64 Years Ago Today, Bob Dylan Recorded the Song That Made Him a Legend - And He Wrote It in 10 Minutes
The date: July 9, 1962. Although no one could have perceived it at the time, it was a moment that would make music history when folk singer Bob Dylan recorded a song that turned him into a legend.
On that day, Dylan "walks into a studio and records the song that would make him a star: Blowin' In The Wind," according to History.com. "This here ain't no protest song or anything like that, 'cause I don't write no protest songs," Dylan explained, according to that site.
The song starts with the lyrics, "How many roads must a man walk down." Dylan is currently on tour. He will be performing in Cincinnati on July 10, 2026. According to Far Out Magazine,Peter, Paul and Mary's cover of the song hit the radio first.
Bob Dylan Wrote Blowin' In The Wind in 10 Minutes
According to History.com, Dylan was "onstage at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village, talking about Blowin' In The Wind, a song he claims to have written in just 10 minutes."
History.com called it "one of the most eloquent protest songs ever written." According to the Institute of World Politics, Dylan "set in motion a form of 'protest culture' that has now nearly defined what the word "American" has come to mean."
The song quickly became iconic. The song "went on to become a landmark piece for the Civil Rights movement and it was even played at the Lincoln Memorial before Martin Luther King Jr. gave his 'I have a Dream Speech,'" according to Music Politics. According to that site, Dylan said, "[I am] not going to limit what I can say. I have to be true to the song," and the song was pivotal to the anti Vietnam War movement.
"There ain't too much I can say about this song except that the answer is blowing in the wind. It ain't in no book or movie or TV show or discussion group. Man, it's in the wind - and it's blowing in the wind," Dylan said about the song in 1962, according to Far Out Magazine. It's this line, plus a few more, that offer up the track's sentimental core. It provides so much and yet so little, encouraging the audience to get engaged and pay attention.
Bob Dylan Was Inspired by a 'Civil War Freedom Song'
The New World Singers' Bob Cohen explained on a radio show Dylan heard The New World Singers "perform a Civil War freedom song" at Gerde's Folk City, according to Untold Dylan.
"It was very dramatic and a very beautiful song, very expressive. And Dylan heard that and heard other songs we were singing. And some days later, he asked us, he said, `Hey, come downstairs.' We used to go down to Gerde's basement, which was-is it all right to say?-full of rats, I don't know, and other things. And he had his guitar, and it was kind of a thing where when he added a new song, he'd call us downstairs and we'd listen to it. And he had started-and he wrote, (singing) `How many roads must a man walk down before you can call him a man?' And the germ of that melody of No More Auction Block' certainly was in that."
According to Untold Dylan, the song inspired Sam Cooke, "to write that other hymn of the civil rights movement, A Chance Is Gonna Come."
This story was originally published by Men's Journal on Jul 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the Entertainment section. Add Men's Journal as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
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This story was originally published July 8, 2026 at 11:22 PM.