Sunday, October 29, 2006

The questions, my friend, are Blowin' in the Wind

It's been 43 years since Bob Dylan made this, his first national TV appearance on Westinghouse Broadcasting's Folk Songs, and More Folk Songs in May 1963.

The program -- videotaped in New York for Westinghouse's owned-and-operated stations across the country -- was hosted by humorist and radio personality John Henry Faulk, who was emerging from his "Red Scare" blacklisting. And on that program, we see Dylan performing -- perhaps for the first time in public -- "Blowin' in the Wind."

Funny, isn't it, that the questions Dylan asked of us at the beginning of his decades-long career are just as pertinent (maybe even more so) nearly four-and-a-half decades down the road.

How will we answer, then?

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 cannon balls fly
Before they're forever banned?
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.

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.

Copyright © 1962;
renewed 1990 Special Rider Music

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