Greatest Song Evah 4/11/25

A Hard Rain’s A Gonna Fall

One of the more common attributes of the greatest musical artists is the rapidity of their evolution and growth. Bob Dylan’s debut album was almost entirely composed of covers of old folk & blues standards, and even his original songs on that release were heavily derived from older material. Yet less than a year later, he was capable of coming up with this.

Years have a way of blurring; nowadays it’s easy to think of this song as having been written about the Cuban Missile Crisis, but Dylan actually performed this song on national television for the first time more than a month before the crisis. Even though it wasn’t specifically about that event, the fear of nuclear holocaust is an overt presence in the chorus. Dylan being Dylan, he has changed his story about the meaning behind the imagery more than once, indicating that despite the references to hard rain it is more about darkness in general than it is specifically about nuclear doom.

Just because songs have a meter and they often rhyme doesn’t necessarily mean that they are automatically poetry. This song is an exception. It is undeniably poetic; if one would read the content without knowing that it is the lyrics to a song it could easily be read as a poem. So many of the lines paint a vivid picture, and it’s hard to hear a line such as “I heard one person starve, I heard many people laughing” in 2025 without getting angry. Plus ça change…

The song’s structure has a distinctive characteristic. It is constructed as a question and answer session, with each verse phrased slightly differently: where have you been, what did you see, what did you hear, what did you meet, what’ll you do now? The song has been covered by dozens of artists over the years, but no one has ever topped the original. The sparse production adds to the power of the track; there are no bells & whistles so the listener is forced to focus on the lyrics.

The success of A Complete Unknown has spurred renewed focus on Bob Dylan, early Dylan in particular, and that can only be a good thing. His early set of albums perfectly illustrate why he mattered and why he still matters. This song is as powerful as one hundred drummers whose hands were a-blazing.

The Side Categories (Conclusion)

I’ll wrap up my look at potential side category candidates for the Hall with what has been a contentious part of the induction process. The Hall has increasingly started to use the side categories as a back entrance way of inducting artists that had not been voted in but could have a case made for them in either the Musical Excellence or Musical Influence categories. In theory there is nothing wrong with it; it lowers the odds of an act going through a multi-year torture the way that Chic did, but it does feel a bit manipulative.

As for Chic, one of the earliest signs of the theory was when Nile Rodgers was deservedly honored in the Musical Excellence category after Chic had been nominated in the artist category a whopping 11 times. It’s unfortunate that the late Bernard Edwards was not inducted at the same time. If nothing else the Good Times bassline is one of the foundational music samples of the era. Edwards is just as deserving of a spot in the Hall as Rodgers.

Most observers take it as a given that The New York Dolls will make it in this year. They have almost the exact profile that the MC5 do, sadly right down to the fact that the final surviving member will have passed away just before the induction. I will also repeat what I have said previously that I feel very confident that Kris Kristofferson will be a Musical Excellence inductee.

Who else? Two artists I can think of who have had multiple nominations that can be shoehorned into either category are Devo and Fela Kuti. The Meters are another possibility; they were one of the great funk bands and did some wonderful studio work as well. The Memphis Horns added flavor to so many of the best Stax Records hits; they would be a worthy addition. The Judas Priest induction also sets a precedent; that could pave the way for using this method to induct Iron Maiden.

If there is one artist that is the most worthy in my opinion, it’s an easy call. War had been nominated 3 times, and their induction is long overdue. Not only were they massively popular, but at least 4 of their hit records are modern day standards. As for influence? Years ago I had heard that they were the third most sampled artist in music, behind only James Brown and George Clinton. I don’t know how accurate that stat was, or if it still holds, but it’s plausible when you think of how often you have heard that Low Rider hook.

Over the course of the last several weeks I have offered a few dozen suggestions. Which means that when the induction announcement is made at the end of this month the class will entirely consist of people whom I hadn’t thought of. My overall take is that of all of the names that I have mentioned over the course of the last several weeks, there are 2 that had better appear on the list of honorees: Estelle Axton & War. Don’t let me down.

The National Recording Registry

I can’t help but feel a tinge of sadness whenever I see news about a new crop of lifetime achievement honorees. To use the most obvious example now that you know who has taken over stewardship of the Kennedy Center it’s apparent that going forward the Kennedy Center Honors along with the Mark Twain Prize will likely be forever tarnished. So, this week’s announcement of the 2025 additions to the National Recording Registry feels like it could be one of the last of such lists with the usual level of prestige.

Now, to clarify, this list is compiled under the auspices of the Library Of Congress, not the Kennedy Center, and he and his minions haven’t gotten their grubby little fingers on that institution yet, YET. So it is still the standard range of recordings that are set for preservation, recordings that stretch across all era and all genres. There are some famous recordings, some obscure, some “oh yeah I know that one,” even some sound effects. Let us hope that this will still be the case in 2026; we cannot afford to lose the institutions that preserve our collective culture.

The LA (?) Olympic Program

Earlier this week the IOC officially announced the additional events which will be added to the program in the next Summer Olympics. There are a few notable changes. The swimming competition will now include 50 meter races for all 4 strokes, not just the freestyle. In a sign of confidence for that sport, sports climbing will now contest the boulder and lead disciplines separately, rather than combine them into one event. The Olympics will also increase the number of mixed gender events.

For all of the legitimate criticism that the IOC receives, they deserve credit for their attempts to achieve gender equity. The number of teams competing in women’s water polo will increase from 10 to 12, which matches the number of teams in the men’s tournament. More significantly, the women’s soccer tournament is increasing from 12 teams to 16, whereas the field in the men’s tournament will remain at 12. And as had been indicated earlier, boxing will remain a part of the Olympics after all.

Now for the tough part. A couple of weeks ago I discussed the feasibility of the United States being able to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the 2028 Olympics in the current atmosphere, and things have deteriorated even further since then. Simply put, it is not safe to travel here from another country, and the thought of holding such massive international events here seems preposterous. David Rothschild put it best on Bluesky the other day. It was in reference to the World Cup, but it is just as applicable to the Olympics. “This is not like hosting Olympics in 1936 Germany. It is like hosting Olympics in 1936 Germany.” That is not an exaggeration. People are being shipped to El Salvador without due process. Student visas are being cancelled without warning. If this doesn’t end immediately, can FIFA or the IOC guarantee the safety of visitors? Are either of the two organizations working on contingency plans? Is it even possible to switch venues at this late date if deemed necessary? It’s a sobering thought.

SNL Preview

I bet that most people would be surprised to learn that Jon Hamm is not a 5-timer, but it’s true. He hosted 3 times during Mad Men’s run, and he was a reliably strong host. His James Mason impression in the Vincent Price Halloween Special is an all-timer. He has made several cameo appearances in the years since, but this weekend will only be his 4th time as the host. Needless to say based on his past history I have very high hopes for this weekend. Lizzo will be the musical guest.

The DC Comics IP - Legion Of Super Heroes

The Legion has been one of the longest lasting DC Comics series. There was once an animated adaptation, but there has never been a live action version, and for an assortment of logistical reasons it is extremely unlikely that there will ever be one. Some of the individual characters have appeared on Smallville and/or Supergirl, but that’s it, which also means that most of the characters are unfamiliar to casual fans. On the other hand, the long history of these characters creates a natural sense of nostalgia, and the evolution of the team perfectly illustrates the change in comic book storytelling from Silver Age era cheesiness to something a little more ambitious.

The Legion was introduced in the late 1950’s as a Superboy spinoff. The original team was a trio of super powered teens from the 30th century who had taken inspiration from Superboy and invited him to join their super hero club. Apparently Superboy had enough free time on his hands to intermittently travel 1000 years into the future. With each subsequent issue more characters were added to the team; all told there were more than 2 dozen heroes that were members of the Legion at any one time.

Not unlike Star Trek, the vision of the future came with a semi-utopian ideal of multi-world cooperation. The Legion operated under a charter established by the United Planets, headquartered on Earth. I’m not going to pretend that the universe building was terribly complex. For the first 15 years or so the tone was fully attuned to the fact that comics at the time were fully written for and marketed to children. The characters were relatively interchangeable with little discernible personality, it wasn’t until the mid 70’s that you started to see any two-dimensional characters.

As much affection as I may have for the characters, there wasn’t much creative thought put into them. They were virtually all humanoid in design, which is a lost opportunity when you consider that the creative staff literally had a universe of possibilities that they could tap into. That’s not to mention the naming protocols used for most of the heroes. Want to take a wild guess as to what Colossal Boy’s powers were? Or Lightning Lad? Or Sun Boy? Phantom Girl? That goes all the way down to the 2 most mockable names - Bouncing Boy & Matter Eater Lad. (Keith Giffen loved to have fun with this when he was the writer. In one issue that included tryouts, one of the potential heroes auditioning for a spot in the Legion was Arm Fall Off Boy. His power was that he could remove one of his arms and use it as a weapon. Giffen’s ultimate creation was Infectious Lass. “What do you do?” “I make people sick.”)

The Legion grew more mature as the comic book industry in general did. In all of the years that I read it, I never considered it the crème de la crème of the DC Universe, but it was always an entertaining read. I’m sure that I would enjoy seeing a live action adaptation, but it’s unlikely to happen. For one thing, with so many characters on the team there would need to be some serious paring down to make it cohesive. Secondly, the budget would have to be pretty significant to do the story justice, and there is not sufficient interest to justify that sort of financial investment. Perhaps in an alternate universe in which it was DC & not Marvel that became the dominant force in the movie industry the Legion could have become as much of a tentpoles as Guardians Of the Galaxy. Instead, Chameleon Boy fans will have to be satisfied by what they get on the printed page.

Closing Laughs

That will be all for today. Self care is important in these times; please remember to carve out time for something that will bring you joy. Have a terrific weekend and we will talk again on Monday.