September 02, 2006

DAVID BLUE:
The night Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind'' was first heard by an audience [Apr 16, 1962], Dylan and I had been killing the latter part of a Monday afternoon drinking coffee [at the "Fat Black Pussycat"] and bullshitting.

About five o'clock, Bob pulled out his guitar and a paper and pencil. He began to strum some chords and fool with some lines he had written for a new song. Time passed and he asked me to play the guitar for him so he could figure out the rhymes with greater ease. We did this for an hour or so until he was satisfied. The song was "Blowin' in the Wind.''

We decided to bring it over to Gil Turner who was hosting the Monday-night hoots at Gerde's, and we arrived about nine thirty or ten. Gerde's was packed with the regular Monday night jam of intense young folk singers and guitar pickers. We fought our way through the crowd down the stairs to the basement where you waited and practiced until your turn to play was called. It was a scene as usual.

Gil Turner finally took a break and came down to the basement to organize the next half of the show. Bob was nervous and he was doing his Chaplin shuffle as he caught Gil's attention. "I got a song you should hear, man,'' Bob said, grinning from ear to ear. ''Sure thing, Bob,'' Gil said. He moved closer to hear better. A crowd sort of circled the two of them. Bob sang it out with great passion. When he finished there was silence all around. Gil Turner was stunned. "I've got to do that song myself,'' he said. "Now!'' "Sure, Gil, that's great. You want to do it tonight?'' "Yes,'' said Turner, picking up his guitar, teach it to me now."

Bob showed him the chords and Gil roughly learned the words. He took the copy Bob made for him and went upstairs. We followed, excited by the magic that was beginning to spread. Gil mounted the stage and taped the words on to the mike stand. "Ladies and gentlemen,'' he said, "I'd like to sing a new song by one of our great songwriters. It's hot of the pencil and here it goes.''

He sang the song, sometimes straining to read the words off the paper. When he was through, the entire audience stood on its feet and cheered. Bob was leaning against the bar near the back smiling and laughing. Mike Porco bought us a drink. Later in the evening Bob went home with Suze, and l split with some friends. Another moment in time ticked of.

With a lyric sheet on his mike stand, Turner became the first in a long line to pose that lilting litany of metaphorical questions....

Riotous applause told Dylan, if he didn't know already, that "Blowin' In The Wind" was his first classic. The next day Dave Van Ronk, who had been working the Village scene far longer, begged to differ. "Jesus, Bobby," he later recalled telling him, what an incredibly dumb song! I mean what the hell is blowing in the wind?" A few weeks later he had the answer. "I was walking through Washington Square Park and heard a kid singing,

'How much wood could a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood
The answer my friend is blowin' in the wind.'