Blowin' in the Wind 

by

Bob Dylan

How many roads must a man walk down

Before you 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 wind

How many years can a mountain exist

Before it’s 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

Pretending he just doesn’t see?

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?

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

© 1962 by Warner Bros. Inc.

Bob Dylan arrived in New York City in 1961 at the age of 19 and began singing in various coffee houses and folk clubs. In 1963 he recorded his second album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan which "represented the beginning of Dylan's writing contemporary lyrics to traditional melodies. Eleven of the thirteen songs on the album are Dylan's original compositions." (Wikipedia)

The album opens with Blowin' in the Wind, which became a classic protest song and an anthem of the civil rights movement.

Peter, Paul and Mary recorded "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and the first week it was released - as a single - it sold a phenomenal 300,000 copies. Eventually it reached number two on the Billboard pop chart.

The song was also recorded by Stevie Wonder, Sam Cooke, Lena Horne and the Staples Singers.

Blowin' in the Wind was published for the first time in May 1962 in the sixth issue of Broadside, the magazine devoted to topical songs founded by Agnes "Sis" Cunningham and Gordon Friesen.

Dylan was inspired to write the song after hearing Delores "Dee" Dixon sing "No More Auction Block for Me" with the quartet, The New World Singers, at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village.

Dylan and Dixon were pals. "We were good friends," Delores recalled. "He would visit my home in Harlem and he loved my grandmothers' cooking."

The New World Singers

Gil Turner, Happy Traum, Delores Dixon, Bob Cohen

"The New World Singers traveled through the South with other musicians and activists during the 1960s. Their performances often bookended the keynote address of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

During the tour Delores Dixon also worked as a planning member for the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee."

The New World Singers were the first to record Blowin' in the Wind.

Listen to the group's version (1963) here.

Source: Will Speros. "Local folksinger celebrated for commitment to civil rights." The Riverdale Press, on-line, 12/9/2015)

During the 1960s Greenwich Village folksingers would play in coffee houses and clubs sometimes getting paid, sometimes "passing the hat" and sometimes just hanging out. Some led hootenannies which were informal gatherings of singers and musicians, taking turns playing, often with audience singalong participation.

Greenwich Village was ground zero of the New York City folk revival.

Gerde's Folk City - along with The Bitter End and Cafe Wha? - was a venue where performers like Joan Baez, Joni Mitchell, Josh White, The Weavers (including Pete Seeger and Woody Guthrie), Judy Collins, Sonny Terry, Brownie McGhee and many others performed. Bob Dylan had his first professional gig there on April 11, 1961.

Delores Dixon, a NYC school teacher, grew up singing gospel music in her church. She joined the The New World Singers as a vocalist and No More Auction Block For Me was part of her repertoire. She stepped forward during their set and sang it, solo, and it was there - at Gerde's Folk City - where Bob Dylan first heard her sing.

The New World Singers were part of the folk music revival, a musical movement which began in the 1940s and peaked in the mid-sixties.

No More Auction Block For Me dates back to the early 1800s when it was sung as a spiritual and emancipation song by people who were enslaved. According to folklorist Alan Lomax, the song was sung by Black soldiers during the Civil War. The two songs - No More Auction Block and Blowin' in the Wind - are musically similar.

Years later Dylan recalled:

"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." (Things Twice, Eyolf Ostrem)

For the full story, as recounted by Ms. Dixon, watch this amazing video Endless Journey of Blowin' in the Wind by the Bob Dylan Center in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (YouTube, 7 minutes)

Delores Dixon, Bob Dylan and Dave Van Ronk in 1962.

Edited photo: Tumblr, c. 2012-2024

Delores Dixon, 2015

Delores Dixon was an accomplished singer and pianist. She sang "No More Auction Block for Me" with the folk song group, The New World Singers. "We were all buddies," she said, "a bunch of nobodies together. Our main hookup was to participate in the civil rights movement."

Photo by Adrian Fussell, Riverdale Press.

No More Auction Block for Me

performed by

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota in 1941; he grew up in Hibbing. Photo (1960) from "42 Vintage photos of Bob Dylan," Bazaar, 7/13/2020, online.

Sad to report the untimely death of Reuben Jackson (left) who died on Feb. 16 at the Washington Hospital Center following a stroke (age 67). Reuben was a poet, teacher, jazz historian, radio host and mentor to young writers.

A graduate of Goddard College in Vermont, Reuben taught at Burlington High School and hosted a Friday night jazz show on Vermont public radio. He worked as an archivist at the University of the District of Columbia’s Felix E. Grant Jazz Archives and co-hosted "The Sound of Surprise" on Pacifica's DC station WPFW-FM. For over 20 years Reuben was curator of the Smithsonian’s Duke Ellington Collection in Washington, D.C.

The poetry and jazz community has lost a good friend. This photograph of Reuben and I was taken in 1984 by Nancy Seeger at the Sisterfire concert in Takoma Park, Md. Many moons ago we all worked together as library technicians at the Smithsonian Libraries.

-- thanks to Young Writers Project.