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You are here: Home / Music / A Hard Rain

A Hard Rain

by Tom Levenson|  December 12, 20167:33 pm| 30 Comments

This post is in: Music, Open Threads, Rare Sincerity

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I’m reading M Train right now — my way to push back on the news by diving into someone else’s struggle to live in the act of making work that cuts.  Just now, with the luck of the ‘net, my YouTube bot popped this into my recommend list:

I am much moved by Smith’s break on stage and more so by her return.

The song is obviously on point, the setting is surreal, and Smith herself is a walking, talking, ain’t-bragging-if-you-can-do-it lesson on turning a life into its own artform — as that same life spins its art into the world through all the moil and misery (and those flashes of joy!) that go into walking this earth.

It’s not all Trump and evil out there. I strain to remember that every day, and some days are harder than others. (Yesterday!  Worse than the chicken at Tresky’s.)

But it’s true, and I thank Patti Smith for the reminder.

Top of the evening open thread for all here — with a thick layer of improbable acts with oxidized farm implements to our enemies!

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30Comments

  1. 1.

    rikyrah

    December 12, 2016 at 7:36 pm

    I read on Twitter that the CIA has released the document that Ferret Head tried to slander them with, proving that Shrub and company totally lied on their own.
    Think about that…the CIA is declassifying documents to refute the President-elect of the United States.
    We live in interesting times.

  2. 2.

    Mart

    December 12, 2016 at 7:37 pm

    Made me puddle when listened to earlier. Wife walked by and wanted to know why I was crying.

  3. 3.

    raven

    December 12, 2016 at 7:38 pm

    I went to see the Dali Lama at Emory and Patti was there.

  4. 4.

    mai naem mobile

    December 12, 2016 at 7:39 pm

    I find nobody likeable on Lumpy’s people. Not one. I don’t remember if I felt that way about Dubbya.I can’t stand Kellyanne,Melanoma, all the kids,Kushner,Pence,his idiot mouthpieces. Not one I don’t want to punch hard.

  5. 5.

    petesh

    December 12, 2016 at 7:42 pm

    @rikyrah: Yup, we used to need Dan Ellsberg to do that. Seriously, one of the lessons of the Pentagon Papers was that CIA’s intelligence gathering wasn’t bad (not so much the “covert actions”) but the political bosses cherry-picked, as indeed they did in Cheney’s administration.

  6. 6.

    Yarrow

    December 12, 2016 at 7:46 pm

    Evelyn Farkas who has worked in the defense community for the past 20 years, the past three as deputy assistant secretary of defense for Russia/Ukraine/Eurasia:

    Given Russia’s capabilities and its recent patterns, it is not at all far-fetched to ask whether Trump is indeed the “puppet” Secretary Clinton mockingly named him in the second presidential debate. Is he financially and politically beholden to Russians close to the government and to the Kremlin itself? If so, is he prepared to accommodate Putin’s interests?

    Puppet!

  7. 7.

    Jeffro

    December 12, 2016 at 7:48 pm

    @rikyrah: Good for the CIA. The Right declared war on its fellow citizens a long time ago…they deserve everything they have coming to them.

  8. 8.

    Yarrow

    December 12, 2016 at 7:53 pm

    Like none of us knew….

    “Donald Trump was interviewing Mitt Romney for secretary of State in order to torture him,” Stone said on conspiracy theory website InfoWars. “To toy with him. And given the history, that’s completely understandable. Mitt Romney crossed a line. He didn’t just oppose Trump, which is his democratic right, he called him a phony and a fraud. And a con man. And that’s not the kind of man you want as Secretary of State.”

    These people are sadists. They are coming for the country.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    December 12, 2016 at 7:55 pm

    @rikyrah: that is great. Is there a link to the document?

  10. 10.

    Trentrunner

    December 12, 2016 at 7:57 pm

    Sort of on topic:

    Has anyone heard from either Bernie or Warren on Russia?

    I follow both on Twitter, and perhaps I missed it, but I’ve heard nothing.

    Bernie’s scheduled for a pre-recorded town hall on All In in 4 minutes, so maybe Chris will have asked.

    If they haven’t said anything, weird…right?

  11. 11.

    Thornton Hall

    December 12, 2016 at 7:58 pm

    It’s a way to live your life:

    Oh, what’ll you do now, my blue-eyed son?
    Oh, 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 depths of the deepest black forest
    Where the people are 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 it 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 song well before I start singin’
    And it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard, it’s a hard
    It’s a hard rain’s a-gonna fall

  12. 12.

    Amaranthine RBG

    December 12, 2016 at 8:01 pm

    Was this arranged and cleared with Dylan beforehand.

    If not, it seems a tad disrespectful to step in and sing one of his signature songs after he explicitly decided to skip the ceremony.

    (And, yes, I know it was “legal” and ll that.)

  13. 13.

    rikyrah

    December 12, 2016 at 8:02 pm

    @JPL:

    Here is the article

  14. 14.

    JPL

    December 12, 2016 at 8:07 pm

    @rikyrah: Thanks. Pelosi recently made a statement saying the same thing on her twitter feed.

  15. 15.

    Yarrow

    December 12, 2016 at 8:07 pm

    @rikyrah: The date of that article is March 19, 2015. It’s not a new release by the CIA unless there’s something else new.

  16. 16.

    MobiusKlein

    December 12, 2016 at 8:10 pm

    @Thornton Hall:

    And I’ll tell it and think it and speak it and breathe it
    And reflect it from the mountain so all souls can see it

    QFT

  17. 17.

    PVDMichael

    December 12, 2016 at 8:10 pm

    I couldn’t help myself. Sometimes I have moments of doubt – worries that I’ve drunk the kool-aid.

    So I clicked the link for for a Breitbart article: “10 Ways the CIA’s Russian Hacking Story is Left-Wing Fake News”.

    The misdirection, lies of omission, reference links that don’t check out… *sigh*

  18. 18.

    raven

    December 12, 2016 at 8:11 pm

    @Amaranthine RBG: You are kidding right? Do you think she just flew there and showed up?

    In the end, Bob Dylan didn’t go to Sweden for his Nobel, but he sent his old friend Patti Smith and a wry but gracious speech instead. Sure, in the text he compares himself to Shakespeare, but not in the way you’d think. His comparison is funny (check out his Hamlet jokes!), and also illuminating of his own creative process:

  19. 19.

    Yarrow

    December 12, 2016 at 8:14 pm

    @Trentrunner: I don’t think they’ve said anything.

    Two people who've been very vocal about the future of the Democratic Party but notably quiet about Russia: Bernie Sanders & Elizabeth Warren— Gabriel Debenedetti (@gdebenedetti) December 12, 2016

  20. 20.

    Davis X. Machina

    December 12, 2016 at 8:18 pm

    @Yarrow: Bernie’s on MSNBC right now, IIRC, with Chris Hayes.

  21. 21.

    debbie

    December 12, 2016 at 8:24 pm

    Ah, Patti, you sang that better than Dylan ever could! I don’t think that was just nerves. I’d bet Fred was there with her.

  22. 22.

    laura

    December 12, 2016 at 8:28 pm

    I held Patti Smith’s hand in both of mine.
    Her version of Oh Holy Night guts me every time.

    Patti would remind us that people have the power. Now, more than ever.

  23. 23.

    JPL

    December 12, 2016 at 8:29 pm

    @debbie: I agree.

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    December 12, 2016 at 8:35 pm

    Because it’s an open thread, I need to do a couple of mildish rants.

    I had a manicure today, which I do every 5-6 weeks (the last time was the day before the election). My manicurist was and is a Hillary supporter and detests Trump and is terrified by all he stands for, and of course that’s fine. But that said, I am just completely tired of endlessly talking about Trump in every casual conversation, and I tried to make it clear from the outset that I did not want to discuss the election results or anything related. But she kept going on and on and on. I finally had to be rude and just say, “I need to change the subject, what are you doing for the holidays?”

    Earlier in the afternoon, I went to a matinee of “Miss Sloane.” I think I would have found it very interesting except for the fact that (a) when I got to my seat holding my Seat F-5 ticket stub, there was a couple already comfortably ensconced in F-5 and 6. The theatre wasn’t full so I moved a few seats down rather than disrupt things. But during the film the two of them talked and provided commentary, and then RIGHT AT THE DENOUEMENT, the woman’s phone rang and instead of putting it on mute or at least walking out of the theatre to take the call, she just fucking sat there and chatted. I glared and said “Shush,” but to no avail.

    After the movie was over, I waited outside and when she and her husband came out I sarcastically said “Thank you for ruining what could have been an enjoyable afternoon at the movies.” Instead of apologizing, they started berating me. In this state, I never know if people are open carrying so I didn’t want to engage — it’s not my style anyhow — but I was pissed and upset.

    I’ll bet they both voted for Trump.

  25. 25.

    Ruckus

    December 12, 2016 at 8:43 pm

    Tom, I am a little heartened by discussions I had today with vets at the VA. A fellow I sat with was asked by a passing friend how he was doing and his answer was, “OK, I’m still black!” It helped to focus my angst a bit and we had a wonderful discussion till our days sent us in different directions. The world is still here and while we may find out what it’s like to have a government destroyed from the inside by stupid and evil and many/most of us will suffer from a little to way too fucking much, there is still a lot in this world to enjoy. I was delighted by Patti Smith singing a great song and at the same time it was, as you said, a perfect piece to celebrate the moment and show why Bob Dylan deserved a Nobel.

  26. 26.

    Ruckus

    December 12, 2016 at 8:55 pm

    @SiubhanDuinne:

    I’ll bet they both voted for Trump.

    Rude, boorish and proud of it Even if they didn’t vote for the shit gibbon they deserve the label.
    I once sat next to a couple on a plane and he was reading the latest rush limpballs book and she was complaining about having to be in steerage, “We should have gone First Class!” I wanted to ask why didn’t they, too cheap, too late, too poor, too stupid? But I had the window seat next to her and didn’t feel like a fight, and I was still traveling a lot for business and getting banned off that airline wouldn’t have worked very well for me. They were loud and obnoxious enough that the surrounding passengers may have just defended me, but you never can tell.

  27. 27.

    Ruckus

    December 12, 2016 at 8:58 pm

    @debbie:
    Dylan may have written it but she performed it.

  28. 28.

    Mnemosyne

    December 12, 2016 at 9:02 pm

    @petesh:

    Daniel Ellsberg got taken in by Russian operative Ed Snowden, just like a lot of the left did.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    December 12, 2016 at 9:06 pm

    Wow. Patti now owns that like Ray Charles owns “America the Beautiful.” Thanks for the link.

  30. 30.

    gogol's wife

    December 12, 2016 at 9:18 pm

    Watch that video and say he doesn’t deserve the Nobel Prize for literature. I dare you.

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