Blowin' in the wind

This song is credited with being one of Bob Dylan’s most iconic, and marked a significant step forward in his early songwriting career. It is a protest song, an anti-war song, and was strongly associated with the civil rights movement in America as well. Sam Cooke cites it as an inspiration for his song “A change is gonna come”.

This arrangement takes Dylan’s song, incorporates some of the harmonies from the most famous cover version by Peter, Paul & Mary, but then adds a layer of stark textures, from the trumpet calls to the military drum. Dynamics are the key to the effectiveness of this in performance – the climactic phrase of “How many deaths does it take ’til we know that too many people have died?” should be a cry from the heart, as relevant and resonant now as it was in 1962 when it was written.