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Lyrics to A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Street Life Edit)

Lyrics to the song A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Street Life Edit) as recorded by Bryan Ferry.

See lyrics listed for unedited song version.

 

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Street Life Edit)

Album Track

Bryan Ferry's version of A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall was edited for the Street Life 20 Great Hits compilation album in 1986.

Words & Music by Bob Dylan

This was the first solo single released by Bryan Ferry. His version of the Bob Dylan track raised a few eyebrows with its completely new interpretation. Bryan took the 3/4 acoustic track and turned it into a 4/4 stomping rock track. The single was backed with a re-recorded version of the Roxy Music track 2HB and reached number 10 in the UK charts in October 1973. This was the first single from the These Foolish Things album and was the first of over 80 songs to date written by other people to be released by Bryan Ferry.

Bryan performed this song during his 1974 mini tour and also at some shows during the As Time Goes By, Frantic & Dylanesque tours. Roxy Music also performed this Ferry solo track during their 'Siren' tour when the set list also included Diamond Head & Wild Weekend from the Phil Manzanera & Andy MacKay solo albums.
A Hard Rain's A Gonna Fall was also used 20 years later as a B-side to the single Will You Love Me Tomorrow.

The song was originally cut down to a 3:22  version but the album version was eventually used on the 7". This short version was available on a USA promo 7" and was eventually released on CD for the first time on The Best Of Bryan Ferry in 2009..

What Bryan Says.....
"It's not meant to be jokey," Bryan insists, anxiously. "It's very serious. I think it's a beautiful song, although I can't be bothered with all that Cuba Crisis stuff but his intentions where completely sincere.  Dyan's original was a poem with guitar backing but there are a hell of a lot of images in that song that I wanted to emphaisize muiscially . I thought it would sound good as a rock number...but the simple fact that it was controversial was a good thing"

Song Musicians

A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall (Street Life Edit) is on the following Roxy Music and Solo Albums