The Life of a Song: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall

FT Life of a Song by Financial Times

May 14, 20177:52Arts

David Cheal looks at how Bob Dylan took inspiration from an old Scottish border ballad while writing this era-defining apocalyptic vision of what he saw as the violent, ignorant and hypocritical socio-political landscape...

Related Episodes

Continue listening to more episodes from FT Life of a Song.

Sincerity or self-branding: what defines millennial music?

Apr 20, 2018 - 21:15

From the unstoppable rise of hip-hop to the 'millennial whoop', what does today's new music sound like? A...

Kate Bush's Wuthering Heights

Mar 15, 2018 - 26:06

When "Wuthering Heights" was released 40 years ago this year, it became the first song written and perfor...

1968: The Year that Music Changed

Jan 23, 2018 - 28:32

Set against a backdrop of protest and upheaval, the songs released in 1968 represent a turning point in m...

The best Christmas music: a definitive guide

Dec 19, 2017 - 19:47

What makes a good Christmas song? Should it be cheesy or serious? And why do millennials love them? FT po...

The Life of a Song: Strange Fruit

Nov 17, 2017 - 22:09

Billie Holiday’s 1939 'Strange Fruit' was called 'the first significant protest in words and music, the f...

The Life of a Song: Make You Feel My Love

Oct 19, 2017 - 15:30

From Bob Dylan to Adele, the song that was first called 'a spare ballad undermined by greetingcard lyrics...

The Hits that Shook the World

Sep 15, 2017 - 36:35

In a special episode to mark the publication of The Life of a Song book, FT pop critics Helen Brown, Davi...

The Life of a Song: Wild Thing

Aug 14, 2017 - 17:59

It achieved distinction in an era of elemental riffs, and journeyed effortlessly to and fro across the At...