Bob Dylan – Blowin’ in the Wind – Lyrics – An early anti-war song. An example of early Dylan ‘Protest’.
The early Bob Dylan had a knack of taking an important subject, such as war, and encapsulating the emotion and presenting the case against in a few words. The songs were simple, had poetic content and were effective. They aroused the sensibilities of a generation and captured the mood of everyone involved. He put into words what everyone was thinking and helped them to make their own feelings and thoughts more concrete. He took us all on a journey into our conscience and helped us empathise and understand in a way nobody else had done. He drew people in so that what started as a small number became a much bigger movement. It fed directly into the late sixties protest movement. I wonder if all the sixties underground would have happened without him.
Albert Grossman recognised the potential (as did the Queen of Folk Joan Baez) and harnessed it. He took Blowin’ in the Wind and persuaded the more poppy Peter Paul and Mary to record it. It was a breakthrough. Dylan was big business. Protest was born. Dylan went on to change the course of Rock Music. He created an adult-orientated movement in both style, structure and content. The man is a genius.
In this time where the world is in uproar, barrel bombs are being dropped in Syria on children, schools, hospitals and relief convoys, we need our protest singers more than ever. Where is the new Bob Dylan? Someone to galvanise our horror into action?
Where is the old Bob Dylan? How about a new album of protest and outrage?
Bob Dylan – Blowin’ In The Wind
Before you 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.Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it’s washed to the sea ?
Yes, how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free ?
Yes, how many times can a man turn his head
Pretending he just doesn’t see ?
The answer my friend is blowin’ in the wind
The answer is blowin’ in the wind.Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, 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.
I’m doing one of my research papers on counterculture in the 60’s and 70’s and was just listening to this song. It’s crazy how it’s still so relevant.
Well Pooj if you want some inside info on the counterculture just ask – I was in it and part of it.
I will definitely reach out if I have any questions!
Feel free. I can recommend some of the more obscure music that reflected the social politics.
That would be extremely helpful actually because my paper is about how it was more then just hippies doing drugs- it actually was much more political than people think.
The drugs issue is an interesting one for the counterculture.
The culture had separation and identity through it’s hair, clothes, music, philosophy, to a lesser extent literature and the drugs it used.
Marijuana/hashish was the common denominator. The counterculture tended to call themselves Freaks. Their philosophy was to reject the lifestyle of the establishment (careers, money and status symbols) for a more simple egalitarian, all-inclusive, lifestyle – back to nature, respect for everybody, live simply, no power games, anti-war, anti-greed, non-racist. They wanted a set of non-hypocritical values – spirituality (particularly Zen Buddhism and eastern religion), sex, drugs, colourful clothes, hedonism, fun, travel, adventure and non-conformity. Marijuana was used as a type of identity, a symbol. The straight culture used alcohol (a highly destructive drug) Freaks used dope. When people met the first thing that they did was roll a joint and share it. It was like the American plains Indians. It was a signal of brotherhood, sharing and identifying of similar views. A tribal sacrament.
The other main drug was LSD (or mescaline STP mushrooms) which for many had a more spiritual purpose – to augment the quest for enlightenment/knowledge/understanding.
I wrote a book (very early on) about the sixties. The Times and Tales of a Sixties Freak I talk about everything to do with the sixties in that.
In the UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Times-Tales-Sixties-Freak-standard/dp/1517288703/ref=sr_1_28?dchild=1&keywords=Opher+Goodwin&qid=1585125303&s=books&sr=1-28&swrs=6AA26372C7C2DE935DE036E221ED6F55
In Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Times-Tales-Sixties-Freak-ebook/dp/B00MG4C2TA/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=The+Times+and+Tales+of+a+Sixties+Freak+-&qid=1585125495&sr=8-1
You might find it helpful.
Thank you for the information and I’ll definitely check out the book!
Cheers Pooj. I hope it is helpful. That book sounds just what you need for your course.
It is very helpful and I’m sure the book will help too!
Cheers Pooj.