Hard Rain – new book of environmental photos set to Dylan’s lyrics

Hard Rain: Our Headlong Collision With Nature, is a new (2006) book of environmental photos by Mark Edwards documenting a “World Gone Wrong”. The photographs are juxtaposed with the full lyrics from the Dylan song A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall.

Each photo in the collection, inspired by Hard Rain, illustrates a line from the song, which is reproduced in its entirety, giving the book its structure.

Edwards tells how, in 1969, lost in the Southern Sahara desert, he was rescued by a Tuareg nomad on a camel, who took him to a camp, fed him and then proceeded to play Dylan’s recording of A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall on a cassette machine!

The book, published 37 years later, is a credible adaptation of the theme of Dylan’s early 1960s song to a contemporary concern. It confirms what we already knew, of course – that much of Dylan’s writing is timeless - it will continue to illuminate the big issues for decades. And that there’s a rapidly growing body of art inspired by Mr Zim.

Hard Rain, a striking collection of images, is a must-have if you’re a Dylan book completist (like me) and/or a committed eco-warrior.


www.hardrainproject.com



Gerry Smith