Verse 1DG/DD
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
DA
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
G/DA/DD
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
G/DA/DD
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
G/DA/DD
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
G/DA/DD
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
G/DA/DD
I’ve been ten thousand miles in the mouth of a graveyard
DADG
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
DA [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
Interlude
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % |
Verse 2DGD
Oh, what did you see, my blue-eyed son?
DA
And what did you see, my darling young one?
G/DA/DD
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
G/DA/DD
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
G/DA/DD
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
G/DA/DD
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
G/DA/DD
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
G/DA/DD
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
G/DA/DD
I saw guns and sharp swords in the hands of young children
DADG
And it’s a hard, and it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
DA [ D ]
And it’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
Interlude
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % |
Verse 3DGD
And what did you hear, my blue-eyed son?
DA
And what did you hear, my darling young one?
G/DA/DD
I heard the sound of a thunder that roared out a warnin’
G/DA/DD
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
G/DA/DD
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
G/DA/DD
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
G/DA/DD
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
G/DA/DD
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
G/DA/DD
I heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley
DADG
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
DA [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
Interlude
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % |
Verse 4DGD
Oh, who did you meet, my blue-eyed son? [Dylan actually sings "what did you meet"]
DA
Who did you meet, my darling young one?
G/DA/DD
I met a young child beside a dead pony
G/DA/DD
I met a white man who walked a black dog
G/DA/DD
I met a young woman whose body was burning
G/DA/DD
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
G/DA/DD
I met one man who was wounded in love
G/DA/DD
I met another man who was wounded in hatred
DADG
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
DA [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
Interlude
| D | % | G | D | % | % | % | % | % |
Verse 5
DG | D | G | D | % |
And, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
DA
And, what’ll you do now, my darling young one?
G/DA/DD
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’
G/DA/DD
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest
G/DA/DD
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
G/DA/DD
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
G/DA/DD
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
G/DA/DD
And the executioner’s face is always well hidden
G/DA/DD
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten
G/DA/DD
Where black is the color, where none is the number
G/DA/DD
And I’ll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it
G/DA/DD
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
G/DA/DD
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
G/DA/DD
But I’ll know my song well before I start singin’
DADG
And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
DA [ D ]
It’s a hard rai---n’s a-gonna fall
This arrangement for the song is the author's own work and represents their interpretation of the song. You may only use this for private study, scholarship, or research.