<P> "When I got back from India, and got to the West Coast, there's a poet, Charlie Plymell - at a party in Bolinas--played me a record of this new young folk singer . And I heard "Hard Rain," I think . And wept .' Cause it seemed that the torch had been passed to another generation . From earlier bohemian, or Beat illumination . And self - empowerment ." </P> <P> Author Ian MacDonald described "A Hard Rain" as one of the most idiosyncratic protest songs ever written . </P> <P> Although Dylan may have first played the song to friends, "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" was formally premiered at Carnegie Hall on September 22, 1962, as part of a hootenanny organized by Pete Seeger . Seeger recalled: "I had to announce to all the singers,' Folks, you're gonna be limited to three songs . No more .' Cause we each have ten minutes apiece .' And Bob raised his hand and said,' What am I supposed to do? One of my songs is ten minutes long ."' </P> <P> Dylan featured the song regularly in concerts in the years since he premiered it, and there have been several dramatic performances . An October 1963 performance at Carnegie Hall was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 7: No Direction Home, while another New York City performance, recorded one year later, appeared on The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall . Dylan performed the song in August 1971 at The Concert for Bangladesh, organized by George Harrison and Ravi Shankar . The concert was organized for East Pakistan refugee relief (now independent Bangladesh) after the 1970 Bhola cyclone and during the 1971 Bangladesh Liberation War . On December 4, 1975, at the Forum de Montreal, Canada, Dylan recorded an upbeat version of the song, which appears on The Bootleg Series Vol. 5: Bob Dylan Live 1975, The Rolling Thunder Revue album . On May 23, 1994, Dylan performed the song at "The Great Music Experience" festival in Japan, backed by a 90 - piece symphony orchestra conducted by Michael Kamen . At the end of 2007, Dylan recorded a new version of "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" exclusively for Expo Zaragoza 2008 world fair, scheduled to open on June 8, 2008, to highlight the Expo theme of "water and sustainable development". As well as choosing local - band Amaral to record a version of the song in Spanish, Dylan's new version ended with a few spoken words about his "being proud to be a part of the mission to make water safe and clean for every human being living in this world ." </P>

Who sings a hard rain's gonna fall in outlander