The Mysteries of History (July 9 Edition)
Blowin' in the Wind
1962 — “Blowin’ in the Wind” Recorded
public domain image from wikimedia commons
Similar to his song Mr. Tambourine Man, popularized by The Byrds, written of here, most people heard Peter, Paul and Mary’s cover of Bob Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind before they heard Dylan’s version of it.
Dylan recorded it on this date in 1962. It wasn’t released to the public, though, until a year later, at which point Peter, Paul and Mary “jumped on it” and quickly put out their cover of it. Their version of it was more popular than Dylan’s own take on his tune would prove to be.
When Dylan first played Blowin’ in the Wind to a live audience (after all, who would want to play to a dead audience), he introduced it this way: “This here ain’t no protest song or anything like that, ’cause I don’t write no protest songs.”
Although perhaps not a blatantly, in-your-face protest song, Dylan’s claim that his song was not in the protesting vein seems a bit disingenuous — unless you parse his assertion in a grammatically precise way, because by saying it “ain’t no protest song” he was in actuality saying that it was, indeed, a protest song (because of his use of a double negative). He was, then, in effect saying that it was “not not a protest song” and thus it was a protest song. Similarly, he double-negatived again when he added, “I don’t write no protest songs.” So he was saying (if you’re going to get grammatically technical about it) that he does write protest songs.
At any rate, Blowin’ in the Wind struck a chord (no pun intended, but literally a G chord [for starters]) with many throughout the world, whether it was received by the hearer as a protest or simply a plaintive and poignant soliloquy.
As mentioned above, although people had heard Dylan play the song live, Dylan’s recorded version didn’t come out until almost a year after he’d recorded it, appearing on his The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan album.
Besides Peter, Paul and Mary, among the many other artists to cover Dylan’s Blowin’ in the Wind are Joan Baez, Marlene Dietrich (in German), Stevie Wonder, and — last but certainly not least! — Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.
Questions: In respect to Bob Dylan’s music, what do Peter, Paul and Mary; The Byrds; Jimi Hendrix; and Adele have in common? Is Me First and the Gimme Gimmes the best cover band of all time? (I say indubitably!)
