🌾 About the Song
If you could bottle the 1960s’ conscience, it would sound like Blowin’ in the Wind. Written in 1962 and released the next year on Dylan’s breakout album The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, it’s the moment he stopped being a clever kid from Minnesota and became the voice of a generation.
Three verses, nine questions, zero answers — and somehow it’s still one of the most profound songs ever written.
Dylan allegedly penned it in ten minutes while sitting in a Greenwich Village café, strumming a few chords from a traditional gospel tune called No More Auction Block. That’s Dylan all over: nick a folk melody, inject a universe of meaning, and make it sound inevitable. The song became an anthem for civil rights marches, Vietnam protests, and pretty much every student with an acoustic guitar and righteous anger since.
But here’s the genius: it doesn’t lecture. It just asks — “How many roads must a man walk down?” — and leaves you to sit with the uncomfortable truth that nobody really knows.
🎸 Ukulele Playing Tips
- Chords: G – C – D. That’s it. No secret jazz shapes, no trickery. Even the laziest strummer can join the protest.
- Strumming pattern: D D U U D U, slow and steady. Keep the pulse even — Dylan’s version is around 86 bpm, but you can drift a little.
- Feel: Think “front porch philosopher.” It’s a statement, not a sermon. Keep it open and conversational.
- Tone: Play closer to the fretboard for a rounder sound; this isn’t a campfire roar, it’s a question whispered to the wind.
- Sing-along tip: Let your voice waver — imperfection is the Dylan aesthetic. If you sound too clean, you’ve missed the point.
- Performance move: For a dynamic build, start finger-picked on verse one, then shift to full strum by verse three.
🧠 Trivia You Can Drop Casually
- Dylan was only 21 years old when he wrote it. Most of us were still trying to remember our bank PINs at that age.
- Peter, Paul & Mary’s 1963 cover sold a million copies and got Dylan his first royalty cheque big enough to buy dinner.
- The song was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame and is listed by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest songs ever written.
- Dylan’s answer when asked what the song “means”? — “It means something different every time you sing it.” Typical Bob.
🌈 Final Word
Play it simple, play it sincere. Blowin’ in the Wind doesn’t need fireworks — just honesty and a steady hand. Three chords and the truth, mate. If you can make one person shut up and listen, you’ve already done Dylan proud.
