Blowin' in the Wind Trio, but their record company delayed release of the album containing it because the song included the word "death", so the trio lost out to Peter, Paul and Mary, who were represented by Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman. The single sold a phenomenal 300,000 copies in the first week of release and made the song world-famous. On August 17, 1963, it reached number two on the "Billboard" pop chart, with sales exceeding one million copies. Peter Yarrow recalled that, when he told Dylan he would make more than $5,000 () from the publishing rights, Dylan was speechless. Peter, Paul and Mary's
Blowin' in the Wind "Sing Out!", accompanied by Dylan's comments: Dylan recorded "Blowin' in the Wind" on July 9, 1962, for inclusion on his second album, "The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan", released in May 1963. In his sleeve notes for "The Bootleg Series Volumes 1–3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961–1991", John Bauldie wrote that Pete Seeger first identified the melody of "Blowin' in the Wind" as an adaptation of the old African-American spiritual "No More Auction Block/We Shall Overcome". 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