Edge Davao columnist draws lessons on justice and peace from Dylan's 'Blowin' in the Wind'

Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" remains a call to act on justice, peace and freedom more than six decades after it was written, argues a columnist in the Think On These column of Edge Davao, a Davao City newspaper.

The column traces the song to 1962, when Dylan was a young folk singer from Minnesota in the Folk Revival. Written amid the American civil rights struggle and Cold War fears, it first appeared in Broadside Magazine, an underground publication for topical songs. The columnist notes that Dylan borrowed musical inspiration from "No More Auction Block," an African-American spiritual sung by formerly enslaved people in Canada.

According to the piece, the song reached a wide audience through the folk trio Peter, Paul and Mary, who performed it at the Lincoln Memorial during the 1963 March on Washington, shortly before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his "I Have a Dream" speech. It later became closely tied to the civil rights movement and has been covered more than 300 times.

The columnist argues that the song offers five lessons: justice requires action and not only awareness; peace must be deliberately pursued; freedom must be defended for everyone; profound truths can be expressed simply; and change starts with asking questions. The writer contends that the answers "blow in the wind" because society often knows what to do but fails to do it.

The column also recalls that Dylan received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature, citing the committee's view that his lyrics work as poetry, broadened the idea of literature, shaped social consciousness and created a hybrid art form.

The writer concludes that the song endures because it invites rather than preaches, and that responsibility for finding the answers rests with listeners.