Top Rated Interpretation

anonymous January 28th, 2007 03:34PM  
So this song could have many meanings, but someone requested it.

"A hard rain" conjures images of a storm that will destroy everything, wash everything clean. Make of it what you will.

The "blue-eyed son" of this narrative symbolizes the youth of the world who see the wrongs committed and realize that it is wrong and will lead to destruction. Some of the things he sees include a preoccupation with violence "guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children", a suffering of the masses, racism ("a white man who walked a black dog"), maybe patriarchy? ("I met a young woman who's body was burning"), etc. It should also be noted that he sees good things, such as a "young girl who gave me a rainbow" (perhaps symbolizing the movements during that time period like the flower children or the anti-war movements).

He seems to be point out that large masses of people are suffering, victims of the power structures and the institutions these structures control. "Where the people are many and their hands are empty, Where the pellets of poison are flooding the waters, Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison, Where the executioner's face is always well hidden, Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten". He wants to reach out to these people before it's too late, and he sees a "hard rain" coming, a sense of change that will shake the very roots of civilization (like an allusion to the Flood in Bibical times).