Bob Dylan – Blowin' In The Wind lyrics

Bob Dylan, aside from being a talented lyricist and musician, is the man who is credited with killing 'Tin Pan Alley' which was collection of music publishers, musicians and song writers who began operation in 1885, and dominated the music scene through the 60's when it was centered in the Brill Building under the direction of Phil Spector. Today, the only reminder it ever existed is a plaque on a Manhattan sidewalk on 28th Street between Broadway and 6th Streets.

Bob Dylan stepped from obscurity, and recorded 'The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan' in 1963 which a title track of 'Blowin' in the Wind', and every cut on the album was written and recorded by Bob Dylan. It shot to number one at release, and other musicians looked around wondering why they needed 'Tin Pan Alley' if a young man from Minnesota did not, but managed to make a number one album using his own talents. Within the year, every musician was writing their own lyrics and music, and 'Tin Pan Alley' faded into obscurity.

Being the unconventional dissident he was and probably still is, you only have to read the first lyric of 'Blowin' in the Wind' to know its a protest song. Yes, it has a beautiful melody and haunting lyrics, but it questions the social and political norms of the day which would have been the 60's. He is merely asking, 'Why does it have to be this way, and what do we have to do to change it?'

'How many roads must a man walk down, before you can call him a man? How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand? Yes, 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.'

This is such a beautiful song, it's so powerful and as the people below me said the questions are timeless. As is the message. I think the fact that the song is made up with a load of questions with no truth answer is what makes it so powerful because it's so thought provoking, it makes people stop and have to think about the answer. The fact that he only says 'the answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind' shows that no answer has yet been found but it is out there somewhere.
It's a brilliantly effective way to highlight the injustices in the world.