Lately I’ve been thinking about big picture questions that go way beyond my personal needs and dreams. I worry about global crises related to the loss of democracy, our ailing planet, and the inability of humans to cohabit our gorgeous blue marble. As it happened, I was listening to Bob Dylan’s beautiful Blowin’ in the Wind and realized it might be possible that there are no answers, that these crises will play out, and the chips will fall where they may. Is there hope?
Blowin’ in the Wind: An Anthem, a Prayer, a Call to Action?
“…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.” Bob Dylan, June 1962
Blowin’ in the Wind was released as a single and included on Bob Dylan’s album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, in 1963. Described as a protest song, it 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.”
In 1994, Blowin’ in the Wind was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. In 2004, it ranked number 14 on Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Songs of All Time.”
In Martin Scorsese’s documentary on Dylan, No Direction Home, Mavis Staples expresses her astonishment on first hearing the song and says she could not understand how a young white man could write something that captured the frustration and aspirations of black people so powerfully. (Blowin’ in the Wind is sometimes referred to as an anthem of the civil rights movement.)
Sam Cooke was similarly deeply impressed by the song, incorporating it into his repertoire soon after its release. He has said that he was inspired by Dylan’s song to write A Change Is Gonna Come.
A Footnote: Bob Dylan Wins the Big Prize!
Peter, Paul and Mary recorded a single of Blowin’ in the Wind which sold 300,000 copies in the first week of release and made the song world-famous. On August 17, 1963, it reached number two on the Billboard pop chart, with sales exceeding one million copies. Peter Yarrow recalled that, when he told Dylan he would make more than $5,000 ($48,000 in 2022) from the publishing rights, Dylan was speechless. Well, Bob Dylan, you keep me speechless and in awe always.
In closing, Bob Dylan is the 2016 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature. How beautiful is that?
The Baby Bee Gees Sing Blowin’ in the Wind
In researching this story, I stumbled upon something that totally blew my socks off: the Bee Gees singing the song! It’s 1963! They’re babies!
