"Walls of Red Wing" is a folk and protest song, written by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan.
The version recorded for Freewheelin' eventually appeared on The Bootleg Series Volumes 1-3 (Rare & Unreleased) 1961-1991.
The song describes a boys' reform school located in Red Wing, Minnesota.
The description is hyperbolical, and describes the students there as "thrown in like bandits and cast off like criminals",[2] the walls of "barbed wire" and the fence with "electricity's sting",[2] the guards holding their clubs like they were "kings",[2] and the supposed "dungeon" of the building.
[2] Despite these harrowing descriptions, Red Wing was not the impenetrable "Gothic fortress" (as John Bauldie calls it[1]) portrayed in this song.