Kinda feels like I'm getting old...
About Blowin' In The Wind, "In 1962, Dylan said of the song's background: "I still say that some of the biggest criminals are those that turn their heads away when they see wrong and they know it's wrong. I'm only 21 years old and I know that there's been too many wars...You people over 21 should know better." All that he prefers to add by way of commentary now is: "The first way to answer these questions in the song is by asking them. But lots of people have to first find the wind."
Give a listen here. We still haven't found the wind, have we.
Blowin' 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 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?
Yes, ’n’ how many years can some people exist
Before they’re allowed to be free?
Yes, ’n’ 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?
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
Copyright © 1962 by Warner Bros. Inc.; renewed 1990 by Special Rider Music
I was never much of a dylan fan growing up, but as I have grown older, and understood his significance, I have acquired a greater appreciation.
ReplyDeleteI have loved music my entire life, as I assume most of us do. It's a wonderful art form, but it's true beauty is in how it how it speaks to us individually. The same piece can mean something completely different to each and every one of us, and yet still bring us closer together through it's simple existence.
Knowing Dylan is turning 70 reminds us that time sits still for no one, and it reminds me that someone once said, "Times They Are a Changin"....
I agree; nothing can "speak to me" in the way music does and always has. Whether the melodious crooning (?) of Dylan, Kenny Chesney's "laid back-ness", Elvis' "American Trilogy" or the full orchestra and choir belting out the 4th movement of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. At the right moment, each is very special.
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