Oh, where have you been my blue-eyed son
And where have you been my darlin' young one
I've stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
I've walked and I've crawled on six crooked highways
I've stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
I've been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
I've been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's gonna fall
And what did you see my blue-eyed son
And what did you see my darlin' young one
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
Saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin'
Saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin'
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw a ten thousand talkers and nobody listened
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's gonna fall
And what did you hear my blue-eyed son
What did you hear my darlin' young one
I heard the sound of a thunder that roared out a warnin'
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin'
And ten thousand whisperin' and nobody listenin'
I heard one person starve and many people laughin'
I heard the song of the poet who had died in the gutter
I heard the sound of the clown who cried in the alley
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's gonna fall
Oh, and who did you meet my blue-eyed son
And who did you meet my darlin' 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 whose body was burnin'
I met a young girl and she gave me a rainbow
I met one man who was wounded in love
And I met another man who was wounded in hatred
And it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's gonna fall
And what'll you do now my blue-eyed son
And what'll you do now my darlin' young one
I'm a-goin' back out 'fore the rain starts a-fallin'
I'll 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 executioner's face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly and the souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I'll speak it and think it and tell it and breathe it
And reflected from the mountain so all souls can see it
Then I'll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin'
But I'll know my song well before I start singin'
Oh, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard, it's a hard
It's a hard rain's gonna fall