Bob Dylan wrote many of the anthems of these movements. Forty Five years ago, he performed this at the Newport Folk Festival for the first time along with Joan Baez, Peter, Paul and Mary, Pete Seegar and others. All looked so young and clean cut. The hope of the old left was expressed in these songs, and continues to be for this old lefty.
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 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.
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.
I can remember singing and playing this song in the Washington National Cathedral, after a sermon wherein Dylan was named a prophet. I was shaken by this, and I have no doubt Dylan would have been also, and would still refuse this. Much later I read a book entitled, The Prophets, the Conscience of Israel. Seen in this light, Bob Dylan wrote prophesy.
Our fraternity has been filled with prophets from its inception. Who are they now? time will tell.
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