Analysis
Your assignment this week is to explore the significance of one of the songs below as part of the larger popular culture of protest in 1960’s America. You should choose one song and then answer the questions below.
What is the message of your song? Provide specific examples from the lyrics to support your analysis. 15 points
How does your song fit into the larger popular culture of protest songs in the 1960s? Carry out independent research and compare your song with at least two other songs by the same artist or different artists from the period that address the same theme as your song. 15
Your assignment should be at least 1 page in length, you can go over the word count if needed.
Protest Song:
“Blowin in the Wind,” Bob Dylan, 1963
First made a hit by the folk group Peter, Paul, and Mary, the song signaled a new consciousness and became the most covered of all Dylan songs.
The song asks a series of questions that appeal to the listener’s moral compass, while the timeless imagery of the lyrics – cannonballs, doves, death, the sky – evoke a longing for peace and freedom that spoke to the era.
