JUST THINK

HARD RAIN

I went to see the ‘Hard Rain Project’ and accompanying exhibition by Mark Edwards on New Years Eve 2009 –

CLICK –

It was ‘on’ on the railings outside The Crypt at St Martins in The Field. I bought the book and the DVD. The images and words are impossibly powerful and in more ways than one. The meaning is impossible to do justice to in words here. I recommend you get a copy.

It is set to Bob Dylan’s – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – a ‘live’ version – lyrics below. I urge everyone to read and watch it but above all taking note of the message of each sequence. Each line of the song – the idea of it – set to a photographic image of incredible intensity taken by Mark Edwards in over 150 countries. The important idea about the project is that it isn’t about climate change, war or poverty. It is about the human condition – our stupidity, our man made systems and the lack of the realization or interest in how connected each of these things are.

“I’ve walked and I’ve crawled on six crooked highways”

You probably all feel well versed in the topic. This work guarantees you will be.

A Happy New Year!

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

Oh, where have you been, my blue-eyed son ?
And where have you been my darling 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, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

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 drippin’
I saw a room full of men with their hammers a-bleedin’
I saw a white ladder all covered with water
I saw ten thousand takers whose tongues were all broken
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, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

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, it 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’
I heard ten thousand whisperin’ and nobody listenin’
I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughin’
Heard the song of a poet who died in the gutter
Heard the sound of a clown who cried in the alley

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

Oh, who did you meet my blue-eyed son ?
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 whose 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 and hatred

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
And it’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

And what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son ?
And what’ll you do now my darling young one ?

I’m a-goin’ back out ‘fore the rain starts a-fallin’
I’ll walk to the deepths of the deepest black forest
Where the people are a 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
Where the executioner’s face is always well hidden
Where hunger is ugly, where souls are forgotten
Where black is the color, where none is the number
And I’ll tell and think it and speak it and breathe it
And reflect it 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 songs well before I start singin’

And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, and it’s a hard
It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall.

“Someone has to stop the cycle of stupidity in life & in the workforce. Why not you?” she said. – Laurie Ruettimann