http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3t4g_1VoGw4
It was written in 1962 and became very popular only when Peter, Paul, and Mary made it into a protest classic a year later. It has been recorded by Sam Cooke, Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, ".you-name-it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7-Tb_FsWRw
According to music lore, "Dylan wrote this ["Blowin' in the Wind"] in about 10 minutes one afternoon. He put words to the melody of an old slave song called "No More Auction Block,' which he might have learned from Carter family records. In the evening, Dylan took the song to the nightclub Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village, where he was due to play a set. Before playing it, he announced, "This here ain't no protest song or anything like that, 'cause I don't write no protest songs.'"
http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=1669
Naturally, Dylan was being somewhat ironic. However, I was interested in what my students of 7th and 8th graders would pick up or interpret.
THIS HERE AIN'T NO PROTEST SONG ?
The version of "Blowin' in the Wind", which I played for my students was an unnamed female vocalist in a collection of music for English language music created for Taiwanese schools. It was a pleasant voice for my students to listen to on the "Blowin' in the Wind" cloze activity that we did. The students enjoyed the voice, which in some ways reminded me in tone like the version of Jenny's in the movie, FORREST GUMP. [2]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5lQsLeVYtI
After checking the answers on that fill-in-the-blank (or cloze) activity for "Blowin' in the Wind", I talked about the song with the class, and then had my students take time to reflect and write down their opinion as to the text's meaning.
Meanwhile, I reminded them of the other two "wind" songs we had use during to prior weeks of class, namely "Dust in the Wind", by Kansas and "Winds of Change" by the Scorpions. I asked them to look at the metaphor of wind and any other symbolism or metaphoric phrases in the text that stood out for them.
NOTE: Don't forget that wind is one of the five basic elements in East Asian cosmologies. Moroever, as far as dreams go "wind" has the dualistic interpretation, which is common to Dylan's classic. Namely, " To dream that the wind is blowing, symbolizes your life force, energy, and vigor. [a] It reflects changes in your life. Alternatively, the dream suggests that you need to speed up toward achieving your goals or solving some lingering problem. [b] To dream of strong or gusty winds, represents turmoil and trouble in your life. You are experiencing much stress in some waking situation."
http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/w3.htm
I asked each student to make at least 5 separate written comments to the right side of those written lyrics [the "Blowin' in the Wind" lyrics covered only the left side of the paper--the right side was blank] . The students were asked to reveal their thoughts, impressions and feelings, i.e. about what the written text was passing on as messages to each of them.
I, myself, recall singing the lyrics of "Blowin' in the Wind" around 1970-73 in my elementary school music classes. (Since the Anti-Vietnam War Movement was just then changing the tide in USA history, we non-minority America school kids, probably saw it as an anti-war song more than a civil rights movement tune, i.e. via our own personal histories.
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