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.