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About

Genius Annotation

“Blowin' in the Wind” is Bob Dylan’s first single of his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

In this song, Dylan poses a list of hypothetical questions; questions people may say cannot be answered, comparing them to the Civil Rights Struggle. An anthem for black people during the 60s, it even inspired Sam Cooke to write “A Change is Gonna Come”. Dylan does not claim to know the answers, but beautifully says the answers are out there ‘blowin’ in the wind.'

The melody of “Blowin' in the Wind” is Dylan’s adaptation of the old Negro spiritual “No More Auction Block”. Dylan acknowledged the source when he told journalist Marc Rowland: “‘Blowin’ in the Wind' has always been a spiritual. I took it off a song called ‘No More Auction Block’ – that’s a spiritual and ‘Blowin’ in the Wind' follows the same feeling.” – WP

Bob Dylan claimed that it took him ten minutes to write this song in a small café. The song deals with various hypothetical questions surrounding the elements of peace, war, and freedom. Specifically, the song dealt with the civil rights movement.

The song is actually based off an old spiritual “No More Auction Block”, sung by African slaves who fled after Britain abolished slavery. Later on, the song also became adopted as an anthem for the anti-war movement.

When asked about the specific subject of the song Dylan said, “It can mean anything to anybody. It’s critical and it’s hard, this litany of questions about what’s wrong with the world.” If one had to choose one subject to label the song, it would be a song asking “why”. In other words, it asks why we have the issues we do in our world. The answer is blowin’ in the wind.

Q&A

Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning

What did Bob Dylan say about "Blowin' in the Wind"?
Genius Answer

Before playing the song for the first time in 1962, Dylan said:

This here ain’t no protest song or anything like that, ‘cause I don’t write no protest songs’…

That same year, Dylan told Sing Out! magazine:

There ain’t much I can say about this song, except the answer is blowin' in the wind. It ain’t no book or movie or TV show or discussion group, man. It’s in the wind … 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.

Years later he added –

I wrote ‘Blowin’ in the Wind' in 10 minutes, just put words to an old spiritual, probably something I learned from Carter Family records. That’s the folk tradition. You use what’s been handed down.

Credits
Written By
Additional Production
Vocals
Acoustic Guitar
Harmonica
Cover Photo
Talent Manager
Tape Research
Designed At
Recorded At
Columbia Records Studio A - New York City
Release Date
May 27, 1963
Blowin’ in the Wind Covers
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