Verse 1DGD
Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son?
DA
Oh, where have you been, my darling young one?
GAD
I’ve stumbled on the side of twelve misty mountains
GAD
I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways
GAD
I’ve stepped in the middle of seven sad forests
GAD
I’ve been out in front of a dozen dead oceans
GAD
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?
GAD
I saw a newborn baby with wild wolves all around it
GAD
I saw a highway of diamonds with nobody on it
GAD
I saw a black branch with blood that kept drippin’
GAD
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
GAD
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
GAD
I saw ten thousand talkers whose tongues were all broken
GAD
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?
GAD
I heard the sound of a thunder that roared out a warnin’
GAD
I heard the roar of a wave that could drown the whole world
GAD
I heard one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazin’
GAD
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
GAD
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
GAD
I heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
GAD
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?
GAD
I met a young child beside a dead pony
GAD
I met a white man who walked a black dog
GAD
I met a young woman whose body was burning
GAD
I met a young girl, she gave me a rainbow
GAD
I met one man who was wounded in love
GAD
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?
GAD
I’m a-goin’ back out ’fore the rain starts a-fallin’
GAD
I’ll walk to the depths of the deepest dark forest
GAD
Where the people are many and their hands are all empty
GAD
Where the pellets of poison are flooding their waters
GAD
Where the home in the valley meets the damp dirty prison
GAD
And the executioner’s face is always well hidden
GAD
Where hunger is ugly, where the souls are forgotten
GAD
Where black is the color, where none is the number
GAD
And I’ll tell it and speak it and think it and breathe it
GAD
And reflect from the mountain so all souls can see it
GAD
Then I’ll stand on the ocean until I start sinkin’
GAD
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.