Bob Dylan's iconic 1962 song "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" stands at the crossroads of musical and literary traditions. Alessandro Portelli explores the power and resonance of the song, considering the meanings of history and memory in folk cultures and in Dylan's work.
Hard Rain is a tapestry of autobiographical essay, music criticism, and pop culture reflection. The style is lovely, and Portelli addresses everything from innocence and apocalypse to lyric structure and oral tradition mnemonic devices through his comparison of Bob Dylan's 'Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' to the traditional folk song 'Lord Randal.'
