It’s taken me forever to put pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard in this case) on Bob Dylan for a variety of reasons— this is America’s historical orator, one of the greatest musical poets of all-time, a man of substance and supreme conviction. One of the reasons my wife and I named our son Dylan was because of my reverence for this man. For so long I’ve had a sense of trepidation in trying to capture the sheer respect I have for Bob Dylan’s life and career. To enter his domain of the written word and capture all of the elements that make him such a mythological figure was intimidating, and as time has gone on, I’ve realized that it’s an impossible task. I’ll never be able to do his legacy justice. And I’ve become fine with that because that’s really not the point of it all is it— some figures are just so impactful in world history that it’s not about capturing all of that in one fell swoop. It’s about distilling that avalanche of emotions you experience when you think about their creative work into something useful and actionable for those who care enough about what I have to say.
Which brings us to The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, easily the most important folk album in music history, and maybe one of the most important albums in American history considering its impact. This album was written in the backdrop of the Civil Rights movement and looming nuclear warfare, detailing the horrors of war and serving as a protest album draped in pretty melodies and songs. And it was the album that kicked off Dylan’s career and began his run as one of the country’s most prolific songwriters. The legend started here.
There is no song in Dylan’s entire discography that levels me like the album opener “Blowin’ in the Wind”. From the first line which poses the question “How many roads must a man walk down, before you call him a man?” Dylan lays out question after rhetorical question as to what extent something must evolve in order for it to be taken seriously. The refrain “The answer my friend is blowing in the wind” is haunting in its simplicity— it’s the simple acknowledgement that while there remains an indelible truth somewhere out there that could answer the most important questions about our existence, Dylan hasn’t managed to find it yet. And in that moment you realize that you haven’t been able to find it either.
And so we continue to search to find our personal truth. As the years toil on and that journey continues, the whispers you hear blowing in the wind is that maybe the answer to that question has been with you all along. That the journey is in fact the greatest gift we receive. And at the end of it all, whenever that moment happens for each of us, that might be the only meaning that ever mattered.
Standout Songs: “Blowin’ in the Wind”, “Masters of War”, “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall”, “Don’t Think Twice, It’s All Right”, “Oxford Town”, “Corrina, Corrina”, “I Shall Be Free”
