The words of the song are in bold, an explication is in italics after each line.

How many roads must a man walk down,

Before you call him a man? How much experience does it take before a boy becomes a man?

Yes, 'n' how many seas must a white dove sail,

Before she sleeps in the sand? The white dove is a symbol of peace, how far must peace be pursued around the globe before it is realized?

Yes, 'n' how many times must the cannon balls fly,

Before they're forever banned? This is a reiteration of the previous line from the combatant's perspective.

The answer, my friend,

is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind. The chorus states a simple metaphorical truth: answers are all around us and easy to perceive if we simply try. They are not always easy to grasp, or to catch hold of much like things cast upon the wind, but not impossible to those committed to it.

How many years can a mountain exist,

Before it's washed to the sea?

Yes, 'n' how many years can some people exist

Before they're allowed to be free?

Yes, 'n' how many times can a man turn his head,

Pretending he just doesn't see? Where the first stanza was focusing on the relative short duration of human behavior, Dylan looks here at the less mutable, things that at least seem more constant. The solid image of the mountain, juxtaposed with slavery and intolerance, give permanence to these two very human behaviors. This makes them seem less mutable.

The answer, my friend,

is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind. While the answers are all around us, in the face of such unchangeable images, they become less tangible, less reachable.

How many times must a man look up

Before he can see the sky?

Yes, 'n' how many ears must one man have

Before he can hear people cry?

Yes, 'n' how many deaths will it take till he knows

That too many people have died? Dylan is grieving in this stanza. The song was first performed in 1962, when the Civil Rights movement and the war in Vietnam was beginning to heat up. Dylan and others were beginning to protest in earnest the US's involvement Nam, and the rise of Dr. Martin Luther King, jr. and equal rights for all. Dylan with this song was trying to focus attention on answers rather than reactions. He states in a published interview in the June edition of Slip Out!journal, "I still say [the answer is] in the wind and just like a restless piece of paper it's got to come down some[time]...the only trouble is that no one picks up the answer when it comes down so not too many people get to see and know [it]."

The answer, my friend,

is blowin' in the wind,

The answer is blowin' in the wind. The answers are there, easy to find, easy to grasp, if only people try.

Please keep in mind that many explications are possible, and any that are supported from within the work, or the words of it's creator, are real and valid. This is only one perception.