Visions of Johanna - Citizendia

"Visions of Johanna" is a song by Bob Dylan from the 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. A song is a Musical composition. Songs contain vocal parts that are performed 'sung' and generally feature Words ( Lyrics) commonly followed Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major An album or record album is a collection of related audio or Music tracks distributed to the public Blonde on Blonde is Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan 's seventh Studio album, released in 1966 by Columbia Records. Events 1204 - Baldwin IX Count of Flanders is crowned as the first Emperor of the Latin Empire. Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Events 842 - Charles the Bald and Louis the German swear the Oaths of Strasbourg in the French and German Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other Folk rock is a musical genre combining elements of Folk music and rock music. In the Music industry, a record label can be a Brand and a Trademark associated with the Marketing of music recordings and Music Columbia Records is an American Record label founded in 1888 Columbia is the oldest surviving Brand name in pre-recorded sound being the first record company A songwriter is someone who writes the Lyrics to songs the Musical composition (chords or Melody to songs or both Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major Blonde on Blonde is Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan 's seventh Studio album, released in 1966 by Columbia Records. " Pledging My Time " is a Blues song (in the style of Elmore James written and recorded by Bob Dylan for his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. " One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later " is a song written and recorded by Bob Dylan for his 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. Bob Dylan (born Robert Zimmerman, May 24 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota) is an American singer-songwriter author poet and painter who has been a major Year 1966 ( MCMLXVI) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the 1966 Gregorian calendar. Blonde on Blonde is Singer-songwriter Bob Dylan 's seventh Studio album, released in 1966 by Columbia Records. Considered among Dylan's greatest works, Dylan referred to it as his favorite song on the album which captured that "thin, wild mercury sound". [1]

The identity of Johanna has been widely speculated. The most common 'theories' seem to be:

It refers to Joan Baez
It relates to "Gehenna" and "Ge-Hinnom", from a Hebrew word for Hell. Joan Chandos Baez (born January 9, 1941 in Staten Island, New York) an American Folk singer and Songwriter known for the Polish film see Gehenna (film See also Jewish eschatology Gehennam (or gehenom or gehinom (גהינום is for the Polish film see Gehenna (film See also Jewish eschatology Gehennam (or gehenom or gehinom (גהינום is Hell, according to many Religious beliefs, is a location in the Afterlife, which may be described as a place of suffering
Vincent van Gogh's sister-in-law, Johanna Gezina van Gogh (Bonger), who was largely responsible for Vincent's eventual emergence as a major artist.
Johanna refers to the infinite or to God.

Another theory is that the song contains a lot of references to drugs, perhaps heroin, and has a general hallucinogenic mood. Some of the lyrics that suggest this more overtly include: one character "Muttering small talk at the wall while I'm in the hall", the lines "Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while" and "When the jelly-faced women all sneeze / Hear the one with the mustache say, 'Jeeze / I can't find my knees'"

None of these claims are supported by statements made by Dylan, who once said, "I don't know how to write drug songs, I wouldn't know where to start. " Baez believed that she was the inspiration for the song, though she claims her importance in a number of Dylan works.

The song was originally titled "Seems Like a Freeze Out"; studio recordings released on bootleg with this name have a much faster tempo (more similar to Most Likely You'll Go Your Way And I'll Go Mine) and, in the fifth verse, contain the additional line, "He examines the nightingale's code". A bootleg recording is an audio and/or Video recording of a performance that was not officially released by the artist or under other legal authority

Another version was recorded at the Manchester Free Trade Hall concert. The Free Trade Hall in Manchester, England, was for many years a focal point for public debate and cultural activity in the city This concert has since been released as the fourth volume of the Bootleg Series, which was titled The "Royal Albert Hall" Concert as a jab at bootleggers who had erroneously referred to the Manchester concert as such for years prior.

In Perth, during the Australia tour of 1966, Dylan treated the audience to an otherwise unknown verse of "Visions of Johanna". This verse introduces two new characters, Amelia, who describes Australia as "God's favourite failure", and "A Maya with gloves", who talks about love and chocolate. There is no indication that Dylan has performed this verse on any other occasion.

Commenting on this song, Marqusee characterises it (p. 196) as 'Dylan's definitive treatment of "strandedness"', and notes that 'in contrast to most of the material in "Blonde on Blonde", he brought it to the studio as a finished composition'. He later comments 'In VoJ Dylan is stranded between extremes - total freedom and abject slavery. '

Others have subjected the words to poetic 'close reading' and have found in it a wealth of allusion, for example, to William Blake; thus Thakkar [2] says 'My claims will be these: Louise represents the earthly, the prosaic, the finite; and Johanna represents the pure, the poetic, the infinite'. In Literary criticism, close reading describes the careful sustained interpretation of a brief passage of text William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827 was an English poet, painter, and Printmaker.

References

Marqusee Mike, 2003, Chimes of Freedom: The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art

Thakkar Jonny, 2007, Visions of Infinity, The Owl Journal, Hilary Term 2007

External links

Chimes of Freedom The Politics of Bob Dylan's Art is a major work on the music and politics of Bob Dylan, written by Mike Marqusee (New York The New Press

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