In 1963 Bob Dylan released his highly acclaimed second studio album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. The album opens with one of Dylan’s most iconic songs: “Blowin’ in the Wind”. The song was Dylan’s first hit as a songwriter, thanks to a successful cover version by folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, and introduced many people to Bob Dylan’s work. In this article, we’ll explore the story, meaning, and legacy behind the song!
The Story Behind the Song
The origin behind “Blowin’ in the Wind’s” music lies with an African-American abolitionist spiritual titled “No More Auction Block”. Dylan allegedly learned the song from the Carter family. “That’s the folk tradition,” he later said. “You use what’s been handed down.”
Dylan claimed he put words to the African-American spiritual in just 10 minutes. The song’s idea arose to him after a political discussion with friends in a coffeehouse called ‘the Commons’ faded into silence.
“The idea came to me that you were betrayed by your silence,” He told friends. “That all of us in America who didn’t speak out were betrayed by our silence. Betrayed by the silence of the people in power. They refuse to look at what is happening. And the others, they ride the subways and read the Times, but they don’t understand. They don’t know. They don’t even care, that’s the worst of it.”
After writing down the words, Dylan rushed over to Gerde’s Folk City to play “Blowin’ in the Wind” for the Club’s MC Gil Turner. Deeply impressed, Turner included the song on his setlist later that night, which marks the first live performance of the song on April 16, 1962. A month later, Dylan’s song was published in the folk magazine Broadside.
In the folk scene, “Blowin’ in the Wind” was received with mixed reviews. Dave Van Ronk, for instance, thought the song was ‘incredibly dumb’. Tom Paxton considered it a ‘grocery-list song where one line has absolutely no relevance to the next line’. But most folk artists were deeply impressed with Dylan’s extraordinary song.
Dylan recorded “Blowin’ in the Wind” on July 9, 1962. The song was eventually included on his second studio album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan released in May 1963.
A few weeks later Peter, Paul and Mary released a cover of the song. Their version reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100, and topped the Middle-Road singles chart for 5 weeks. It marked Dylan’s first hit as a songwriter and propelled him towards fame.
The Meaning of the Song
In “Blowin’ in the Wind” Bob Dylan asks rhetorical questions about freedom, peace, and societal ignorance. The answer, Dylan sings, is blowin’ in the wind.
Read more: The 10 Greatest Bob Dylan Songs of All Time
The song’s theme and title are possibly inspired by Woody Guthrie’s book Bound for Glory. Dylan was reportedly obsessed with Guthrie and read the book cover to cover multiple times. In a passage, Guthrie encourages a newspaper, to which he compares himself, to keep blowing in the wind and spread its message, even if it remains unnoticed or is shoved aside.
It explains the meaning of the ‘answers’ that are ‘blowin’ in the wind’. The answers are out there, they just haven’t landed yet. And once they do, people often ignore or dismiss them.
Dylan himself told Sing Out! magazine: “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…
“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.”
The rhetorical questions about freedom, peace, and societal ignorance were instantly connected to the Civil Rights Movement and “Blowin’ in the Wind” was quickly adopted as a protest song. Sam Cooke was deeply impressed that a white man like Dylan could write a song that resonated so well with the Civil Rights Movement. It partially inspired him to write his iconic anthem “A Change Is Gonna Come”.
The Legacy of Blowin’ in the Wind
Bob Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind” is often hailed as the greatest folk song of the 1960s. Besides that, the song is seen as a landmark protest song. Even though Dylan himself said the song wasn’t a protest song and he didn’t want to be seen as a protest singer.
“Blowin’ in the Wind” is also Bob Dylan’s most covered song. The most popular cover is from Peter, Paul and Mary, who reached number 2 on the US Billboard Hot 100 with their version of the song. Other notable covers are from Joan Baez, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Wonder.
Bob Dylan’s original never charted, but it nevertheless became the definite version of the song. The iconic song remains relevant, for both good and bad reasons. Some of the questions Dylan asked in the 1960s remain ‘answers blowin’ in the wind’ to this day.
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