] 5
D G | D | G | D | % |
And, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
D A
And, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
G/D A/D D
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’
G/D A/D D
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest
G/D A/D D
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
G/D A/D D
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
G/D A/D D
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
G/D A/D D
And the executioner’s face is always well hidden
G/D A/D D
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten
G/D A/D D
Where black is the color, where none is the number
G/D A/D D
And I’ll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it
G/D A/D D
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
G/D A/D D
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
G/D A/D D
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
D A D G
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
D A [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
[Coda]
| D | % | G | D | % | D | D
(timing becomes fuzzy here)