Audio Example 11.1:

"Hard Rain," live (1964, San José)

This live recording is representative of the song as Dylan performed it in the mid-60s. By this point he'd been playing it for a couple years; the huge cheer makes clear how well his audience knows it. He is beginning to introduce some very small melodic variations—listen especially to the way he leaves each of the son's answers hanging melodically—but by and large he follows the studio version quite closely.