*First line is the trio name. 1963. Quintessential 1960s song! Written by Bob Dylan. Recorded by all the folk singers. This folk trio took it to #2. Peace, war, and freedom. Rolling Stone ranked it #14 of the 500 greatest songs of all time. The first line of the song is a question that is is proposed as the "Ultimate Question" in the science fiction novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, by Douglas Adams. The theme may have been taken from a passage in Woody Guthrie's autobiography, Bound for Glory, in which Guthrie compared his political sensibility to newspapers blowing in the winds of New York City streets and alleys.