In the Wind In the Wind In the Wind is the third album by the American folk music trio Peter, Paul and Mary, released in October 1963, a few months before the arrival of the Beatles heralded the British Invasion (see 1963 in music). It was reissued on audio CD in 1990. The lead-off single of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" sold a phenomenal three hundred thousand copies in the first week of release. On July 13, 1963, it reached number two on the "Billboard" pop chart, with sales exceeding one million copies. It spent five weeks atop the easy listening chart.
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan In his sleeve notes for "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991", John Bauldie writes that it was Pete Seeger who first identified the melody of "Blowin' in the Wind" as Dylan's adaptation of the old Negro spiritual "No More Auction Block". According to Alan Lomax's "The Folk Songs of North America", the song originated in Canada and was sung by former slaves who fled there after Britain abolished slavery in 1833. In 1978, Dylan acknowledged the source when he told journalist Marc Rowland: "'Blowin' in the Wind' has always been a spiritual. I took it off a