Blowin in the Wind
How many roads must a man walk down
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, 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.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
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.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, 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.
I noticed that there are a lot of questions, as if prompting the listener to come up with their own answers, or else realize the futility of asking such things in the first place. The song presents the war as being bad, as being open to the interpretation of the listeners, while offering an ambiguity of being both obvious and hard to grasp simultaneously. It is clearly critical of the stated foreign policy, asking how long it is before cannons are banned and people stop dying, a clear anti-war sentiment that disagrees with the US being in Vietnam. It talks about how war affects the individual in asking when boys become men, and what a man must do to realize what war means, and what it has done to society. I agree with it, and I actually quite like it, and most other anti-Vietnam songs.
Before you call him a man ?
How many seas must a white dove sail
Before she sleeps in the sand ?
Yes, 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.
Yes, how many years can a mountain exist
Before it's washed to the sea ?
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.
Yes, how many times must a man look up
Before he can see the sky ?
Yes, how many ears must one man have
Before he can hear people cry ?
Yes, 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.
I noticed that there are a lot of questions, as if prompting the listener to come up with their own answers, or else realize the futility of asking such things in the first place. The song presents the war as being bad, as being open to the interpretation of the listeners, while offering an ambiguity of being both obvious and hard to grasp simultaneously. It is clearly critical of the stated foreign policy, asking how long it is before cannons are banned and people stop dying, a clear anti-war sentiment that disagrees with the US being in Vietnam. It talks about how war affects the individual in asking when boys become men, and what a man must do to realize what war means, and what it has done to society. I agree with it, and I actually quite like it, and most other anti-Vietnam songs.
