Lyrics:

Soloist Patti Smith performs a moving rendition of Bob Dylans A Hard Rains A-Gonna Fall at the Nobel Prize Award Ceremony at Stockholm Concert Hall.
Copyright © Nobel Media AB 2016
Credits: Sveriges Television AB (production)

[Verse 1]
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
And where have you been, my darling young one?
Ive stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
Ive walked and Ive crawled on six crooked highways
Ive stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
Ive been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
Ive been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard

[Chorus]
And its a hard, and its a hard, its a hard, its a hard
Its a hard rains a-going to fall

[Verse 2]
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you see, my darling young one?
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept dripping
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleeding
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten-thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children

[Chorus]
And its a hard, its a hard, its a hard, and its a hard
Its a hard rains a-going to fall
[Verse 3]
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
I heard the sound of a thunder that roared out a warning
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazing
I heard ten-thousand whispering and nobody listening
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughing
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley

[Chorus]
And its a hard, its a hard, its a hard, its a hard
Its a hard rains a-going to fall

[Verse 4]
Oh, what did you meet, my blue-eyed son?
And who did you meet, my darling young one?
I met a young child beside a dead pony
I met a white man who walked a black dog
I met a young woman, her body was burning
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
I met another man who was wounded in hatred

[Chorus]
And its a hard, its a hard, its a hard, its a hard
Its a hard rains a-going to fall
[Verse 5]
And what will you do now, my blue-eyed son?
And what will you do now, my darling young one?
Im a-going back out fore the rain starts a-falling
Ill walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
And the executioners face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And Ill tell it, and speak it, and think it, and breathe it
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then Ill stand on the ocean until I start sinking
But Ill know my song well before I start singing

[Chorus]
And its a hard, its a hard, its a hard, and its a hard
Its a hard rains a-going to fall