About The Song
“Blowin’ in the Wind” is a song originally written by Bob Dylan in 1962. Dylan first performed a two-verse version publicly at Gerde’s Folk City in Greenwich Village on April 16, 1962. He added the middle verse shortly after and recorded the track on July 9, 1962, at Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. The song was published on July 30, 1962, and included on Dylan’s second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, released on May 27, 1963. Dylan claimed he wrote the song in about 10 minutes, adapting the melody from the African-American spiritual “No More Auction Block,” which he may have learned from Carter Family records. The theme drew possible influence from a passage in Woody Guthrie’s autobiography Bound for Glory, and the lyrics incorporated Biblical rhetoric from the Book of Ezekiel.
Peter, Paul and Mary’s cover version was released as a single in June 1963, three weeks after Dylan’s album. It served as the title track for their third album, In the Wind, released in October 1963. The trio recorded their version in a single take, produced by Albert Grossman, who managed both Dylan and the group. Grossman played a demo of the song to them, and they selected it over other options like “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right.” The single sold 300,000 copies in its first week and exceeded one million copies overall.
On the Billboard charts, Peter, Paul and Mary’s version entered the Hot 100 at position 86 on June 23, 1963. It peaked at number 2 on August 17, 1963, held off the top spot by Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips (Part 2).” The song spent 15 weeks on the Hot 100 and reached number 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for five weeks starting in August 1963. Internationally, it hit number 13 on the UK Singles Chart, number 25 on Canada’s CHUM Chart, number 11 in Australia, and number 2 in New Zealand. Cash Box described it as a “medium-paced sailor’s lament sung with feeling and authority by the folk trio.”
At the 6th Annual Grammy Awards in 1964, the cover won two awards: Best Folk Recording and Best Performance by a Vocal Group. In 2003, it was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame. Peter Yarrow of the trio recalled telling Dylan he would earn over $5,000 from publishing rights, leaving Dylan speechless. The song’s success made it world-famous, boosting Dylan’s profile.
Side stories include a November 1963 Newsweek article alleging Dylan plagiarized the song from Lorre Wyatt, a New Jersey high school student who claimed authorship after performing it at school. Wyatt later denied this in 1974, and the rumor was debunked, though circumstantial links existed, such as both being in Greenwich Village in 1962 and Dylan’s visits to Woody Guthrie at Greystone Hospital where Wyatt volunteered. The Chad Mitchell Trio recorded a cover first, but their label delayed release due to the word “death” in the lyrics, allowing Peter, Paul and Mary to release theirs ahead.
Peter, Paul and Mary performed the song at the March on Washington on August 28, 1963, during the event featuring Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech. Dylan gained national exposure performing it with the trio at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. Expert comments include John Bauldie noting in liner notes for The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 that Pete Seeger identified the melody’s source. Michael Gray suggested the lyrics’ use of Biblical elements, and Andy Gill described it as a shift in Dylan’s songwriting from particular to general issues. In a Songfacts interview, Yarrow called it a “fountain of brilliance of poetry.”
Dylan’s original did not chart as a single initially but received airplay, peaking at number 3 in France. In 2021, Dylan re-recorded a version with T Bone Burnett in the Ionic Original format, auctioned at Christie’s in London on July 7, 2022, for £1,482,000.
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Lyric
How many roads must a man walk down
Before they call him a man?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
How many times must the cannonballs fly
Before they’re forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the windHow many years must a mountain exist
Before it is washed to the sea?
How many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
How many times can a man turn his head
And pretend that he just doesn’t see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the windHow many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
How many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
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