The most successful version of Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind" was recorded by Peter, Paul & Mary in 1963. It far outstripped the original in sales terms, going on to sell over a million copies. Dylan was paid roughly $5,000 dollars in songwriting royalties for the P, P & M cover, a sum that perhaps won't surprise anyone given how familiar we've all become with the 'artist gets ripped off by the big bad industry' scenario over the years.

Side note: The Chad Mitchell Trio were first to record the song in early 63, but it was delayed to market because their record company wasn't comfortable with the use of the word "death" in the lyrics.

Since the early sixties, "Blowin' In The Wind" has been covered literally hundreds of times. On April 22nd 1965, Marianne Faithfull released her version of the track, thereby adding to a growing chorus of voices in search of answers to the era defining questions posed in Dylan's lyrics. Perhaps unfortunate is the fact that such questions still don't look like being answered any time soon, a point emphasised by the lingering cultural prevalence of the song. During the (most recent) Iraq war, for instance, commentators noted the use of "Blowin' In The Wind" as the anthem for protesters, much the same as it was during the Vietnam War.