Blowin' in the Wind

Dylan claimed he wrote this song in about 10 minutes one afternoon. He put words to the melody of an old slave song called "No More Auction Block," which he might have learned from Carter family records. In the evening, Dylan took the song to the nightclub Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village, where he was due to play a set. Before playing it, he announced, "This here ain't no protest song or anything like that, 'cause I don't write no protest songs." During this first performance, Dylan couldn't read some of his own handwriting and made up some of the lyrics as he went along.

Dylan recorded "Blowin' In The Wind" on July 9, 1962. He published it on July 30 and often played it live, but he didn't release it until May 27, 1963, when it was included on his second album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan. At the time, he was an obscure folk singer but was getting noticed by other musicians on the scene, many of whom wanted to record his songs. It was common for Dylan to play his songs for a while before he recorded them, which gave him control over when they could be covered. Once a song is recorded, anyone can cover it if they pay the mechanical licensing fees, so when he issued The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, a rush of "Blowin' In The Wind" covers quickly appeared. The most popular was by the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, who had a big hit with "Puff The Magic Dragon" in May 1963. Their version of "Blowin' In The Wind" climbed to #2 in the US (behind "Fingertips (Part 2)" by Stevie Wonder) on August 17, 1963 - it was the first song written by Dylan to chart and introduced many listeners to his music. Dylan's original eventually became the definitive version, but if you heard a Dylan song in 1963 and 1964, it was probably a cover. In October 1963, Peter, Paul and Mary went to #9 with another Freewheelin' track, "Don't Think Twice, It's All Right," and in November 1964, Johnny Cash took "It Ain't Me Babe" to #58. Dylan didn't make the chart with one of his own songs until "Like a Rolling Stone" in 1965.

Dylan gained National exposure when he performed this song with Peter, Paul & Mary at the 1963 Newport Folk Festival. Magazines like Time, Playboy, and The New Yorker ran stories on Dylan after the performance.