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 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.

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.



Lyrics submitted by Jack, edited by Yazardshir, Mellow_Harsher

Track duration: 02:49


Blowin' in the Wind song meanings
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88 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:The most obvious and overlooked meaning of the song is to listen to lyrics or words in poetry or song because buried in the lyric is the meaning- the meaning is to listen and think. If you hear and interpret the lyrics, you'll get the meaning. All the rest is obvious and about self awareness.
    Flag gystroupon May 08, 2013   Link
  • 0
    Song Meaning:n' in the wind
    The answer is blowin' in the wind.


    Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
    Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
    Pastoral scene of the gallant south
    The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
    The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
    Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
    Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
    for the rain to gather
    for the wind to suck
    for the sun to rot
    for the tree to drop
    Here is a strange and bitter crop


    I was surprised that a young Dylanista had not realized that the song Strange Fruit would come to mind for anyone hearing the question in the song Blowing in the Wind, when it was a new song.

    Times change.

    Yes, how many years can some people exist
    Before they're allowed to be free ?
    Yes, 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.

    Postcards of the Hanging, indeed! 7 Breezes.
    Flagged eduardorion March 15, 2013   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's depressing that after 50 years I still have same questions and :
    "The answer, my friend, is blowin' in the wind,
    The answer is blowin' in the wind"
    Best lyrics of all time IMO
    Flagged Yazardshiron September 06, 2012   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:It's not rocket science. This classic is simply about indifference, expressed in a way only Dylan could.
    Flagged cscrantonon August 14, 2012   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:This song is all about the flaws of human nature. We as people sew so much anger and hate in the world around us. When we look back on the creations of our hands and minds we see racism, we see war, death and despair. Even decades later we are surrounded by these hateful crimes. We see all of the negativity on the news every morning. Indeed sometimes its hard to even comprehend the evil and sinful acts that humans are able to commit against each other. We seem destined to repeat ourselves and we are unable to eliminate those petty emotions like jealousy and fear. It is emotions like these that guide our hands when we judge others who we don't understand. These are the roots of prejudice and evil. It doesn't matter how many people we see die around us, we never seem to learn from any of it. Humans have been killing each other off since they first discovered how. Yet even after thousands of years of death and destruction we still engage in war to solve our conflicts. We can share the deepest love for each other yet in a moments notice we can turn around and hurt some one whom barley even know. We constantly find faces for our troubles and people to blame, when the truth is we only need to look in the mirror to see who is really at fault. We perpetuate the evil that eats away at our souls and hearts. There is something so self destructive in human nature. It doesn't matter how many videos or books or stories we read about things like racism, its no closer to being eliminated from our mindset than it was in the days of slavery. This song begs the question, how many times? How long must we continue living in the dark before we see the light. It asks the ultimate question, when will we learn from our mistakes?
    Flagged ScottMarshallon April 23, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The answer is right in front of us but we cannot see it seems to be the most popular interpretation of the line "the answer is blowing in the wind". But i like to see this line more like: The answer is moving with the wind, traveling. Wind being
    air in movement - and an element that binds us all....we all breath the same air and live on the same planet. We can see the answer, but we can not catch it and contain it...it's blowing in the wind.
    Flagged namronon February 07, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I've been thinking, maybe this song is about marihuana:

    "The answer is: blowing in the wind!"

    not that I think that is an answer by the way ;)
    very nice song though. (and I don't really think it's about grass.)
    Flagged Cheezeheadzon January 19, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Wow, there are obviously many difficult questions throughout this song, that have equally challenging answers. How are they just blowing in the wind. For I have never been able to see the wind, I can only see or feel the effects, good or bad. However, the outcome or aftermath from a bad storm is real, but not always predictable. In some ways like a difficult decision, outcomes are not always easy to deal with for everyone involved. Good and bad always comes from any decision.
    Flagged searchioon December 07, 2011   Link
  • -1
    My Interpretation:Once there was a president sitting in the oval office,
    asking himself all these stupid questions and realized,
    that, if he would ask and think further, he would get
    seriously depressed. So he thought, the best would
    be "blowing in the wind", but he couldn't leave the office.
    So he stayed inside the office and asked his trainee ...
    Flagged LoveYourBodyAndSoulon December 07, 2011   Link
  • +1
    My Interpretation:Great song, amazing lyrics! I especially like the last verse:

    How many times must a man look up, before he can see the sky?
    Yes, an' how many ears must ONE man have, before he can hear people cry?
    Yes, an' how many deaths will it take until he knows that too many people have died?

    Stop looking for God to solve or explain the follies of mankind. By noticing the sky instead of Heaven, that is the first step towards excepting responsibility and working towards a solution.
    The ONE man was, and always will be, the President. In conflict, that position is always the target for the people's frustrations. Will Johnson or Nixon ever hear us?
    How many American soliders and Vietnamese have to die before the President will save face and end the war, any war.

    I'm sure that is not what Dylan was thinking but I was drawing those conclusions the other day.
    Flagged BilliamCon August 02, 2011   Link

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