Blog 2

Bob Dylan’s music – as well as the protest music genre that was emerging onto the popular scene during Dylan’s early career – is ripe with rich, multi-dimensional material. In particular, his song “Blowin’ in the Wind”, because of its many covers and use in the civil rights movement, has been a source of analysis.

In a thesis submitted to Wake Forest University by Laura Bette Riddle, an analysis of what she calls the “movement persona” is given. The movement persona, she argues, is the social change movement that was so prevalent in the 1960’s. Because many protest songs arose during this time, the movement is often characterized by music. The movement persona is not only encompassed by the artist, but also by the audience. Riddle narrows her scope of the movement persona to that of the music of two great folk artists – Bob Dylan and Pete Seeger. Because both artists have had their songs covered various times by various musicians who also advocate for social change, their music is exemplary in a song’s impact on audiences.

In her abstract, she describes her analysis as an Aristotelian approach. She examines the artistic proofs – the ethos, pathos, and logos – as well as the major themes within various songs by both musicians. In regards to “Blowin’ in the Wind”, she specifically observes the relationship in the song between the singer and the audience and how the song’s lyrics (such as when Dylan refers to the audience as “my friend”) connect these two together. The song is rife with metaphor and Riddle attempts to explain these metaphors and seemingly elusive imageries and connects them with the social movement.

She attempts to explain, for example, the reference to the sea in a lyric from the first verse: “Yes’n how many seas must a white dove sail before she sleeps in the sand?” The sea – she argues – is representative of the social movement at the time. Movement is likened to a force of nature (much like the waves of the ocean) – something which is ultimately inevitable. The white dove represents the people of the movement. A white dove is often seen as a symbol of purity, of peace, or true intention. Dylan is illustrating the people of this social change (possibly the black community, as this song was – again – tied heavily to the civil rights movement) in the same light as the dove. The community will sail through various inevitable changes until it ultimately “sleeps in the sand” – the shore, a restful place that is not tumultuous.

Riddle continues in her analysis of the lyrics while noting the amount of pathos Dylan projects towards the audience. No doubt, the song conjures many emotions and its use as a protest song is clear to the song’s success in that area. It also connects singer to audience by asking the listener questions as well as in its use of the words “my friend” to describe this same audience.

After reading Riddle’s (as well as others’) analysis of Dylan’s song, I learned that the lyrics of a song are only half the story. In Riddle’s article, the true quest was finding the connection between the lyricist and the audience and the impact those lyrics has on that audience. While what Dylan sings in his song is important (and up for many different interpretations), what came about because of his words is just as significant – the covers, the use in protest rallies, etc. While the movement that arose during the time of this song is, for the most part, well known in American society, it will be interesting to see some of the direct outcomes that resulted from this particular song.

Works Cited

Riddle, Laura Bette. "BOB DYLAN, PETE SEEGER AND THE MOVEMENT PERSONA." Web. 28 Sept. 2015. <https://wakespace.lib.wfu.edu/bitstream/handle/10339/14687/RiddleMastersThesis2010.pdf>.

Blog 1

From one of the premiere voices of a generation, Bob Dylan’s ballad “Blowin’ in the Wind” was written in 1962 and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. When Dylan performed the song in April of 1962 at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village, New York City, he claimed, “This here ain’t no protest song or anything like that, ‘cause I don’t write no protest songs” (Rolling Stone). Over time, however, the song has arguably become one of the most famous protest songs. It has been covered by many different musical artists, garnering it a lasting legacy. Sung by the musical group Peter, Paul & Mary, it was performed at the steps of the Lincoln Memorial hours before Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his “I have a dream” speech. It has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and, according to Rolling Stone magazine, is ranked as one of the “greatest songs of all time”.

According to NPR, Dylan claimed “Blowin’ in the Wind” took him only ten minutes to compose. The song begins (and continues throughout) by asking the listener grand, philosophical questions. The queries “How many roads must a man walk down/ before they call him a man?” and “How many years must a mountain exist/ before it is washed to the sea?” beg the listener to ponder and ruminate on life’s big disparities. All of Dylan’s questions eventually culminate in an answer: “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind/ the answer is blowin’ in the wind.” The ambiguity of this answer helps it attract various audiences who perceive different messages in the lyrics depending upon their agenda.

Its melody borrowed heavily from an old Negro spiritual song “No More Auction Block” (a song that later appeared on a bootleg series of Dylan recordings from 1962). “No More Auction Block”’s lyrics tell of a presumed slave who sings, “no more auction block for me… no more driver’s lash for me… no more whip lash for me… no more pint of salt for me/many thousands gone.” The lyrics in “Blowin’ in the Wind” make reference to this enslavement, asking, “How many years can some people exist/before they’re allowed to be free?” The song’s performance at the site of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I have a dream speech” only helped to further cement its place as a pivotal song of the civil rights movement that was taking place at the time.

The song also gained popularity with the anti-war sentiment that gained steam during the time of the song’s release. Asking “How many seas must a white dove sail/ before she sleeps in the sand?”, “How many times must the cannon balls fly/ before they’re forever banned”, and “How many deaths will it take till he knows/ that too many people have died?”, the anti-war movement resonated with the lyrics they interpreted as advocating for peace and an end to war. The imagery of something “blowin’ in the wind” can also be noted as very calming and peaceful in and of itself.

To this day, “Blowin’ in the Wind” is performed at protest rallies and anti-war demonstrations. It elevated Bob Dylan as a folk-rock icon and established his place in both musical and American history.