Personally I always thought "Blowin in the wind" was drivel from a lyric point of view. Not one of Bob's best by a long way.

almost none of its tropes add up. It's definitely the work of a very young man, shall we say. Biblical influences, definitely. All those rhetorical questions are very New Testament Jesusy.

The repeated "Yes" in that song at the start of verses annoys me. The line "how many ears must one man have" is terrible. He rhymes the word "exist" with, er, "exist".

But it resonates with people, despite the lyrics being a bit crap. The general message, which comes across, and which clearly is a powerful one to thousands of listeners, is something like this: how much longer can all this injustice go on? The answer may well be: forever, unless you do something about it.

I understand the line "the answer is blowin' in the wind" to mean that change is contingent and up for grabs right now (the 60s). And it could go either way.

Me, I prefer Bob when he's writing mischeivous, spiteful or surreal lyrics. "it's all over now Baby Blue"; "Leopardskin Pillbox Hat"; "Highyway 61" are all great pieces of writing. His protest stuff always strikes me as a bit clunky and laboured.