Blowin’ in the Wind (1963) – Bob Dylan

It (Blowin’) has been described as a protest song and poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war, and freedom. The refrain “The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind” has been described as “impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind”
– Mick Gold in “Life and Life Only: Dylan at 60” – Judas! magazine April 2002. p. 43.

Blowin’ in the Wind was the first song I remember hearing by Bob Dylan. I mistakenly found it thinking it was Donovan’s Catch the Wind which I had been searching after seeing the Wonder Years episode in which it appeared. You can read more about my ‘beautiful error’ in this article. I listen a lot less to Blowin’ now than I did in my formative years. The same could be said for a lot of Dylan’s early music, but songs such as these which I couldn’t listen enough to in my early teens instilled in me a certain a ‘world-view’ and enabled me to find meaning about my identity and existence and understand more clearly how the world ‘actually’ ticked.

Blowin’ is one of Bob Dylan’s crowning achievements as far as folk-protest music and spiritual anthems are concerned. It is also renowned as one of the greatest songs of all time in contemporary music; listed as No 14 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time“. Similar to what occurred with other significant songs created by Dylan in the 60’s, other groups including Peter, Paul and Mary would achieve considerably more commercial success with his material than he did.

Dylan originally wrote and performed a two-verse version of the song; its first public performance, at Gerde’s Folk City on April 16, 1962, was recorded and circulated among Dylan collectors. Shortly after this performance, he added the middle verse to the song. Some published versions of the lyrics reverse the order of the second and third verses, apparently because Dylan simply appended the middle verse to his original manuscript, rather than writing out a new copy with the verses in proper order.

[Verse 1]
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
How many seas must the white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, and how many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?

[Refrain]
The answer, my friend
Is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind

[Verse 2]
Yes, and how many years can a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
Yes, and how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, and how many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see?

[Refrain]

[Verse 3]
Yes, and how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, and how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, and how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?

[Refrain]

In June 1962, the song was published in Sing Out!, accompanied by Dylan’s comments:

There ain’t too much I can say about this song except that the answer is blowing in the wind. It ain’t in no book or movie or TV show or discussion group. Man, it’s in the wind – and it’s blowing in the wind. Too many of these hip people are telling me where the answer is but oh I won’t believe that. I still say it’s in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it’s got to come down some … But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know … and then it flies away. I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it’s wrong. I’m only 21 years old and I know that there’s been too many wars … You people over 21, you’re older and smarter.

References:
1. Blowin’ in the Wind – Wikipedia