Sunday Music – Blowin’ In The Wind – The Bob Dylan Series (Part 1)

Today’s music video is ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ from Peter Paul and Mary.

This video was posted to You Tube by heroesofthesidewalk

Today, I’m going to start a series on Bob Dylan. That doesn’t mean I’ll be playing a Bob Dylan clip every week for the duration of the series. In the 60′s as Bob Dylan was starting his legendary career, his songs were ‘covered’ be numerous artists and became hits for them, some of them in fact, huge hits. So, there is a plethora of Dylan songs out there from all those other artists and bands, each with their own different style, so, even though they were all written by Dylan, there is a distinct variety. Dylan had that certain edge in his voice, and some listeners preferred the more melodious versions of his songs from those other artists and bands, so much so that even the record company started to promote Bob with the catchy ‘Nobody does Dylan like Dylan.’

The first of Dylan’s songs to make it big was ‘Blowin’ In The Wind’ from Peter Paul and Mary.   …  

Bob Dylan has lived life in the public eye, even while remaining a deeply private person. I’m not going to give his life history here, because there is not enough space, and it is covered better in other fora.

Bob moved from Minnesota to New York in 1961 to pursue a career in music and also to visit an ailing Woody Guthrie, a man he credits with inspiring him. He was picked up by a record company and his first album broke even, just. He honed his trade performing in the folk clubs of NY and gradually gained a foothold in that area. He changed his name in 1962, and released his second album in 1963, ‘The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan’. The album had 13 tracks, 11 of them written by Dylan. Three of those tracks have become legendary Dylan songs. The album did fairly well in the US, actually making it to Number 22 on the Album charts. However, in the UK, it went to Number One. Dylan also released this song as a single and it didn’t make the charts anywhere.

However, it was picked up by Peter Paul and Mary a few weeks after the album was released. Their version of this song was a monster hit, making it to Number two on the Billboard chart and it was Number One on the Easy Listening chart for 5 weeks. In the first week of release, it sold 300,000 copies alone, which was unprecedented at that time, and their version eventually sold more than a million copies. This was in 1963, and when Peter Yarrow told Bob that he might make $5,000 or even more just in the royalties from the song, Dylan was actually speechless, and keep in mind this is in 1963 Dollars. This song has been recorded by literally hundreds of artists and bands from all across the spectrum of music and has been translated into numerous languages for recording in those Countries.

Dylan wrote the song in 1962, and the lyrics were published in a small folk music journal of the time called Sing Out. Bob was asked to add some commentary on the ‘meaning of the song’, and here’s what he said at the time, as a young 21 year old just starting out on his career.

There ain’t too much I can say about this song except that the answer is blowing in the wind. It ain’t in no book or movie or TV show or discussion group. Man, it’s in the wind—and it’s blowing in the wind. Too many of these hip people are telling me where the answer is but oh I won’t believe that. I still say it’s in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it’s got to come down some  …But the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know …and then it flies away I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and know it’s wrong. I’m only 21 years old and I know that there’s been too many  …You people over 21, you’re older and smarter.

I’ve often mentioned how each new generation think it was they who invented music, but as you age, you realise that music in all its forms existed long before your generation ‘invented’ it. An example might be rap music, and for all you people out there who thought Rap was a style that started in the late 70′s into the 80′s, then listen very closely to this song performed by Dylan in 1963. The title of the song is ‘Only A Pawn In Their Game’, and it is about the Civil Rights activist Medgar Evers. This clip shows Dylan performing the song in 1963 as a young 22 year old.

And yes, it is hard to imagine, but Bob Dylan is 68.

This video was posted to You Tube by bobbyfan64

Tagged: Bob Dylan, Music, Music Video, Peter Paul And Mary, Videos

Posted in: America (USA), Music, Videos