Bob Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman is an American singer who has been active for more than five decades. He first became popular in the 1960’s when he released songs such as “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “The Times They Are A-Changing”, and “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”. Dylan’s Lyrics often contained political, social, philosophical, and literary influences that lead him and his lyrics to become anthems for American civil rights movements and anti-war movements (Crampton and Rees p. 125). Dylan’s song “Blowin’ in the Wind” was one of his first influential songs.
“Blowing in the Wind” originally published as a single then on the album The Freewheeling Bob Dylan in 1963 and indicted into The Grammy Hall of Fame in 1994. Dylan’s lyrics and melody of this song show how he picked literary and philosophical sources to help write his works. “Blowin’ in the Wind” has evidence that Dylan was inspired to write lyrics by the Old
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The piece contained many evident influences from the traditional Anglo-Scottish border ballad “Lord Randal”, mostly in its style of melody and the call and answer verses (Attwood). This particular song worked to point out injustices and distortion in media. In a 1963 interview Dylan stated “In the last verse, when I say, ‘the pellets of poison are flooding the waters’, that means all the lies that people are told on their radios and their newspapers” (Terkle). This was a newer issue with the introduction of the tabloid “National Inquirer” in 1952 and FM radio catching fame in the 1960’s. Many larger literary and musical figures also helped fuel the songs fame. With Pete Seeger giving his interpretations of the lyrics and Ian MacDonald describing the song as “one of the most idiosyncratic protest songs ever written” (MacDonald p.269). Different artist and listeners pulled different meanings from “A Hard Rains’s A-Gonna Fall” and many of Dylan’s other