Blowin' in the Wind

"Blowin' in the Wind" is a song written by Bob Dylan in April 1962, and released on his 1963 album The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.

Plagiarism allegation

For years it was widely believed in Millburn, New Jersey that Dylan had stolen the song from a student at Millburn High School, where a student singing group, The Millburnaires, had performed the song at a concert in 1961, before Dylan first recorded it. The story went that the student had volunteered at nearby Greystone Psychiatric Hospital, where Dylan often went at that time to visit Woody Guthrie, and had performed it for patients while Dylan heard it. Or, it was said, the unsuspecting student had sold it to someone hired by Dylan for a pittance.

Related Topics:
Millburn, New Jersey - Woody Guthrie

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The truth behind the urban legend was revealed by the student, Lorre Wyatt, in an article he wrote in 1973 for New Times magazine, and retold in 2005 by Weird NJ magazine.

Related Topics:
Urban legend - 1973 - New Times - Magazine - 2005 - Weird NJ

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In spring 1961 he had intended to write a protest song of his own for the group to sing and went through issues of Sing Out, a folk-music magazine that published music and lyrics to songs. In there he came across Dylan's song, not yet recorded, and decided to use it as a model for an original song of his own.

Related Topics:
1961 - Protest song - Sing Out

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He struggled to come up with anything, however, and when the time came for the group to prepare for the concert, he panicked and passed off Dylan's song as his own. His fellow singers were quite impressed, and after what wound up being the song's first public performance, wanted to make it part of their repertoire. So Wyman had to fabricate the story about selling the song as an excuse to not perform it again, and when Dylan finally performed and recorded it a year later, his classmates, none the wiser, thought he had been the victim rather than the perpetrator of the copying.

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Even after he came clean, the legend continued to be told and believed in Millburn for years.

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