Blowin' in the Wind
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"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in April 1962, and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
It is an example of the protest song, posing as it does philosophical questions about peace, war, and freedom. The fact that its popularity has not greatly diminished over time can perhaps be attributed to the fact that while the song asks these questions, it does not refer specifically to any particular political event.
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It has been covered by hundreds of artists. A few of the better-known acts who have done so are folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary (who actually released their version — which lacks the Harmonica solos after each verse — a few months before Dylan), country guitar virtuoso Chet Atkins, folk chanteuse Judy Collins, soul singer Sam Cooke, blues belter Etta James, Neil Young (with air raid sound effects), Marlene Dietrich, Elvis Presley, Stevie Wonder (whose version became a top 10 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1966), John Fogerty, Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, and was performed by Jenny in the award-winning movie Forrest Gump (sung by Joan Baez), and was lampooned in Me, Myself And Irene. Most recently, in 2005 Dolly Parton recorded the song with the bluegrass trio Nickel Creek.
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[edit] Lyrics
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin'in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind
How many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea?
Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist
Before they're allowed to be free?
Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin'in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind
How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows
That too many people have died?
The answer, my friend, is blowin'in the wind,
The answer is blowin' in the wind
[edit] Origins
Dylan originally wrote and performed a two-verse version of the song; his first public performance of it, at Gerdes Folk City on April 16, 1962, was recorded and circulates 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.
In interviews Dylan has never reported holding as high an opinion of the song in proportion to its acclaim. He has called it a work song, perhaps in reference to its derivative, rather than inspired, nature of its composition, the melody being derived from the old slave song "No More Auction Block", and some of its lyrical structure from the 1953 song "I Really Don't Want to Know".
In 1963, Dylan performed the song for the first time on T.V. in the UK, when he appeared in The B.B.C. television production of Madhouse On Castle Street.
[edit] Post-1960s Life
It was often sung in "folk" Mass in Catholic Churches in the 1970's.
In 1975, the song was included as poetry in a new high school English textbook in Sri Lanka. The textbook caused controversy because it replaced Shakespeare's work with Dylan's.
In 1999, the song was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.
In 2004, this song was #14 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
[edit] References In Pop Culture
- The first line of the song ("How many roads must a man walk down?") is proposed by the mice as the Ultimate Question, in the Douglas Adams' work The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.
- On an episode of The Simpsons, Lisa is playing her saxophone and Homer's mom sings the line "How many roads must a man walk down…" Homer interrupts "seven!"
- There was a play on the title of this song in an episode of Futurama called "Bendin' in the Wind," which guest-starred Beck. Also in Futurama, in an episode where Bender gets stuck to a giant magnet, he appears to go insane and starts singing "Blowin' in the Wind," along with "It's a Small World."
- The character Rat from the comic strip Pearls Before Swine made up a version of Blowin' in the Wind for the "rich and uptrodden", called "My Capital Gains are Blowin' away in the Wind".
[edit] Urban Legend
An urban legend still circulates that the song was actually penned by a High School student named Lorre Wyatt, and subsequently purchased or stolen by Dylan before he gained fame.
The legend was made famous when it was published in a Newsweek article in 1963; while the story left the claims unconfirmed, it prompted plenty of speculation. Several members of Wyatt's school and community reported having heard him singing the song and claiming authorship a full year before it was released by Dylan, or made famous by Peter, Paul and Mary. Wyatt even told his teacher that he'd sold the song for $1,000 and donated the money to charity, when asked why he had suddenly stopped performing it.
It turned out that most claims, from those besides Wyatt, were true. He had performed the song around Millburn, New Jersey long before it was made famous, but not before it had been published and credited to Dylan in the songbooks Broadside and Sing Out! Wyatt finally explained his part in the situation to New Times magazine in 1974. He credited the initial lie to panic that he wasn't pulling his weight as a songwriter in a local band. [1]
