Blowing in the Wind

How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man?
Yes, n how many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand?
Yes, n how many times must the cannon balls fly
Before theyre forever banned?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

How many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky?
Yes, n how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry?
Yes, n 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.

How many years can a mountain exist
Before its washed to the sea?
Yes, n how many years can some people exist
Before theyre allowed to be free?
Yes, n how many times can a man turn his head,
Pretending he just doesnt see?
The answer, my friend, is blowin in the wind,
The answer is blowin in the wind.

Blowing in the Wind
Michael Tulio

From the start of the Civil Rights Era, African Americans were the most poorly treated humans. During the early 1950’s, African Americans started to form protest groups that would do non-violence acts such as, bus boycotts, marches, and protest songs. From then on protest songs started to evolve and change the world. Bob Dylan’s “Blowing in the Wind,” is an example of a war protest song. Bob Dylan believed on protesting war and that it should be put to a stop. It floats many questions and different situations about what is going on with other people’s wars and problems. Even without a stable answer, Dylan’s hit “Blowin’ in the Wind” off the 1963 album “The Freewheelin’” was one of his best works that raises questions about peace, war, and freedom while sharing his talent of songwriting.

Bob Dylan also known as Robert Allen Zimmerman of Jewish heritage was born on May 24, 1941. He was raised in Duluth, Minnesota by his family. He learned to play harmonica and piano by age ten and taught himself to play the guitar. He grew up listening to the music of Elvis, Little Richard, Hank Williams and Woody Guthrie. While he was in college he changed his name to Bob Dylan because he thought it sounded cool. His epic protest song “Blowing in the Wind” was made famous for having lyrics talking about civil rights and anti-war, which was released on May 27, 1963. During his performance he announced, "This here ain't no protest song or anything like that, 'cause I don't write no protest songs." Even if his intentions of the song weren’t much of a protest, Dylan was wrong.

The song raises many questions about human rights, war, oppression, etc. The first line of the song “How many roads must a man walk down? Before you can call him a man,” raises the question, on how much a man has to endure and experience before he gains respect. These questions may also be referring to the protesters walking the streets, trying to gain respect and equality.

Many people seek to find freedom; many of those people were African Americans. Rosa Parks makes the most ridiculous act which was not giving up her seat to a white man. On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks was arrested for refusing to comply with the Jim Crow Laws that required her to give up her seat to a white man. The Montgomery Bus boycott had sparked and from then on, they were trying to seek freedom from using non-violence acts. In this quote, “Yes, ‘n’ how many seas must a white dove sail,” complies with how the African Americans were using little action to seek freedom for themselves and has just started their journey to find where they should belong to. In other cases, the quote might be that the dove is a universal symbol for peace. Dylan asks the question how long must it be flying before it can rest and not worry about war.
Civil Rights have been evolving numerous times, from African Americans to the Islamic people. The lyrics from “Blowing in the Wind,” talks about general problems between the world In this quote, “How many times must a man look up before he can see the sky?” We can deduce that Dylan talks about the gun-smoke between two countries or two persons. Also he says that how many times can the world look at war and realize it is not worth the loss of life. He asks another question of how many people must die before the world can stop their wars.  The last lines of every verse say, “The answer is blowin’ in the wind”; Dylan implies the answer can’t be seen and society just needs to know it’s there and we need to find it.

African Americans were the most effected people during the Civil Rights Movement. Slavery has taken its toll on the African American community and has left a dent on their people. In this quote, “Yes ‘n’ how many years can some people exist before they are allowed free?” We can conclude that to this day, there are people still in slavery and also that it is an anti-war metaphor. Dylan is saying that people being sent off to war to fight and not being able to do what they choose, has gone on for too long.

In 2004 Rolling Stone magazine placed Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the wind” at number 14 on the “Top 500 Songs of All Time”. It wasn’t placed there for the sound of the music or the catchiness of it. It was there because Dylan’s songwriting ability gave the world an anthem they could have during a time that they needed one. “Blowing in the Wind” never references a certain event. That has helped the song live on through the decades to continue to be a strong protest song for the new and near generations.