“Visions of Johanna” by Bob Dylan
(Words/Music: Bob Dylan, Album: Blonde on Blonde, Columbia 1966)
Today, my Dylan week meets up with Wednesday’s Women and, although there are numerous female artists who have performed versions of his songs, I decided a discussion of one of Dylan’s famous women was in order. Dylan’s songs are filled with well-drawn yet mercurial women (“Sara,” “Tangled Up in Blue,” and “Queen Jane Approximately” instantly jump to mind). After years of listening to “radio’ Dylan, I expanded my knowledge by delving into Blonde on Blonde and found opus-length gems that radio wouldn’t touch like “Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowland” and “Visions of Johanna.”
“Visions of Johanna” instantly grabs your attention with the mysterious personification of an adversarial night and the images of desolation presented as a confession: “We sit here stranded though we’re all doing our best to deny it.” The song continues with these themes of darkness and mystery as a couple questions become evident: what exactly happened between the character and/or narrator and Johanna and why do we learn more about a woman named Louise than we do about Johanna. To me, this song suggests a past relationship between the narrator and Johanna with Louise being someone he is currently with. The fact that there is very little specific information about Johanna (and numerous cryptic references) suggests the temporary nature of memory. I believe the final question, to which I have only a speculative answer, is this: Is the narrator with Louise in order to remember Johanna or forget her? I believe the key is in the last verse, particularly because it contains a classic example of Dylan songwriting. Not wanting to confine his lyrics to the song structure, he repeats part of the chord progression three more times in order to accommodate more lyrics (specifically, the lines ending in “owed,” “loads” and “explodes”). These /ode/ lines begin with the absence of a perfect woman (the Madonna), emptiness, and a completed performance which is followed by a fiddler who claims that a deal of some sort is completed but the conscience is not soothed. Finally, the “skeleton key” at the end suggests that the answer is in music (the harmonicas) and by playing this music, he can at once ease his guilt, immortalize Johanna (provide a permanent memory) and by doing these, move on to his new lover, Louise. This complicated web of symbols and suggestions is Dylan at the peak of his lyrical abilities and, while Dylan himself has not hinted at the meaning of this song, I have managed to find an interpretation that works for me, and that ability to write lyrics which connect to a multitude of listeners for a variety of reasons is what makes Dylan’s lyrics so timeless and universal.
More Bob Dylan: AmazonMP3 – last.fm – AllMusic – eMusic
Previous Wednesday’s Women posts from shelterfromthenorm
This is the song that made me fall in love with Bob Dylan.
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