How many deaths will it take to realize that too many have died? - Bob Dylan
One of Bob Dylan's greatest songs Blowin' in the Wind was written in 1962 and released on his album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan in 1963. The song is about peace. In that, the song is about Ekonkar, the oneness of all. I used to wonder what makes some songs popular, how do they become powerful in swaying people's minds. And in the late 2000s hypothesized that the most powerful and songs tend to be one that are singing Ekonkar. This is true of Michael Jackson's We are the world, John Lenin's Imagine and even Taylor Swift's Mean.
Although "Blowin' in the Wind" has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war and freedom. The third line in each of the three stanzas is especially poignant and questions. According to Mick Gold, the refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" is "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind." For both reasons, wind an apt metaphor for knowledge. Guru Nanak so beautifully crystallizes this in 2 words and 5 syllables: "Pavan Guru" - "the wind is the guru." Being a protest song, this song also reminds of Guru Nanak's protests against the cruelty of Babar's invasion of India in the 16th century.
Although "Blowin' in the Wind" has been described as a protest song, it poses a series of rhetorical questions about peace, war and freedom. The third line in each of the three stanzas is especially poignant and questions. According to Mick Gold, the refrain "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind" is "impenetrably ambiguous: either the answer is so obvious it is right in your face, or the answer is as intangible as the wind." For both reasons, wind an apt metaphor for knowledge. Guru Nanak so beautifully crystallizes this in 2 words and 5 syllables: "Pavan Guru" - "the wind is the guru." Being a protest song, this song also reminds of Guru Nanak's protests against the cruelty of Babar's invasion of India in the 16th century.
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 blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is 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
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing 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 blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" has been covered by hundreds of artists. The most commercially successful version is by folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, who released the song in June 1963, three weeks after The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was issued. Here is that version:
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 blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
How many years must a mountain exist
Before it is 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
And pretend that he just doesn't see?
The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing 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 blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
"Blowin' in the Wind" has been covered by hundreds of artists. The most commercially successful version is by folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, who released the song in June 1963, three weeks after The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan was issued. Here is that version:
Singing oneness!
1 Comments
ineffably beautiful.
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