Tonight’s song asks nine questions and answers none of them. Or perhaps it answers all of them, in one line.
Learn from Songs · Unit 3: Questions · B1
Blowin’ in the Wind
The most famous question song ever written: wh- questions with how many, how much, how long, how far, questions with modals (How many times must…? Can…?), and subject questions (Who asked?), with Demetria, and a contest of questions at the Museum.
SOPHIA
MARCOS
That sounds like a trick.
PHILO
Or like a philosopher.
SOPHIA
It made a twenty-one-year-old singer famous all over the world.
Before you listen: the song
New York, 1962
Bob Dylan wrote “Blowin’ in the Wind” in 1962, when he was only twenty-one, and put it on his second album in 1963. He borrowed the melody from an old spiritual sung by freed slaves. That same year, the folk group Peter, Paul and Mary recorded it, and their version became a huge hit.
The song asks big questions, one after another: how many roads a person must walk before people respect him, how many years some people must wait before they are free, how many times people can look away and pretend not to see. And every time, the answer is the same: it is blowing in the wind.
Nobody is sure what that means. Perhaps the answer is everywhere, as obvious as the wind. Or perhaps it is impossible to catch, like the wind. The song became an anthem of the American civil rights movement. In 2016, Bob Dylan won the Nobel Prize in Literature.
The answer is blowing in the wind.
Listen: the questions
DEMETRIA
Listen once. How many questions are there? Which words does he use to start them?
SOPHIA
Then listen for the pattern: How many… must…? and How many… can…? Answer Section A.
🌬️ Listen to the song: “Blowin’ in the Wind” (Bob Dylan, 1962).Listen to the official recording →
📜 Read the words while you listen: “Blowin’ in the Wind”, Bob Dylan.Read the lyrics →
How many, how much, how long, how far
MARCOS
How many roads? How many years? How long must they wait?
SOPHIA
How many + plural countable nouns (roads, years, times); how much + uncountable (water, time, money); how long = what length of time; how far = what distance; how often = how many times.
Questions with modals
PHILO
How many times must a man look up? Can people pretend not to see?
SOPHIA
Modals don’t need do: question word + modal + subject + base verb. How long must we wait? Can we know the truth? Should they ask?
Subject questions
DEMETRIA
Who wrote the song? What happened next?
SOPHIA
When who or what is the subject, there is no do: Who wrote it? (not Who did write it?). Compare: Who did Dylan meet? (Dylan is the subject).
Sophia’s comparison: the gadfly
SOPHIA
In Athens, Socrates spent his life asking questions, and almost never gave answers. He called himself a gadfly: a fly that bites a lazy horse to wake it up.
PHILO
And Job asks God question after question, and God answers with more questions: Where were you when I made the earth?
MARCOS
So the best teachers ask questions, and don’t answer them. I knew it.
Sophia’s summary
| Words and forms | Use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| How many + plural / how much + uncountable | asking about quantity | How many roads? How much time? |
| how long, how far, how often | time, distance, frequency | How long must they wait? |
| wh- + modal + subject + verb | questions with modals | How many times must he look up? |
| Who / What + verb (no do) | subject questions | Who wrote the song? |
| Why do…? / Why does…? | asking for reasons | Why do people look away? |
Practice
Listen to the song for Section A, then do the rest. Press “Check my answers” at the end. You can try again as many times as you like.
A · Listen: the song
Listen to the song and choose the best answer.
1. How many questions does the song ask?
2. What are the questions about?
3. What is the answer to every question?
4. How does the song sound?
5. Where did the melody come from?
6. Which movement adopted the song?
B · Grammar and vocabulary
Write the missing word or words.
7. How roads must a man walk down?
8. How money do you need?
9. How must they wait?
10. How is it to the sea? (distance)
11. How many times people pretend not to see? (modal: can)
12. Who the song? (write, past)
C · Right or wrong?
Is the sentence correct English?
13. “How many money do you have?”
14. “How long must we wait?”
15. “Who did write this song?”
16. “Can we ever know the answer?”
Talk and write
Discussion and writing
Big questions. In groups, write five big questions about your world today, beginning with How many, How long, Why, Can. Choose the best one and discuss it.
Discuss. 1. What do you think “blowing in the wind” means? 2. Is it better to ask questions or to give answers? 3. Can a song change the world?
Write (80–120 words). My questions. Write a short poem or paragraph made only of questions about something you care about. End with your own answer line.
Now play the gamebook: Demetria in the Museum’s Question Contest.Play the gamebook →