He doesn't go into a museum. He is simply thinking about time. Throughout the song he is in one room.

@acaughey09

2 жыл бұрын

Exactly. The analysis presented here goes very literal, but to me Dylan has a much deeper metaphorical sense to all of his lyrics

@paulryan2128

4 ай бұрын

​@@acaughey09 Yup ... the narrator is inside the apartment (or adjacent loft) the whole time, having a stream of consciousness monologue about art, and museums ... even railroad night watchmen.

I love this video. I love analyzing Bob Dylan's lyrics and am glad to find someone else who does as well. I'm definitely subbing!

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I've reviewed all of his albums and many of his songs (and will continue to do so). Thanks for your encouraging comment - I really appreciate it. Sometimes I wonder why I am doing this KZread silliness, and then I receive a nice comment like yours and it keeps me going. Cheers! Jeff

@SASoundsRock

3 ай бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Mar 2024 The first I've watched; enjoyed immensely. Thanks v much.

@CalicoSilver

3 ай бұрын

@@SASoundsRock Thanks!

Dylan speaks in archetypes. He distills from many sources, his inner world, his personal life and experiences, the multi dimensional sources that surround us all, the world, the past, history, all of it. He is a voracious consumer of life. what makes his work so powerful is that he does distill it all down into a magical poetic coherent vision that can be interpreted in many ways, depending on the life and experiences of the listener and even this can change each time it is heard. It is interesting to interpret but I believe that Dylan himself is never going to tell us any detail abut particulars for this very reason, because it is a painting, a work of art in poetry and music and inner visionary realms, almost dream like and multi faceted.. To define it by relating it to any of his personal past would only detract from the majestic yet simple vision he has created.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, thanks so much for this comment, Carol. You have nailed it. Dylan is like a sponge who accumulates and retains everything he ever read, heard, saw, or thought, and is able to (as you so well put it) distill it down to a poetic expression not exhibited by many others, if any. And no matter how poetically receptive or curious the listener, there is always a rewarding quality in everything he writes, so that, like a great artist, he can reach so many people in so many ways. Great comment. Thanks! Jeff

Thank you for doing these Dylan lyrical reviews, they are fantastic! I've listened to all of them now and can't wait for more.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Gunnar. I really appreciate it. I finished "reviewing" (and I use that term with great humility, haha) all of Dylan's studio albums, then finished the series of Dylan lyric quizzes that covered 1962-1978, then decided to do song-specific "reviews". Am having a lot of fun, and thanks to nice folks like you giving me encouragement I am still at it. The next song will be "Angelina" (since I just finished "Farewell Angelina"), then will go from there. Thanks again!! Jeff

This is my favourite Dylan song..you really jumped in the deep end here..I really appreciate your interpretation..I have been listening to this song for 54 years and have never been capable of interpreting it..you gave me lots to think about..I get a totally different vibe about the song from the studio version to the live acoustic version from the 1966 tour..The studio version seems more druggy to me, while the live acoustic version seems acid tongued and bitter..great job Jeff..

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Glen. I am glad you enjoyed hearing me yak on about my ideas with respect to this song. It is certainly open to different interpretations. Thanks again. Jeff

@Sunviewer338

6 ай бұрын

Completely agree!

Whenever im in troubling times i watch these reviews. Dont stop, keep it up;)

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thank you for your kind comment. Yes I plan to continue to talk about Dylan's great art. Thanks again. Cheers. Jeff

@invalidmayfly2075

3 жыл бұрын

Are you gonna talk about Just Like A Woman sometime?

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

@@invalidmayfly2075 Maybe. I will add it to my queue. Thanks for the suggestion!

This is the best analysis of the song I’ve heard/ read. I never got the museum part of the song. Thank you

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Chris! Jeff

Love this analysis Jeff. I must say l never considered looking at the song like this. Thank you . Looking forward to more.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Haha, hope I didn't ruin the song for ya, Mick! ;-)

@electricfence61

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Not at Jeff, no . You opened yet another window on it if anything! Keep 'em coming please!

The last line seems to me like text-painting, a description of his harmonica play- from a tonal (skeleton) key so deep down within him; down to the bone. And the rain, like tears. His harmonica-playing is like a cry, so much friggin emotion, it gets me every time. I am stuck on this song. Thank you for your analysis, always interesting to hear what people have to say about Dylan's songs!

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Lisa. Yes, I too am moved by his harmonica playing. And I really like you interpretation of these lyrics. Thanks for sharing them. Cheers. Jeff

Love your videos …you have an honesty and a ‘realness’ that’s very refreshing …great stuff

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Dan. I really appreciate that. Jeff

Love all the comments, the fact that there are so many ideas for interpretations of even single lines just pays testament to this artist that has staggered me for over 30 years. There has been many great songs written by many great artists. But I find dylan 'so stuff on a different level.. So clever. How on earth did he write songs like this one, I don't know, but am eternally grateful he did.

@CalicoSilver

2 ай бұрын

I find it fascinating also, and like you am very thankful to have lived during the time that Dylan has lived and produced his amazing work. But in occasional honest moments I also sometimes question the "value" of a lyrical/poetic work that doesn't seem to resonate with any two people in the same way.....but perhaps that is the genius of the work, yes?......or perhaps we just "value" the expression of an artist who seemingly has nothing (or no intention) to promote or convince us of anything in his expression, which can indeed be a good thing.....I think..... ;-)

I also love lyrics and hear analysis of many. Thanks!

The skill of the artist to paint visions looking back on what might have been . Love your take on it ... Thanks

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks James!! Yes Dylan is a literary painter. Cool way to think of it. Cheers! Jeff

i've been running around showing all my freinds who are dylan fans this analysis. Absolutely amazing!!!!

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Eric, for your kind words and encouragement. Cheers! Jeff

@ericosullivan6575

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver no problem. the way that you picture the "exhibits" going up on trial. I mean I've been listening to this song for years, and never saw it the way you see it.. it just blew my mind!!! Also the way that you outline the rhyming scheme at the start of the video showing the structure to the song, also the way you see 'Louise's' relation to the speaker within the song, just fantastic stuff. Really incredible!!!

I think that I like the live version of it the best too... “Visions Of Johanna” is one of my favorite Dylan songs, it just casts a spell on me whenever I listen to it, the mood, and the mystery of it... I think that your interpretation is very valid Jeff, very interesting review..

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Thomas. Yeah, hearing it live in the 1966 live recordings, before the audience knew the song (because Blonde on Blonde had not yet been released), and therefore the audience was not hooting and yelping at the recognition of the song, but were instead listening intently to this new song so intimately performed by Dylan on just solo guitar and harmonica....now THAT is a very special thing to hear indeed. Thanks again, Thomas. Jeff

Amazing review man, really helped me to shape most of the interpretation I already had for this masterpiece. I wanted to share with you my take on the “Mona lisa must’ve had the highway blues” line, I’ve always thought of it like the protagonist comparing himself to Mona Lisa: “blues” meaning this feeling of sorrow he’s having. It’s like saying that because of that very characteristic smile Mona Lisa has in the painting, she probably was also longing for a lover or something like that. I don’t know, just a thought I wanted to share

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

I agree, JC! I definitely think Dylan sees himself and his own blues in Mona Lisa's bluesy part-smile. Great comment, thanks! Jeff

“The ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face” is just about the gnarliest, most poignant lyric ever.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Indeed!! And the way he sings it makes it even more so.

@andrewpereira9271

7 ай бұрын

That line was the primary reason I named my daughter Louise.

@paulryan2128

4 ай бұрын

Consider .. maybe Louise experienced shock therapy during a prior confinement.

Today I was thinking about doing an analysis of this song. You heard the same whisper, 3 years ago ~ Beautiful work, thanks for sharing

@CalicoSilver

5 ай бұрын

Thanks. This is the lyric I feel the least confident about, regarding any kind of interpretation. The same is true for other Blonde On Blonde lyrics like Stuck Inside of Mobile et al.. So many potential and equally viable interpretations. Thanks again.

the louise holds a handful of rain, tempting you to defy it comes across as a surreal verse because you can’t hold rain and then louise challenges your perception because something like holding rain is beyond what we’re capable of. I was reading a lot of pablo neruda recently and under the influence of psilocybin and his words came alive in a way that were so surreal it was and still is impossible to define how I felt. Only with poetry could we come as close to grasp it I feel. Thank you for the video it was a great watch on a sleepless night!

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Wow, thanks for your great comment, jchris! I really appreciate it. I like your take on handful of rain. And I really should read more Neruda because I've not read as much of it as I should over the years. You are right - only poetry can get us to those unique places of insight and inspiration that even music can't always get us to. Thanks. Jeff

@waz3128

Жыл бұрын

I agree the handful of rain is something he sees as impossible to do. Perhaps love her as much as she loves him?

The line when he says “while I’m in the hall” always hits me and I think of it in the context of where he’s at musically when he’s singing that song. As in, this song he’s singing encapsulates who he is, who is is artistically, who he is existentially, and it’s as if he’s looking back, perhaps at his protest music, or looking back at times when he felt he was selling himself short, and says who does he think he is carrying on like that, while I’m in the hall?

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Hey, interesting point! It never occurred to me that "in the hall" could refer to a performing venue. Excellent comment, Aaron. Thanks! Jeff

@caricatureparty

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Haha. I didn't think of "in the hall" as a concert venue either until you mentioned it. I was thinking more like in the halls of his brain.

I find these interpretation vids really interesting Jeff. Looking forward to more. Cheers.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks! I really had second thoughts about whether I wanted to step into this particular project of analyzing songs in depth.....because (1) they are only my opinions, (2) my opinions change over time, and (3) many Dylan fans hate this kind of thing. But at least I said at the beginning of the video that this kind of video is not for everyone, haha! Anyway, thanks for the encouraging words. Jeff

@nothingisreal8618

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver If some folks don't care for it then they can always skip it Jeff. It's something different and it keeps things interesting. I for one always enjoy others interpretations of Dylan's work. Anyway cheers again :-)

This is a beautiful discussion of this great song. Your tone is perfect and I am quite in harmony with your response.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Godwin. I enjoy doing these lyrical reviews of Dylan songs, even while fully knowing that I could be very wrong about them. Haha!

thanks sir, great work!

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I enjoy making these "lyrical reviews" of Dylan songs. And glad that others seem to enjoy them too. Thanks a lot. Cheers! Jeff

I have been along side of Bob Dylan for all my life since seeing him in concert in 1966 Have listened to his Lyrics over and over. Visions of Johanna is my favorite of all. Blond on Blond is his best.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks Phil.

Just awesome, I always understood the overall context of the song as being a song of struggling to get past the memory of a beloved someone, but you really opened up smaller details of the song. For what I believe the song to be ... I think you're bang on.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Michel. I really appreciate your kind and encouraging comment. Cheers. Jeff

@meancana

2 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Oh!! And after taking In your thoughts on "a handful of rain", the light bulb turned on for me. Handful of rain, an opportunity to grow as in rain helps things to grow in nature. Louise offers him an opportunity to grow.

I love your analysis of this song. I have always liked his phrasing, changing the structure of what would seem like a normal way to say the sentence. I'm also a fan of an opening question. Since you chose Glen's favorite Dylan song, I nominate "Up To Me." next. Wonderful job. --Randy

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks Randy. I knew it was Glen’s fave, but that was not the reason I chose to do this song first. But I will make a list of all requests. Apologies in advance if I choose to do other songs first, haha!! Thanks again. Jeff

You have an amazing insight into understanding people. I've watch a few of your comments and you get 2 thumbs up. Glad i came across your site. I think your getting Dylan down in understanding his thinking. I had no idea what a lot of his songs were about until i heard you. Wow. thanks for help cause he's not easy.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much for your comment. Comments like yours are very encouraging to me, and I appreciate them. Like I always say, I have no idea what Dylan actually means when he sings these songs.....I can only offer my own subjective interpretive responses to his great work. I find it very rewarding and stimulating to think about the lyrics of Dylan, because I do believe he is the greatest poet of our time. Thanks again! Jeff

@tryarea51

Жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver : No, thanks to You for being so smart with not only Dylan but with songs of the different years. You remember so many songs i cant believe it. I was born in 51' so you revive so many songs from the past. You deserve a medal! Well, just wanted to say, I've enjoyed your comments and gonna try and see as many as i can. Thanks again Calico...

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

@@tryarea51 Thank you again for your very kind words. I very much appreciate them.

Great Job, of this fantastic album

@CalicoSilver

8 ай бұрын

Thanks.

As a poet (sort of) myself, I find it really interesting when other people come up with completely different interpretations for the stuff I write. It's really cool, like my creation takes a life of its own. However, I find it pretty annoying when people try to say that they "know" for sure what I wanted to say. Geez, many times I don't even know it myself. Sometimes my stuff is well thought and precise, but sometimes it's just a stream of consciousness that conveyed an emotion, an idea. There's no way "constrain" it into just one interpretation.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Excellent comment. Thanks! I agree 100%. Jeff

@kenkaplan3654

2 жыл бұрын

Good point, but there is no mistaking the overall emotion of the song, The arc of emotion and POV running and evolving through 6 albums or the explicit references to Baez. After hearing Mary Chapin Carpenter at a concert sing "Quitting Time" and "Can't Take Love For Granted" (that album had just come out) I asked her "What have you been going through that's been so tough". She said "nothing". Point taken. You are right, you have personal experience but I have a hard time believing that the man who wrote "Masters of War", "It's Alright Ma", "Tombstone Blues" and "Desolation Row" on this album, which had "Stuck Inside of Mobile" and this song, among others, was not reflecting either a deep personal or sense of societal anguish. Dylan felt trapped on Tour by 1966. He had been adored for years and acclaimed and now half his audience reviled him (JUDAS) and the other half expected him to be a prophet. No wonder this song came out of him.

I like to think of Johanna as his artistic vision. When he creates new music he is burdened by distractions (noises). He has to deal with people he doesn’t like, to help finance things or get them approved for making an album (the lady who can’t see her knees is a business supporter who wants to see new art like the other successful art in museums). Performances and tours have many necessary tedious tasks (like packing things into a truck at the end, and paying off the venue). But he puts up with all of it in pursuit of his artistic vision.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, that is a VERY interesting idea! I am going to have to give this some thought. Thank you VERY much for taking the time to post your insightful comment! Cheers. Jeff

Bob Dylan's songs are poetry. Visions of Johanna, in particular, has endless meanings for me. I enjoy it and many of his other songs with constantly varying interpretations. Not only the lyrics, but the music itself has a supporting effect for the traveling mind. It is not really important to me exactly what he meant. The words he uses are like piano keys that play my brain. I wind personal experience into each interpretation. For instance, highway blues probably grows out of his highway 61 connection that started when he was young. It is the road south to the home of the blues all the way from his hometown. It also brings up the many personal highway reflection vignettes that I have in my brain as do many others who have, for instance spent all night driving on a lonely road while thinking about events of one's life. This can be quite a rich connection to the mood and the music. Maybe one of the things that make his songs so great is that he himself doesn't seem to be strictly tied to any particular interpretation. In his live shows, one can see the extensive variability of his performances and the text delivery that substitutes easily. People are always asking Dylan to reveal more about himself; but he himself has said that it is all out there with nothing held back.

@CalicoSilver

10 ай бұрын

Great and insightful comments, Lester. You are so right - this is pure poetry from which we can all derive meaningful (and changing) inspiration and enjoyment. Thanks so much for taking the time to comment. Cheers. Jeff

Great insight. I'd love to hear more of your channel. I have that different way of listening to Bob Dylan which is the lazy way you mentioned early on. I dont think lazy has to mean the wrong way. I love the juxtaposition of the words that move along with the melody from the instruments. I never particularly like to analyze them so much when I'm wrapped up in listening, but I can see value in it later when reflecting. BTW, the lyric "we see this empty cage now corrode" was "He examines the nightengale's code" in an earlier version of the song. A beautifully conceived lyric and if i had written this song (fat chance) I couldn't leave it out.

@CalicoSilver

6 ай бұрын

Thanks. I enjoy poetry very much and enjoy the challenge of thinking/overthinking poetry, so it makes sense that I'd do likewise with Dylan's lyrics. This song was the first Dylan song that I approached in this way, and it is the song that I am least confident about regarding any analysis. But it sure is fun anyway. Thanks again for your comment. Jeff

This was just brilliant. Never heard a better interpretation of this song. Can't wait for more of these, if i could make a request, I'd like to see a video on It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Bleeding). Never could wrap my head around that one.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Oh yeah, I'd love to cover that song too, Dhiren! I'm sure I will, because it is one of my favorite Dylan songs! But you are right - it is a tough nut to crack, for sure. So I might do an easier one next, before plunging into "...Alright Ma..." directly after tackling "...Johanna", haha! But yeah, I will get to it. And thanks so much for the kind and encouraging words. Jeff

@nothingisreal8618

3 жыл бұрын

Hehe... I second that Dhiren. Chimes of Freedom would be a good one too I reckon, even though the lyrics are more obvious I still like others opinions as It's one of my favorite early Dylan songs and a very uplifting one.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

@@nothingisreal8618 Yep, Chimes Of Freedom was one that came to my mind immediately when I thought of this project. What an amazing song.

@dhirenram4971

3 жыл бұрын

​@@nothingisreal8618 Ohh yea completely forgot about Chimes of Freedom, I guess I've not been in the 'season' of Another Side for a while. But, it would be great see an interpretation on that with it's deep poetic lyrics.

@nothingisreal8618

3 жыл бұрын

@@dhirenram4971 Yeah, I find a lot of his songs from that period to be very poetic, for example Gates of Eden, Mr Tambourine Man, Hard Rain, Baby Blue among others. Hopefully Jeff will cover some of these.

Great Insight...a believer

Hi, for me like many others this is favourite Dylan song. I love every single word, the imagery is totally fantastic. And as a boy from South London to ride the D train was very special for me. One that always comes to mind whenever I hear this song is that there is school,of thought, that whenever a man hears or reads about a women, without knowing what she looks like then that woman is Beautiful. This being the case both Louise as well and the enigmatic Johanna are Beautiful!!! Just like this song.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Great comment, Keith! I love the idea of how we all imagine women as beautiful even without knowing what they look like. I've always viewed women as God's finest creation and I just love being around them. Seems Dylan felt likewise. Thanks for the comment. Cheers! Jeff

I’m late but beautiful analysis here. Hearing peoples interpretations of music is fascinating, especially Dylan’s work.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks! I appreciate it. I've really enjoyed posting these lyrical reviews of Dylan's marvelous songs. Cheers! Jeff

Excellent analysis, with a lot of insights that I have overlooked in the 50 or so years I've been listening to this song. Two things that you might consider: 1) In verse 3, I've always heard this verse as being sung by Louise, the misery bragged about being "his" words in verses 1 & 2. He brings Johanna's name up, even talking about the last time he kissed her. And when Louise has had all she can stand and heads for the door (I'm in the hall), he's still talking about Johanna to the only thing that will listen - the wall. 2) In verse 4, isn't "the one with the mustache" the Mona Lisa? Duchamp famously painted a mustache on her, and indeed, she has no knees. Very much enjoyed this and will check out your other reviews.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Yeah, I've heard another person suggest that the 3rd verse was from Louise's perspective, and I think you might have something there! Great idea, thanks. I love this kind of stuff. Appreciate your comment, Matthew. Jeff

thank you for your share. it's awesome. I had a totally different take on it but I see your viewpoint and it could very well be what he's saying.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

This was perhaps the most difficult song for me to try to "analyze".....I don't know why I started my lyrical review series with this one! Hahaha. I am probably way off on my interpretation. Still, I love the song very much. Thanks! Jeff

Among so many great songs he wrote, this is very possibly the best. Every time I think that I feel a little guilty because I'm no wanting to make any less of all the others.

Thanks for posting. Very interesting discussion of my favorite Dylan song. I always interpreted "rain" in the first and last stanzas to be "reality". Louise is challenging him to deny reality. But I'm sure there are so many interpretations of just this one word.

@CalicoSilver

7 ай бұрын

Excellent! I love that interpretation of rain here. I was just commenting with another viewer about how often rain is used in Dylan’s lyrics and how it most often seems to refer to bad things. I was wondering if it ever referred to cleansing or clarifying and here your comment suggests that it might refer to reality (or a clarifying from confusion). Thanks!

That's Dylan for me and why I love him. He creates pictures with his poems.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

He surely does indeed. Thanks, Michael. Jeff

Great analysis

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks, Derby. It is fun talking about Dylan's great lyrics, even while knowing fully well that we're all probably way off the mark! Haha. Thanks again for your comment. Jeff

"Visions of Johanna" is one of my favourite songs! I agree with you on most of your interpretation, but I've always imagined that the setting of the first verse it at the end of a party. I think of it as a kind of bohemian, hipster party. It's late, near dawn. It's raining. Radio is on, but on a low volume. Almost everybody has gone home, except a few that are left. A couple is making out somewhere in the room: "Louise and her lover, so entwined". The fact that the song describes that narrator is torn between Louise, who's "alright" and "near" and Johanna who isn't - even if she's "conquering /his/ mind" - doesn't contradict that Louise is making out with somebody else than the narrator. It's the mid 1960:ies, they are hipsters, beatniks, and probably experimenting with the "free love" ideals of that time. Or... Louise is just trying to make the narrator jealous. I never thought that "the little boy lost" could be the same person as the narrator. I think of him as one of the hipsters who's left at the late night party and maybe have had a little to much weed. That's why he's "muttering small talk at the wall...". When I started to listen to Bob Dylan and this song, I thought that the "Inside the museum"- verse was just surralistic wordplay. Nowadays I interpret it the same way as you do: The narrator goes to a museum and he just describes what he sees, which is paintings of primitive wallflowers and a surrealistic installation of a mule with jewels and binoculars hanging from the head of it. It all make sense if you think of it this way. These are my thoughts on this great song! Thank's for your interpretation!

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks, Sven. I think a great lyric/poem like this one invites all kinds of interpretive opportunities, and each listener will imagine the scenes as he/she will. That is why this will always be one of Dylan's greatest lyrics, I think. Even the same listener will "see" and "feel" different things as time goes on. What I see in this lyric today is definitely different than what I saw in it many years ago, and I'm sure I will see different things in the future also. Some listeners find this kind of dynamic interpretive characteristic of a song to be frustrating or frivolous, but I find it to be very rewarding. Anyway, thanks for your interpretation. Cheers. Jeff

@svenknutsen8937

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Agree 100%!

@kenkaplan3654

2 жыл бұрын

As I wrote extensively above, in the context of not only Blonde on Blonde, but the arc of Dylan's career to this point, I think this is a little too literal. but it is an incredibly atmospheric song and very elusive in precise meaning.

@mikeoglen6848

10 ай бұрын

Well, it has been said that you cannot step into the same river twice...@@CalicoSilver

Terrific interpretation! I am right there with you on most of it. I also think the "little boy lost" verse is Dylan talking about himself...his negative side that is obsessed with losing Johanna and wants to "live dangerously" and "brag of his misery". It keeps him, as you say, from being able to appreciate what Louise is offering him, which is quite tragic. I always interpreted the "handful of rain" as being something emotional that Louise was offering him. All he could see was the reflection of himself in everything, including her.......and his visions of Johanna...which are the reflections of his own despair and desire. Now, who might Johanna be? Well, I could be wrong, but I always figured it simply had to be: Joan Baez. First of all, the similarity in the names. Joan becomes Johanna. Secondly, he refers to her in one verse as "Madonna". Well, in the early years of her career (1959-65, let's say) a large part of her most loyal audience customarily referred to her as "the Madonna", due to the general air of purity and dignity and downright holiness that she seemed to project in her manner and appearance and idealism. It was just palpable! And that's why people gave her that nickname. So, it's got to refer to Joan as far as I can see. He had heard her sing on the radio quite some time before he met her, and decided in his mind "I'm going to sing with that girl some day"....and by God, he did! They ended up doing a lot of performing together as Joan took him touring with her, introduced him to her audiences, and did a lot to help advance his career. They were very closely involved, both as professional musicians and as lover for around 3 years, more or less. She became like his songbird in her dependable "cage"...until she flew away. The cage now sits empty and rusted. "Where her cape of the stage once did flow." Sounds like Joan to me. Now, one can debate about who left who...and there are many sides to that story...but the fact is that their connection was eventually broken, for a variety of reasons..........but not without it having profoundly affected both of them. No doubt of that. Joan has herself always believed that the song was about her, and she's referred to it in her own song lyrics in that regard. ("Ghost of Johanna will visit you there, and the Winds of the Old Days will blow through your hair...") All Bob's songs are, of course, first and foremost about........himself. And he has admitted as much. That's not unusual. Poets are almost always essentially writing about themselves, their own experience, and how they collide with life....because when they look at the world around them they constantly see reflections of themselves in the mirror of other people and in the mirror of life, and they react to those reflections. It's pretty much unavoidable. And they write about others who get heavily tangled up with themselves. Bob has written again and again about himself........the important women in his life...family.......God......and life itself. Those become the biggest concerns, and it's not surprising that they would. The album "Blonde on Blonde" has some songs on it that pretty surely refer to Edie Sedgewick...and songs that refer to Sara Dylan... Who "Louise" may have been, I don't know. Hard to say. But Joan Baez is plainly the one haunting Bob in "Visions of Johanna". So that's my best guess (and of course, I could be wrong...) At any rate, it is one of my two most favorite Dylan songs of all time. I'm also fascinated by how he adds those 3 extra lines into the last verse, as it's the perfect way to increase the tension and impact of the closing lines at the end of the song. I too have noticed how Bob does this to great effect in a few of his finest songs like "Tambourine Man", "Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", and "Visions of Johanna", just as you pointed out. Marvelous writing.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thanks SO MUCH for your excellent comment, George! You have convinced me that Johanna is indeed Joan. Great great song, so perfectly written. A masterpiece. Thanks again - I read your comment three times tonight! Jeff

@Sunviewer338

6 ай бұрын

Well written, man! Good job....a lot of food for thought.

@paulryan2128

4 ай бұрын

An interpretation ... there are 4 people in the story... the narrator, the narrator's absent lover (or ex- more likely), another woman named Louise, and Louise's current lover (un-named "little boy lost"). From the start, the love-sick narrator misses his ex (Johannah) and is mildly annoyed by the other two, the "lovers" that he is stuck with inside an apartment (or attic "loft"). Most of the song lyrics are an internal stream-of -consciousness, free association. "He's sure got a lotta gall, to be so useless and all, muttering small talk at the wall ... while I'm in the hall". He's definitely annoyed with that guy ... and Louise too ... for trying to get thru his melancholia in an effort to lighten the mood & cheer him up. I guess if you've never been in that situation tho...

@georgecoventry8441

4 ай бұрын

@@paulryan2128 - Yes, that is also a perfectly reasonable explanation, and you may be quite correct. "Little Boy Lost" could refer to Louise's boyfriend. I have a notion that Bob might be referring to himself...but it could just as well be a reference to another person, as you suggest. Interestingly enough, Bob has eliminated the "little boy lost" verse when performing the song live in the last 2 or 3 decades. Maybe he feels it doesn't fit in quite as well as the other 4 verses do.

Thank you! Enjoyed that very much! Could skeleton keys played from harmonicas be like a skeleton key which opens all doors/ people’s hearts etc?

@CalicoSilver

8 ай бұрын

Thanks, Rowan. Yes I think you might be right also. The cool thing about Dylan's lyrics is that they seem to contain so many things from history, culture, literature, whatever. Listening to his songs prompts new ideas each time. Amazing artist and poet. Cheers! Jeff

There's a neurological phenomenon at work behind this song. When you stare at an image for an extended period of time a complimentary image is formed which persists even when you close your eyes. It also works with a mental image if you constantly hold it in your mind. Thinking constantly of the image of someone you love can produce this persistent image and that is what I think was keeping Dylan awake. The formation of the muse in the psyche and projection of it onto another person you fall for is a feature of the artistic process which I'm sure Dylan understood very well. It's not surprising that his insomnia led him onto thinking about the nature of art. It's the reason why it's my favourite Dylan song.

@CalicoSilver

6 ай бұрын

Very interesting comment - thanks!!

Great Video.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thank you!

The harmonica contains inside like a very bone-like structure where the reeds sit, and every harmonica only can play in one key, meaning it can only play some notes, not all of them. Hence the "skeleton key" symbolizes the deadly impossibility to get out of a certain pattern, trapped in that rigid instrument. Love the duality of that image! Such a brilliant finding, moreover Dylan being himself an harmonica player !

@CalicoSilver

7 ай бұрын

Love it! Excellent comment. Thanks for sharing this. I've always seen the "keys" as being musical keys (or something related to it, a metaphor) but I never thought about musical keys being a restriction....but yes it makes perfect sense. I once had a musical performing partner and we'd play free-improv for hours but we chose a tonal center (key, if you wish) around which we'd improvise.....therefore it was not really FREE improv, but restricted. So yes I love the imagery of keys being restrictions. Thanks again. Jeff

Who knows if you're right, but it's an intelligent interesting discussion. Thanks. It's nice to think. Of course, all kudos to Bob for this beautiful masterpiece.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Indeed! Great song and yes, I have no idea what it is about but it’s still fun to think about it. Pure poetry. Thanks for your comment. Jeff

This was beautiful

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Thank you, Kindai! Cheers. Jeff

Hey Jeff, I hate to agree with any majority of people but ...yeah, Johanna is my absolute favorite as it is with so many others. At 17, I had my heart broken (as we all do) in a way that it created actual physical pain. We've all been there. And I did go through a period of (I guess) obsession. Long story short, I would drive around for hours trying to think and playing this song over and over. In fact, it may have been the only song that I would listen to for maybe 6 months. That said, I always felt that the narrator was someone torturing himself with endless thoughts of Louise. Couldn't help but picture in his mind what Louise must be doing at any given moment like being entertwined with her new lover. I always felt that the handful of rain that she offers is really a handful of tears that she offers him. And for so much of the song, the world becomes surreal and strange. A broken heart at 17 will do that to you. I can go on but 30 something years later, the song never lost it's punch. I think that it's obtuse enough that many people that listen to it adopt it as their own personal anthem of pain and exclusion. Great review Jeff.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for this account of your personal story as it relates to this masterpiece of a song, Tony. Yes it is a true poetic work of art that can touch anyone who listens to it who is also attuned to a poetic sensibility. Rich with interpretive opportunity, but more importantly rich with powerfully moving sentiment that so many of us can relate to in one way or the other. True ART. Thanks. Jeff

Very great interpretation. I’m going through a vision,maken art seems so cruel break up at present thats lasted way more long than I wish.

FAV SONG! LYRICS OFF THE CHARTS!

Have you ever embarked on a lifetime journey to the end of days , Jeff . My mind is going to explode with knowings I wanted to know but never could , until now . I’m in for the long haul . You stay in there , Jeff . Peter

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Not quite sure I understand your comment but it sounds nice, Peter. Thanks! Jeff

CS, Thanks for sharing your reflections on this great Dylan song. I think you, basically, get it right (meaning I see it similarly). However, I see it nuanced a little differently. What you refer to as "obsession" feels more to me like an affection, a love interest which has some kind of "hold" on him. BD seems to carefully nurture and reflect on this rapture while simultaneously engaging the disappointment of this affair which is "dying". Working through his thoughts, images and feelings these all coalesce into a "vision" of what was previously an intense engagement as he realizes that "it is over" and nothing more can be said ("everything's returned which was old"). Oh! I see the "rain" as life, feeling, engagement...the immediacy of being overwhelmed. Louise is simply the foil in which BD reflects on his own experience. Thanks for your thoughts on BD's poetry. For me, he is the "voice of my generation".

@CalicoSilver

6 ай бұрын

Hi Phillip. My interpretation of this song is the one interpretation of a Dylan song that I am absolutely the LEAST comfortable with. Every time I hear it I think of other things. I guess that is a good thing. I read a LOT of poetry and have done so for decades, but I've never encountered poetry as powerful (to me) as the best of Dylan's lyrics like this. Who knows if he even knew what he was doing when he wrote these 1965-66 lyrics? Whether he did or not, they sure were and are a kick in the head! Thanks for your great comment - I really enjoyed it. Cheers! Jeff

A masterpiece

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Do you mean my video, or the song? Hahahahaha!! Just kidding. Yes, this song is just brilliant.....way too brilliant for me to try to interpret. ;-)

@gibby6904

Жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver well...your video is very thought provoking.....

You could do a breakdown of all the different versions of this song and call it Versions of Johanna.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Haha, yeah, that would be funny. ;-)

My favourite dylan song ❤

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Definitely in my top list also. 👍

@naobieeyendrembam1699

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Appreciate your work, everyone has their own interpretation coz most of dylan songs are quite hard to get a common thinking. And I love Sad eyed lady of the lowlands, don't think twice it's alright and many more Ah! 😂

Nice analysis! I interpret it similarly but with one big difference. I think verse 3 is told from Louise's perspective. She is annoyed with Bob/Little Boy Lost who is self-absorbed and doesn't appreciate her enough. She is also hurt by the fact that Bob continues to talk about the divine Johanna. In fact, Louise herself starts to suffer from visions of her rival, keeping her up a night.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Wow, excellent take on verse 3, Wilhelm. I like it! Thanks for sharing it. Jeff

It's best to start with Dylan's best song! I never thought much about the meaning of it,just love the imagery

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

That imagery is so great, yes. We can all hear and see what we want in such a song.

Interesting. After hearing your interpretation I’m wondering if the character Louise is Joan Baez. Love the song.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Hi Jay. I've heard it suggested that Johanna was Joan but I don't recall hearing anyone suggest that Louise was Joan. But yeah, this song could possibly be about the Dylan/Baez "freeze out" in 1965. Interesting idea. Thanks, Jay.

@wilhelmhagberg4897

Жыл бұрын

I think it is. Joan Baez often claims to be Johanna, but I think Bob just switched the names around not to hurt her feelings.

in the first verse, I've always thought of the lights flickering, the heat pipes caughing and the radio station also describing the sexual frustration that the character is experiencing. as if their neighbors are having passioned love, while in the room with him and Louise it's just dry, nothing. there is nothing to turn off cause there wasn't anything on in the first place.

@CalicoSilver

4 ай бұрын

Interesting idea! I like it. Thanks.

The "skeleton keys" are simply the high notes (keys). All the rest I agree w/ you.

That Review was Quite Interesting...

@CalicoSilver

10 ай бұрын

Thanks Mike. Cheers. Jeff

Think Johanna was/Is his twin t his soul & is he is haunted by his Memory & Connection t her.. (undying love for?)

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds like a good way of looking at the song, Janet. Thanks. Jeff

I find it quite interesting the way you interpret this beautiful song, and if there's room for more, I would say that there's a word manipulation in here, you see when Bob talked about the visions of Johanna I think he doesn't mean the visions he had about her, but in fact her visions, the thing she saw, and in some how she shared with him, and which hunted him, that's why he couldn't enjoy the art work at the museum, because nothing is compared to Johanna's visions. Louis, she's Ok, but no rain can wash the beauty of Johanna's visions. Thank you again, and I still have some other songs if you can give your opinion about

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting interpretation, Farouk. Thanks for sharing it. I will think about your ideas when I hear the song next time. Cheers. Jeff

@Central-station

2 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Thanks Jeff, cheers.

Can u provide with soft analysis of this in a pdf form

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Hahaha!! Yes I can. But I won't. I've already done enough damage to Dylan's art with this stupid channel. No point in putting it in writing. Hahahaha!!!

@priyanshiyadav6211

Жыл бұрын

Please..! I want it for my exam..! Nothing else ..! Uh sound perfect 😍

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

@@priyanshiyadav6211 Nope. You gotta do your own thinking. 😉👍

My interpretation ( right or wrong ) he is ruminating on the love he had for Johanna that he realized existed and was more perfect than he could attain with Louise. Louise was being herself but its not the quality he had with his past love. Its sad that if you attain something but you realize it will or may not ever come again. You have to deal with the loss but it breaks you spiritually and acceptance in life is hard. I am looking back to my perfect love and sometimes the sadness for what is never going to be again overcomes me.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Sounds great, Ed! I think your interpretation is right on the mark. Thanks for commenting. Cheers. Jeff

@cavewaller

Жыл бұрын

So it’s actually a song about Joanna’ visions rather than Bobs!? Maybe his guilt at how he treated her and felt he had to let the relationship go even tho it was a once in a lifetime thing!?

very thorough interpretation, thank you , but i ve got my own interpretation too

@CalicoSilver

5 ай бұрын

Indeed. There are probably as many interpretations as listeners to the song. I suppose that is one of the reasons it reaches so many listeners. Thanks for your comment.

@wurlgchao6388

5 ай бұрын

@@CalicoSilver hopefully you can enjoy my video clip about the translation and analysis of our Mongolian poem. Thanks.

I have always thought that holding a handful of rain is impossible. So, she's offering the impossible

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Yeah, that sounds good to me too. Thanks, Michael. Jeff

Enjoyed your video. The stanza on the museum always seemed like a comic relief section to me, but your take opens up more possibilities. here's a few of my thoughts on the song The watchman, who should be in charge and know what is happening, does not, authority and security is confused and mixed-up. Also that line seems longer than is needed. Is little boy lost, the same person dylan, snarls at in the song " she's your lover now" he sits around, asking for ashtrays, bob asks, " can't you reach" how useless is someone who cannot pick up an ashtray? I don't think it's a case of dylan talking about himself in that verse Is the countess, his manager or a patron of his? The parasite phrase brings to mind, the business men who drink his wine in all along the watchtower. Did the peddler call the countess a parasite, and she replied, name someone whose not? I've always wondered about johanna sounding like gehanna, and if that had any significance.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Thanks for your great comments, Gerard! I really appreciate them. Yeah, this song is open to all kinds of interpretations. Sometimes I kinda wonder if Bob is not just having fun with all of us, haha! Also I remember reading in one of the many Dylan bios/books many years ago that he had a girlfriend when he was very young and her name was Joanna or something like that....so at the time I thought that perhaps the Johanna of this song was referring to that "first love" thing that no other woman can ever quite match. But probably not....haha, just another in many potential thoughts about this great song. Thanks again. Jeff

@gerardoleary9606

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver first I've heard of a girlfriend called Joanne. Echo,bonnie, suzie, but never a Joanne. Funnily enough he seemed to have an eagerness to marry and proposed to all of them. As its alleged he did with marvis staple? May have her first name wrong. One thing, from this time period, which struck me was his use of barriers to access in his songs. Gates, doors, windows, even door knobs. There are railroad gates, he can't jump, velvet doors ,achilles is in an alleyway, trying to restrict access.. He seems to spend a lot of time on windows or looking out of them, sometimes on his own, other times with lady. He lays his possessions at the gate of the sad eyed lady. Its probably should be no surprise that his metal work in later life is predominantly gates. I really enjoyed your take on the 4th stanza, it never seemed to fit with my take on the song, and seemed out of place. Your view opens the song up,and makes sense. I still think, that Johanna/ gehenna has some significanc though. Also, after ballad in plain D, I wonder if he wrote songs which could easily identify the subject. This leads me to believe that johanna is not joan baez.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

@@gerardoleary9606 Yeah there was a photo of Joanne or Joanna (or whatever her name was) in one of the bios (can't recall which and I no longer have all those Dylan books, but it was one of the major ones). Interesting point about the barriers to access used in the songs. I've noticed that also. And I agree with you in that I've never been convinced this song was about Baez. Doesn't matter, I suppose, but.... Hey, thanks for your comments! Jeff

I kind of feel like a pocket full of rain implies something that cannot be grasped.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Definitely. Hard to hold a handful of rain, much less try to offer it to someone.

I was named after this song. my mom said it was about the happiest times of her life.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

It is a beautiful song to have been named after, indeed. Thanks, Johannah. Jeff

Many considered "Visions of Johanna" his greatest song until the "Blood On the Tracks" LP.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

It certainly is one of his finest lyrics, true. Thanks for your great comments, J Nagarya. Much appreciated. Cheers. Jeff

It’s about a man that is full of lust and temptation.. and not wanting to hurt his love.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Yep.

I never think anyone else's reflections of art is ever wrong. But we all see through our personal filters. Visions of Johanna, IMO, more of a reflection of the Beats art. I see and hear many situations and characters found in their art in much of Dylan's art. Visions of Gerard and Visions of Cody and so on.... The ladies names in this poem's drama may be interchangeable with male characters in a Kerouac novel. Rain, I think it means sadness. The same type of sadness felt in "Hatful of Rain". The sadness a lovers triad fosters, perhaps. Lyrics, especially Dylans and Steely Dan, only help expose how a real Rorschach Test works. I don't think Dylan wrote many songs about himself. Most seem to be reflections of literary works of art or reflections of an artistic truth of some sorts. Such as Dylan's tradition of carrying on the social awareness & protest of Woody and Pete with his machine that kills fascism Nice effort put forth and I enjoyed it, thank you for entertaining me.

@CalicoSilver

4 ай бұрын

Thanks for your insightful comments.

"Holds a handful of rain tempting you to defy it" -- it's a conundrum she presents, perhaps a "NO!" that he can't get around.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting take. Thanks. Jeff

You mentioned towards the end of your reading of the song, that if we think you are "completely wrong" to let you know. I respect the humility involved, since it seemed that invitation was sincere. So not completely wrong, yet too literal an interpretation (of the actual love affairs represented by Louise and Johanna) for my taste. It wouldn't be poetic if there weren't multiple levels of symbolism (Dylan's gift) and in this song (as in so many of the others) Dylan plumbs the depths of the collective unconscious for what Louise and Johanna represent in our psyches. My feedback is that you stayed on the surface, so not 'wrong' (we all have to live on the horizontal plane of reality) just a pedestrian walk-through instead of the psychospiritual vision that makes this song a masterpiece. In other words, a reductionist reading about what's going on with the girlfriends in question removes the real 'Vision' from the equation, and it's still that Vision which is "all that remains" after your ground level deconstruction of it.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Thank you very much for your excellent comment, Cedric. I am absolutely sure that you are quite right. Of all the Dylan songs I’ve reviewed so far, this one was by far the one of which I am least confident in my interpretation. So I welcome all input, and have learned a lot from great commenters like you. Again, I really appreciate your input and will think on it often. Cheers. Jeff

@InnerViewGuidance

Жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Hey Jeff, you can find me on Facebook under my name, and add me to your roster there if you like. Then I can follow up with the 'reading' of the song I didn't actually delve into yet. You obviously deserve more than the critique of your efforts I posted above.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

@@InnerViewGuidance Thanks Cedric! I’ll do so soon. I am enjoying a wonderful walk around our local lake here where I live. But I will be home later. Thanks! Jeff

Really interesting review. By the way, on the "handful of rain" part, i usually associate "rain" in the songs with "pain" so, in my view, would be a description of a depressing scene.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Interesting idea about the handful of rain being associated with pain. I like it. Cheers. Jeff

@paulobessa1906

2 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Thank you, Jeff :) Great content, I'm watching all your Dylan's analysis videos. I hope you do a lyrical review of Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands soon! Cheers. Paulo.

@paulobessa1906

2 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver And by "the ghost of electricity howls in the bones of her face" i usually associate with a kinda-like face to face situation with poor lightning from above. A moment maybe where Louise is telling him that Johanna is not there and he is describing how the light (ghost of electricity) is showing her face (howls in the bones of her face) like when we shine a flashlight towards our face in a ghostly manner. That would indicate that he is listening no more to her explanation, while these visions of Johanna have taken his place.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

SadEyedLady is so intensely personal between Dylan and Sara that I wouldn’t even know how to comment on it in detail. I doubt anyone could other than them. But it sure is a moving and beautiful song. Thanks Paulo!

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Another excellent take on things! Thanks!

What is this critic's name please ? He is very interesting ...

@CalicoSilver

10 ай бұрын

Thank you, Robert. My name is Jeff. Cheers.

Joan thinks this song is about her and Sara. He wrote this during the ny city blackout. Joan was a Madonna and a singer on stage. I enjoyed your interpretation.

@CalicoSilver

9 ай бұрын

Joan is probably right. 😉

Visions of Gehenna, perhaps?❤

@melmoss5333

7 ай бұрын

yep...and outside his window is Hell on Earth

I agree with you that this is one of Dylan's greatest poetic achievements and I agree "Johanna" represents an ideal. I used t think that the song was about a lost love. It is a credible interpretation and there are references to a what seems to be a physical person ("Johanna's not here". "And when bringing her name up He speaks of a farewell kiss to me.") But I've changed. Visions can mean two things, a vision *of* another person or the visionary aspect of their life, their "visions". I believe the song combines the two. There are those who think" Johanna" means God. In any event I do think Joan Baez (Johanna) informs this song but it is not ostensibly about her per se. If we look at the _context_ of this song on the album and in relationship to the one before it, Blonde on Blonde, as opposed to Highway 61 (which is full of savage fury) VOJ is saturated with loss, disappointment, abandonment, betrayal and feeling trapped. (Aside from Sad Eyed Lady, the two anchor songs , this and Stuck Inside of Mobile mirror one another in feeling.) Desolation Row was anything but desolate. It was sanctuary, safety, almost invulnerable as a vantage point to escape the madness. Here there is no escape "And the ladies treat me kindly And furnish me with tape But deep inside my heart I know I can’t escape" An’ here I sit so patiently Waiting to find out what price You have to pay to get out of Going through all these things twice (only twice?) In VOJ, the landscape IS desolate, a (probably) seedy apartment in some wasteland part of a city. I have come to believe that "Louise" represents the material world, devoid of soul. Thus she is "entwined" physically in the beginning. "Johanna" represents a higher ideal the singer cannot reach. Joan Baez never gave up her activism, her ideals and her hope. Dylan departed from that. In" Diamonds and Rust" she remarks caustically on his cynicism and emotional withdrawal.. The "Visions" of Johanna are simultaneously the ethos of that connection to the ideal and the person who embodied them so completely. Thus VOJ is far more than a song about a lost lover. "The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face". One of the all time great lines. I never understood it (for me) until recently. If "Louise" is a symbol for the barren material world, which Dylan has despised, that world is upheld, maintained literally by electricity. It is one of its defining characteristics yet the electric world is artificial, not authentic of soul, and it is this feeling-connection that has been lost. The "ghost of electricity" haunts, howls and dominates the ethos of this material world, down to the bone, of the barren landscape of the all night girls and the night watchman asking who is insane, where Infinity goes on trial and Mona Lisa must have had the "highway blues" (as the singer has the "Memphis Blues again".) I can't go line by line except I think "Little boy lost" is self referential to the folk protest days- and perhaps even some of his surrealistic work. You might have mentioned this "he takes himself so seriously He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously" But that realization brings despondence which permeates the song "How can I explain? It's so hard to get on And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn. One last thing. the image of rain pervades Dylan's work and generally stands for grief or sorrow. Here in VOJ "And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it" and "The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain" Look through previous songs "A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall", "tonight as I stand inside the rain", " Buckets of rain, buckets of tears", "the rainman gave me two cures", "Rainy Day Women", "shelter from the storm", these are a few. Thanks again for a thoughtful review.

@kenkaplan3654

2 жыл бұрын

So I heard your interpretation of the last verse. I still think some things are too literal in terms of Louise and Johanna. although there is interplay between persona (person) and symbol. Joan Baez is a "stage figure", she performed on stages. She was thought of by many as a "Madonna". In Diamonds and Rust she explicitly says in the song to Dylan regarding their phone conversation "the Madonna was yours for free." Last kiss can have again a double meaning as they had a terrible breakup when he was in Europe in 1964 and they did not reconcile until after she wrote Diamonds and Rust and he then collaborated with her on the Rolling Thunder tour. Also the most famous "last kiss" in history was Judas kissing Jesus which fits the overall theme of abandonment, loss, betrayal. I think you are spot on about the "corroded cage" being about freedom but a corroded cage means the captive left quite a while ago and "Where her cape of the stage once had flowed" (in the past-now long gone).. I also think you get the mood right. If Louise stands for the material and Johanna for the ethereal, then the point-counter point of the "Countess"- a person of enormous stature in the conventional material world and a woman who would dominate others, especially men like the "peddler", only "pretends " to care for him, (who I agree is the singer), again artificiality-no authenticity of soul 'Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him""- Where is there authenticity or authentic peop0le in this world? A skeleton key opens many locks, and here the harmonica- a Dylan landmark instrument- plays them (Dylan was considered an incredibly facile and fluid artist who could conquer so much territory) but where has it gotten him because here they are played ** in the rain**, Dylan's symbol for loss and sorrow. All that remains are the visions of Johanna, the ideal which cannot be reached, just as in Stuck Inside of Memphis one is trapped going through everything twice, or more. Dylan tended in this period of his work to be oriented to theological (in the broadest sense) and philosophical themes. Blood on the Tracks absolutely s about his breakup with his wife. It's all about personal relationship. I don't think that is what is going on here, although persona provides a jumping off point. Take care.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Great comments, worthy of repeated readings (I’ve already read them twice) and consideration. Thanks so much for your insight. Cheers. Jeff

@kenkaplan3654

2 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Thanks. There are those who also think this is about a lost love. From Wikipedia "Clinton Heylin has described what he construes as the strange circumstances surrounding the song. Written around the time of Dylan's marriage to Sara Lownds, Heylin describes it as "one of the oddest songs ever written by a man who has just tied the knot and is enjoying a brief honeymoon in the city".[5] Noting that the song is an elegy for a past lover, Heylin speculates that "it is awfully tempting to see Johanna as his muse," who, in the song, is "not here". It does seem odd. Dylan's wife was Sarah Lownds and the title of SELOTL appears to derive from her name. I find it very hard that 3 months after a new marriage, Dylan would write a song expressing utter anguish at a lost love. Dylan idolized women and they permeate all his work "Girl From the North Country", "Don't think Twice", "She Belongs to Me". Love Minus Zero, "It take a Train to Laugh...", "Like a Rolling Stone", Farewell Angelina" and on this album "Absolutely Sweet Marie, ", "Fourth Time Around, "Sooner or Later", '"I want You", "Leopard Skin Pillbox Hat", Just Like a Woman", "You Go Your Way...", "Rainy Day Women", VOJ and SELOTL. Hell, the whole album uses women as a focal point, as does Blood on Tracks. I don't think all these songs are about specific people. (Blood on the Tracks is) I think Dylan felt/feels about women the way Saints feel about God. Thus we get "Shelter from the Storm." Again from Wikipedia A different take "Robert Shelton called "Visions of Johanna" one of Dylan's major works. He writes that Dylan's technique of throwing out "skittering images" evokes "a mind floating downstream"; these "non-sequential visions" are the record of a fractured consciousness.[12] Shelton argues that the song explores a hopeless quest to reach an ideal, the visions of Johanna, and yet without this quest life becomes meaningless. He suggests that the same paradox is explored by Keats in his "Ode on a Grecian Urn".[12] I'm in Shelton's camp, but again I agree Baez seems to inform this song, but in an existential, philosophical way. There seems to be a natural arc from the laconic withdrawal from the fight in Desolation Row to a sense of surrender and despair that is all through Blonde on Blonde. In 1966 after his world tour, the pressure got too great and whether by "accident" or on purpose via motorcycle, he did withdraw. John Wesley Harding is a great album with a classic song 'All Along the Watchtower" moving from despair to apocalyptic about the "landscape" but in the last song one sees the transition to Nashville Skyline. It would take Dylan fully until 1975 in the Rolling Thunder Revue imo to regain the full power of his energy and voice. I don't know if you have seen this. An amazing electric version of Hard Rain from that tour. one of the best versions ever. Thanks again for your opening all this up and sharing with others. Take care. kzread.info/dash/bejne/m4l4l9WnqJC-f9I.html

@kenkaplan3654

2 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver One last thing came to mind. If VOJ reflects despair about an ideal one wants to connect to , but here there is despair that it cannot be done, there is another prominent Dylan song that covers the same terrain, show this thought might have been with Dylan a long time, and at a younger, fresher period has more hopefulness. That song is "Mr. Tambourine Man". Whoever Mr. Tambourine man is, he, or it, holds the key to something quite precious, as the "visions" of Johanna do. The song starts out eerily similar with quite similar parallels, but not with a specific emotionally burnt out landscape. "Though I know that evening's empire has returned into sand Vanished from my hand Left me blindly here to stand, but still not sleeping My weariness amazes me, I'm branded on my feet I have no one to meet And the ancient empty street's too dead for dreaming" Here the singer-poet is ready for the quest, with some sense of youthful hope "I'm ready to go anywhere, I'm ready for to fade Into my own parade Cast your dancing spell my way, I promise to go under it" The motif of the empty soul who dwells in the barren landscape in VOJ is reinforced again "And if you hear vague traces of skipping reels of rhyme To your tambourine in time It's just a ragged clown behind I wouldn't pay it any mind It's just a shadow you're seeing that he's chasing" Whoever the Tambourine Man is he has the capacity to contain the answers to life's sorrows, to still the aching of the soul so deeply burning in VOJ, but here Dylan has a *very clear sense of what that is* ""And take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind. Down the foggy ruins of time... Yes, to dance beneath the diamond sky With one hand waving free Silhouetted by the sea Circled by the circus sands With all memory and fate Driven deep beneath the waves Let me forget about today until tomorrow" This is the essence of all mystical spiritual paths, to break the bondage of the mind, to transcend the limitations of time, and to find freedom and liberation in the present moment.. One could not elucidate Zen mindfulness better. Here, again, there is both youthful yeaning and hope. This is not a political or topical protest song and imo opinion is not a song about drugs, although it probably was strongly influenced by the counter culture of the period. By VOJ, And Stuck Inside of Mobile, that yearning for something transcendent, of escape from suffering( To use Buddhist terms) is just burnt out, it's "not there", it has "fled" (empty cage now corrodes), "Madonna (Mother of God, the essence of feminine grace) still has not showed: Whatever promise one felt was due from life has not materialized. The Tambourine Man's allure has not been found. "He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed". I poured my soul into this, I have no more debts in its pursuit. I think the musician who commented on this thread is right. Did Dylan write Tambourine man as part of the flow of time, a a conceit, or was it something really driving him that show up forcefully again on Blonde on blonde, this time with bitterness.? Chimes of Freedom alludes to all of this a does "When the ship Comes in" but these seem to be societal rather than strictly personal. We have a clue from Dylan's life. Dylan to me has a deep, mystical vein in his ethos, but he careened for years in various conventional religious traditions. He has had affiliation with both Orthodox Judaism and Evangelical Christianity, two traditions that could not be more disparate and might display an inner restlessness. . I am one who ended up in the mystical Yogi tradition, (with some Americanization) so it seems to me this yearning in Dylan was real and important. As a *religious* not mystical song, "Every Grain of Sand" is quite remarkable. Did he truly feel those things? Or did a conscientious Evangelical dutifully write it? It's not for me to say. (Forever Young does have religious feelings to it- but the unreleased "Cept you", a song that blew me away in concert once again turns to a woman as salvation) But he would not have written it in 1966. And it does not seem to inform either Blood on the Tracks ,the Rolling Thunder period and certainly has no place in "Time Out of Mind", periods of Dylan's greatest expression since the mid 60's.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

@@kenkaplan3654 Another great comment, Ken. Thanks. I reviewed Mr. Tambourine Man also. It is one of my favorites!! Great insights here in your comments, as always. Thanks!! Jeff

inside the museum lyrics are a reference to a documentary i watched in which the narrator compared the mona lisa and a modern artist that portrayed scenes of fat ladies having fun, the artist always portrayed the ladies as caracatures but the narrator points out the attention to detail by showing a close up of one of the ladies showing a faint moustache,

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Wow, thanks, Robert. I was not aware of that documentary. I'm sure Dylan must have seen it too! Thanks again. Jeff

Would love to see an interpretation of "honest with me". There some eerie forshadowing lyrics about 9/11 on that ,and of course Love & Theft was released on 9/11/2001. Other songs I would love to see interpreted are "just like Tom Thumbs blues", and the mysterious "as I went out one morning" and "drifter's escape". I find the lyrics on the John Wesley Harding album to be the most opaque,maybe because I'm not a biblical scholar

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Thanks for the suggestions - I will add them to my queue. I love all of those songs too.

@trudy5963

2 жыл бұрын

I got the CD in the mail on 9/12 and the whole thing gave me the shivers. I don't hear it that way now, but at the time so many lines in most of the songs just seemed too appropriate.

As a songwriter myself all this math doesn’t usually happen intentionally it just happens.💙

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

I don't know if I've ever included any math in a song I wrote, but then again I am a chemist! Haha.

@cobrakari

2 жыл бұрын

By math I just mean a pre calculated intention. Like Beck’s “Loser” is maybe just nonsense but it’s not a huge stretch to understand it in light of what all was happening in the time it was created. Ok “math” may be a misleading word, maybe I’m using the wrong word.

@cobrakari

2 жыл бұрын

Have you checked out Townes Van Zandt?

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

@@cobrakari Not really, no.

@cobrakari

2 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver here’s some Townes, this song is kinda jumping into the deep end but I think you might get the most from it. “Nothin’” is another one.

Awwww gee, ... here we Go!!

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

And you clicked on a video titled "Lyrical Review of Bob Dylan's (song)" for WHAT reason exactly? You obviously have better things to do with your time, so why not do them?

I don't assume the "nightwatchman" is an actual person. It is more likely a different perspective of the protagonist.

The Heat Pipes just Cough.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Haha, maybe that is in reference to people who try to interpret a song like this! Haha! ;-)

@demonsbutterfly

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver i lived in a House where the Heat Pipes Coughed when the Hot Water Service cranked up from Cold...

@gerardoleary9606

3 жыл бұрын

I once read an account from a writer who stayed in the same room as dylan in the Chelsea Hotel.( not at the same time) that the heat pipes did cough

Except perhaps for "Louise," all the persons in the song are the protagonist.

I love your interpretation of the museum. I completely missed that he was being a cynic and left completely cold by what he is looking at. We’ve all been there. That horrible feeling when something that supposed to elevate you makes you feel worse.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Indeed! Been there, for sure. I’m not sure if that interpretation is correct, but it works for me! Haha. Thanks for your comment. Jeff

@waz3128

Жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver It definitely works for me too. I get the sense in the last stanza that he has left Louise because she's preparing herself for ''him'' - as in someone else. He is observing that she is no saint either. She is just as much a parasite as the narrator is, which somewhat helps in easing his exploding conscience.

"Handful of rain" to me traditionally in ancient cultures can be interpreted as representing fertility in the broadest sense including agricultural fertility.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Wow, it is excellent to know this now. Thanks so much for sharing! Cheers. Jeff

@ChrisFP2

Жыл бұрын

I always thought it was like a nutrient - like love as something we all need.

I've resolved long ago, that Johanna was Joan Baez

@CalicoSilver

3 ай бұрын

I think you are probably right.

Very interesting take. It's not a disagreement, just offering s slightly different take on Louise. I've been thinking a lot lately about "she's delicate and seems like the mirror" and wondered if he didn't mean she's in as rough a shape as he is, as if they're kindred spirits, wallowing in their misery together. Since she just makes it all to concise and too clear... because she is a mirror, pretending to care for him the way he has been pretending with her. Also, I can't help but wonder if Johanna isn't Joan Baez, because from some of the things she has written and said, I think he really hurt her and thinking about it made his conscience explode. I can relate.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

I LOVE your interpretation Trudy!! Thanks for sharing it. I really like your thoughts here.

I think at least in part this song is about Joan Baez, Joan herself said she found parts of the song very suspicious, i disagree with your interpretation of the third verse, i think little boy lost is Bob Neuwirth, if you watch the film dont look back Joan, after being ribbed by Neuwirth kisses Bob on the cheek and then leaves, this seems to signal the end of their relationship.But its all speculation and opinion, who knows? apart from Bob and he's not letting on.Lets just appreciate one of the greatest ever songs.

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

You are so right, Stan! Thanks for your comment. Yes, only Bob himself knows to whom these characters in his songs refer. After decades of listening to them, I think certain associations, based on my own reception of the lyrics and my own imaginations and internal logic, take root in my mind, right or wrong. That is often how great poetry is received by the reader. But yeah, who knows? Baez? Perhaps. One thing is true, and you rightly nailed it: this is one of the greatest songs ever written. Thanks again, and cheers. Jeff

Bob Dylan once said that the lyrics of his songs don’t mean anything. They’re just words.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

I believe the words he chooses for his songs mean a lot more than the words he chooses for interviews. 😉

Louise is the female part of bob ie; Louise and her lover so entwined .

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Maybe so - sounds interesting. Thanks for your comment.

I enjoyed this, but I disagree with his view that it is "just about a break up" It may be about a break up but what it is really about is spiritual aspirations. Like Dante when he speaks of Beatrice. Or like Quixote muttering about his Dulcinea del Taboso. It´s what I think, in any case.

@CalicoSilver

Жыл бұрын

Great comment, Carl! You're probably right about this song. Of all the songs I have tackled on this channel, this was the one I felt the most unsure about (and still feel that way). Cheers. Jeff

I take issue with your picture of Louise. I think she may be, not with Dylan, but with another, entwined with him, perhaps in the opposite loft. I do not see her offering Dylan nourishment in her gesture of holding a handful of rain. More likely, she is presenting to him or anyone, a conundrum or even an enigma: You can't hold a handful of rain - when held, it becomes a handful of water. "Rain" is in-flight, in motion. "Water" is not in motion unless you give it a qualifier: running water, falling water. It's like trying to encapsulate a video in a still photo. 'Doesn't work. Can't be. She is presenting an impossible thing. An enigma.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

Excellent comment, thanks! I used to think Louise was with another person other than the narrator also when I first heard this song. Over time I’ve tended to read it more as if she was with the narrator, but I most certainly could be wrong. I really like your interpretation also! Thanks again. Cheers. Jeff

@Blue-qr7qe

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver Thanks, and i think what you're doing is great. 'Takes a fair amount of testosterone to go tilting at the poetry and lyricism of Bob Dylan. Taking down a chimera is no easy battle. I remember that Dylan was, early on, heralded in the headlines as a "prophet". I think that may have been an easier out for the reporters than trying to unravel many of his lines for their readership: "what do you mean, what does that mean? Take my word for it, the man's a prophet." I'm with you that the bottom line is to let Bob Dylan's poetry wash over you, take what meaning or enrichment you naturally receive from his songs, and be thankful that we have a Bob Dylan in our universe.

@CalicoSilver

3 жыл бұрын

This is one the best comments I’ve ever read or heard about Dylan. Truer words were never spoken about the man’s art and our proper reception of it. (Also, thank you very much for your kind comments). Cheers! Jeff

@Blue-qr7qe

3 жыл бұрын

@@CalicoSilver A quick Post Script: I've just located your music : kzread.info/head/PLkpK7p9D-ZGNTWI90Mox1mR6J3wxjnrNI It's very impressive, thanks for it, Peace -

I think the thing I love most about the music of Bob Dylan is not even Bob Dylan knows what Bob Dylan is saying

@CalicoSilver

2 жыл бұрын

Haha, thanks for your comment (even though I don't agree that Dylan doesn't know what he is saying.....there are way too many consistencies and threads connecting the thematic and poetic components of his lyrics that strongly indicate otherwise). Cheers! Jeff