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Visions of Johanna
Bob Dylan Lyrics

Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
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
How can I explain?
It's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeez, I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says
"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: BOB DYLAN

Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind

To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them

"Visions of Johanna" is a song by Bob Dylan from the 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. Considered among Dylan's greatest works, Dylan referred to it as his favorite song on the album which captured that "thin, wild mercury sound". [2] The song is ranked #404 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

There have been a number of speculations about the meaning of the song of which none have been supported by statements made by Dylan. Read Full Bio"Visions of Johanna" is a song by Bob Dylan from the 1966 album Blonde on Blonde. Considered among Dylan's greatest works, Dylan referred to it as his favorite song on the album which captured that "thin, wild mercury sound". [2] The song is ranked #404 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

There have been a number of speculations about the meaning of the song of which none have been supported by statements made by Dylan. 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 [3] says 'My claims will be these: Louise represents the earthly, the prosaic, the finite; and Johanna represents the pure, the poetic, the infinite'.

The song was originally titled "Seems Like a Freeze Out"; studio recordings from Blonde on Blonde's' early New York sessions, released on bootleg, 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". Two slower versions were recorded in New York, one with a march-like tempo (which was released on the No Direction Home soundtrack), and another with a more conventional rock tempo, closer to the album version recorded in Nashville.

Two live versions of the song recorded during Dylan's 1966 tour of England have been released. One version appeared on Biograph, released in 1985. A second version was recorded at the Manchester Free Trade Hall concert, 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. Many critics and fans have come to regard these stark, evocative live recordings as superior to the album version.

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.[1]

1- Lyrics from the Australian performance

Amelia, when asked "Was it awesome, your stay in Australia?"
Said, "Sort of, but short, this land must be God's favourite failure
I left after finding out that even here, even here there is daily a
Dawn, I could just as well choose
Vancouver or the Ivory Coast"
I said "Yes, but in places like those
There are no kangaroos."
A Maya with gloves, once said "Love is like cacao beans"
Well, these visions of Johanna are the darkest pralines.

TRACKS

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Most interesting comments from YouTube:

James Stevenson

43w↑41

Full Lyrics:
Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind

In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place

Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
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
How can I explain?
It's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn

Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeez, I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel

The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says
"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

Pepote Coll

35w↑9

visiones de johana

¿No es como la noche para jugar trucos cuando estás tratando de estar tan callado?
Nos sentamos aquí varados, aunque todos estamos haciendo todo lo posible para negarlo.
Y Louise sostiene un puñado de lluvia, tentándote a desafiarlo
Las luces parpadean desde el desván opuesto
En esta habitación, las tuberías de calor solo tosen
La estación de música country suena suave
Pero no hay nada, realmente nada que apagar
Solo Louise y su amante tan entrelazados
Y estas visiones de Johanna que conquistan mi mente

En el lote baldío donde las damas juegan al farol del ciego con el llavero
Y las chicas de toda la noche susurran sobre escapadas en el tren "D"
Podemos escuchar al vigilante nocturno encender su linterna
Preguntarse si es él o ellos los que están locos
Louise, ella está bien, solo está cerca
Ella es delicada y parece el espejo.
Pero ella lo hace todo demasiado conciso y demasiado claro.
Que Johanna no está aquí
El fantasma de la 'electricidad aúlla en los huesos de su rostro
Donde estas visiones de Johanna ahora han tomado mi lugar

Ahora, niño perdido, se toma a sí mismo tan en serio
Se jacta de su miseria, le gusta vivir peligrosamente
Y al mencionar su nombre
Me habla de un beso de despedida
Seguro que tiene mucho descaro para ser tan inútil y todo eso.
Murmurando una pequeña charla en la pared mientras estoy en el pasillo
¿Como puedo explicar?
es tan dificil seguir adelante
Y estas visiones de Johanna, me mantuvieron despierto más allá del amanecer

Dentro de los museos, el infinito sube a prueba
Las voces hacen eco así es como debe ser la salvación después de un tiempo
Pero Mona Lisa debe haber tenido la melancolía de la carretera
Se nota por la forma en que sonríe
Ver la congelación primitivo alhelí
Cuando todas las mujeres con cara de gelatina estornudan
Escuche al del bigote decir: "Por Dios, no puedo encontrar mis rodillas"
Oh, joyas y binoculares cuelgan de la cabeza de la mula
Pero estas visiones de Johanna, hacen que todo parezca tan cruel

El vendedor ambulante ahora habla con la condesa que finge cuidarlo.
Diciendo, "Dígame alguien que no sea un parásito y saldré y rezaré por él"
Pero como Louise siempre dice
"No puedes mirar mucho, ¿verdad, hombre?"
Mientras ella misma se prepara para él
Y Madonna, todavía no ha aparecido
Vemos esta jaula vacía ahora corroerse
Donde su capa del escenario una vez fluyó
El violinista, ahora camina hacia la carretera.
Escribe que se ha devuelto todo lo que se debía
En la parte trasera del camión de pescado que carga
Mientras mi conciencia explota
Las armónicas tocan las llaves maestras y la lluvia
Y estas visiones de Johanna son ahora todo lo que queda

1

David Teplinsky

14w

To me Dylan's use of the word "ghost" was essential to my interpretation of that line. By the way, that was the first line to jump out at me the very first time I heard the song. I was doing the exercise I imagine some of us do while purposely listening to a song, the exercise of tuning out the world and picking a spot to stare at, or even closing our eyes, until a line comes through and hits you, or nothing. If it does, you grab a hold on tight and go for a ride. Much like a tourist visiting San Francisco narrows their eyes as the cable car approaches and they look for that one pole that will most swiftly help them swish up onto the moving vehicle, and away they go.

Digression notwithstanding though, jeepers. So, think of how 'lectricity, more specifically the electro-chemical event can shape a face in the moment. I'm often deeply mesmerized by the way Light reflects off the curves of the face of my love. Emotions explode, thoughts too, such as "so beautiful", "sexy!", "so damn adorable and cute", "lucky to witness this again and again, grateful down to my bones every single time." And that's just her smile. Every expression on her face created by the different combinations of 'lectricity sends me in a unique way.

Now these things occur in the moment. A smile, a frown, a grimace, a glare, a silly face. But after many many occurrences, after a couple decades, the face begins to look like it's been doing a long- term audit of sorts, like skin cells on your cheeks that have been keeping tabs on UV rays. Which expression have we performed more than the others, way more? Lines. Lines and folds. They begin to tell a powerful story.

The changes in her face is what I think Dylan is referring to here when he says the "ghost of 'lectricity". Or perhaps the current facial expression together with the "backstory".

That was my first thought anyway. Take it for what it's worth, throw it out, do what thou wilt.

capitaldescent

3y↑142

Lyrics:
Ain't it just like the night to play tricks when you're tryin' to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we're all doin' our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there's nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind
In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman's bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the "D" train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them that's insane
Louise, she's all right, she's just near
She's delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna's not here
The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place
Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
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
How can I explain?
It's so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn
Inside the museums, infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, "Jeez, I can't find my knees"
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel
The peddler now speaks to the countess who's pretending to care for him
Sayin', "Name me someone that's not a parasite and I'll go out and say a prayer for him"
But like Louise always says
"Ya can't look at much, can ya man?"
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev'rything's been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain

lovegeorge&bob4ever

2y↑2

Mi selección de canciones del MAESTRO. ¡¡¡FELICIDADES BOB, 80 AÑOS!!!! My soulmate and life companion. Juntos siempre, desde mis 13... ¡¡Te quiero!!❤️❤️❤️🌹🌹🌹🎼🎼🎼

DYLAN TOP SONGS (CASI IMPOSIBLE SELECCIÓN, PORQUE HAY CIENTOS DE CANCIONES MARAVILLOSAS)
- Like A Rolling Stone
- the Lonesome Death Of Hattie Carroll
- With God On Our Side
- It's Alright Ma (I'm Only Sighing)
- Positively 4th Street
- A Hard Rain's Gonna Fall
- Desolation Row
- Love Minus Zero/No Limits
- Motorpsycho Nightmare
- It Ain t Me, Babe
- My Back Pages
- Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
- Queen Jane Approximately
- Where Are You Tonight
- Percy's Song
- Highway 61 Revisited
- Visions Of Johanna
- Sad Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands
- Just Like a Woman
- Forever Young
- Changing On The Guards
- When The Night Comes Falling From The Sky
- Every Grain Of Sand
- It Takes a Lot To Laugh, It Takes A Train To Cry
-Mother Of Muses
-Key West (Philosopher Pirate)

All comments from YouTube:

Johanna Schmidt

2y↑893

My parents named me after this song in 1974. I wish I could thank you. I love my name and it makes me very proud to be named after such a beautiful song.

bradley barnett

That is the best thing I've ever read in a Utyoub comment section ever.
Love that you love it.

James Orr

very cool that you cherish it

Dennis Cannon

@John Byron q

Johanna

I was born in 1980, and my dad (god rest his soul) also named me after this song. I to feel very proud to be named after such a beautiful song

Willie McBride

10w

Johanna ist ein sehr schöner Name. Sei Deinen Eltern für immer dankbar!

93 More Replies...

Jack Wright

3y↑692

This song is completely insane. No one ever wrote in parallel with Dylan. A gift to us all poetically.

Thomas J

Lou reed

kelvinkloud

21w

@Driecnk ?.... elaborate... its hard to read just a ques ?

kelvinkloud

21w

@Daniel Bonarrigo was he playing dylan catchup?

kelvinkloud

21w

@I'm Nobody. good ear.... I agree. the organ work in this is very underrated & innovative & adds to the surreal feel.

kelvinkloud

21w

@Nicholas Maxwell waters wrote like a screenwriter & one who understood satire & parable. no doubt, one of the best and earliest of the epic scale writers in rock. at his best he also did w/ the right mix of emotional jolt & feel. it didnt feel pretentious as so much of that genre can easily slip into... I agree he deserves a lot of due. I focus on morrison more b/c he was earlier & I like the doors sound a little better. interestingly, morrison was a floyd fan. & waters stated both he & syd were doors fans. doesnt surprise me.

38 More Replies...

Invino Veritas

2y↑373

It’s just amazing how Bob fits an entire novel’s worth of story into song. Time after time

Nachmanedes

He said it best in his interview in San Francisco to the reporters "a collection of short memory span kinda things... He might not see that as significant but other poets and all his fans do, a rare gift. Once in a lifetime kinda gift! He deserved really deserved that Nobel prize.

Mick Kollins

27w

@Private Cocky good one mate!

James Dean

36w

@mklives2 The Ballad of Frankie Lee as Judas Priest is a good enough story for a whole length novel

mklives2

48w

@Lew Stone Nah. A good poet is immediately intelligible, even if their poem includes extra layers of meaning. Bob wrote some meaningful songs early on. Then he got bogged down in trying to sound poetic without saying anything in particular (e.g. 1966-1967, and a few songs in the 1970s). Then he wrote hundreds of basic love songs (a few in the late 1960s, but mostly throughout the 1970s to 1990s). Then he got obsessively religious and started preaching (1978-1981). Then he wrote fairly standard rock/pop songs. He hasn't written a song that particularly stands out lyrically to me since the 1960s. I mean, a few songs on Slow Train Coming were pretty impressive, but his obsessive preaching was actually scary.

23 More Replies...

Valentine Harding

3y↑467

One of my favourites. I'm 72 years old and been a Dylan fan since I was 17. My parents chucked out my Dylan LPs - especially they didn't like The Times They are A-Changing !! I wish they'd lived to see him win the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Orlando Power

14w

@Bob Dylan I am 16, I cannot express my love for your music, it has had a profound impact on my life. I wholeheartedly agree with your songs and has widened my vision. Thank you.

Anna Helms

16w

Parents who would do that sort-of personal destruction to their child's collection would be deaf to anything she would say...l know that from personal experience...kudos to you for not being deterred from the pursuit of good music...

Lubo Ceric

16w

I moved into a salvation army place bout 11 years ago. they even had a fake number plate on a black SUV reading Vandersmann as her first name was Johanna, was a Catholic too. Took me a while to see that's it's been "protestants" who have been playing tricks on me. Oh well I am 68. Live in Australia. Had a ex brother in law from Johannesberg who my father in 1981 called a "real con man." he was drop out from a Protestant Bible college there.

Connie Blue

17w

I would listen to Blonde on Blonde over and over, every night. Part of my life it was 1967, my last Highschool year. Bob dylan you have been with me since I was 15 with the Freewheelin. You opened my eyes so wide. Thank you for all the visions 💖🌹

39 More Replies...

Laurie Gregory

4y↑895

This is Bob's high..He gave us 3 of the greatest albums of all time in 18 months.. Blood on the tracks is great but Bringing it all back home..Highway 61 and Blonde on Blonde are absolute masterpieces and he knows it

Tim Baker

John Wesley and Blood are my two favorites. Greater depth and maturity, more raw and real. His so-called peak was incredible as far as pure art goes, bits it’s all quite pretentious, aloof and detached. I say this as a life long fan with all his albums (until the last few years)

emmacarina73

I had these 3 albums as a student in London in ‘68 and still have them .. even named my daughter corrina in tribute

Michael

14w

@John Myhill how could you make such a definitive statement like that as if your opinion is the only one that matters? Blood On the Tracks it’s every bit as good as those earlier albums in my OPINION. This is not a wrong statement as far as I’m concerned because it’s how I feel just as your statement is not a wrong statement because it’s how you feel. But don’t sit there from your high perch like you’re quoting Scripture telling me I’m in the wrong because I feel that blood on the tracks isn’t every bit as brilliant then his earlier work.

Andrew Cairns

14w

Imo 1.Blonde on Blonde/Highway 61 Revisited 3.Blood on Tracks 4.B.A.B.H. 5.Freewheeling

Carmen Barros

16w

Dylan literally saved my life a long time ago, so I have lived thanks to him. Life is not life without Bob Dylan.

122 More Replies...

Peter Mac

8w↑12

First heard this in rural Ireland in my teens in the 60's, blew my mind then, still does !

Ken Jeannotte

3y↑77

Been listening to this stuff since I was 17. Now I'm 71 and it just refuses to age, the effect never fades. I could listen to Mr. Bob Dylan till my dying breath, or for the rest of eternity, whichever comes first.

eguirald

27w↑1

How true! It just refuses to age… and so do I.

benny luken

28w

Oh it’s good to know you gave your life to Jesus

Judy Farrer

3y↑4

Ken Jeannotte I think it gets better as I get older. I am 68. I always go back to Dylan

steelyman08

3y↑115

Line after line of sparkling poetry. You could go on quoting your favorite Dylan lyrics for all eternity. No one else has ever done anything like it, and no one ever will.

Home At Last

10w

As John Lennon explained to Claudio, when Claudio asked him what he meant by "you can radiate anything you want":

"That was just having fun with words. I was just having fun with words. It was literally a nonsense song. I mean, Dylan does that, anybody does that. You just take words, and you stick them together, and it's like throwing the IChing --- you just see what happens. You take a bunch of words, and you throw them out, and you see if some of them have some meaning. Some of them do, and some of them don't."

MrStubat

27w↑1

Every line could be the best line in a song, let alone all in one song

georgepickard1

36w↑1

Maybe not as prolific but I think Leonard Cohen was from the same storytelling school of songwriting, he just wasn't on the same calibre of drugs as Dylan.

Herbert Richard (lonesetback)

38w↑1

The ghosts of failure howl in the bones of America's face.

6 More Replies...

James Stevenson

43w↑41

nelson2F

What a treat to have the lyrics added -- thanks for doin' that.

Abigail Caraballo

Thank you - I am now discovering Mr. Dylan, so I appreciate your efforts !

Anthony Sutherland

35w

Thanks James from Australia.

Rose

3y↑35

Bob Dylan is considered a Bard in Ireland. The highest praise possible. I'm from Minnesota but I learned to appreciate him there. I was lucky enough to see him in his hometown of Duluth MN. People came from all over the world to see him. There were people sleeping on the roofs of parking lots.

thomas obrien

27w↑2

@Emily Sansone me too

Emily Sansone

1y↑2

I saw him open for the Grateful Dead. Truly awesome.

1 More Replies...

jakjoi

4y↑169

Weird to think my mom was still a baby when this album came out! Just shows how timeless Bob Dylan and his music is. It feels like whatever mood I'm in there's a Dylan song that fits it. Bravo Bob

Trinidad Apodaca

1y↑1

thats true

lovegeorge&bob4ever

2y↑1

I was a newborn baby, I had days... when this wonder came to light.

Jesse Blamey

3y↑1

jakjoi amen

Ekul99

4y↑170

Possibly the best song ever written.

Luciano Mezzetta

Certainly it is not.

Robert Morley

35w

@Greensburg The lyrics and his voice, yes.

John Lang

42w

Probably.

Greensburg

45w↑1

The lyrics for sure. The music is very basic otherwise.

Mark Murray

51w

It is

5 More Replies...

Maria da Conceição Figueira

15w↑5

Ganhei meu dia.
Ouvindo Bob.

Samuele Conficoni

4y↑113

Perhaps the greatest song ever written among many other from Bob. What a masterpiece.

Tatjana Smojver

22w

Indeed. I discover it time and again❤

Ian Johnson

This record is overrated. This one is just ok. Freewheelin is his best

Dmytro Semchyshyn

3y↑1

Ah, what about Hurricane, Like a Rolling Stone, Blowin' in the Wind or All along the Watchtower etc.? He wrote so many great songs and we are happy to listen to them!

ANTHONY MORALEE

Fully agree with you!!

Jo Lil

4y↑1

@replaybb Wiggle Wiggle

4 More Replies...

IAmD.J.

4y↑172

My favorite song of all time! The lyrics and his voice are sooooo perfect on this song

childofthe60s100

You are COMPLETELY, TOTALLY AND ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!!!!!!!!

Aidan H

@Anthony McArdle Just Louise and her lover so entwined...

Ana S

4y↑1

Mine too. This song is pure perfection ❤

6 More Replies...

cinnamon girl

3y↑25

Bob Dylan's lyrics are the best! Love this song!!

Bruce Green

I agree cinnamon girl. Where are you now?

Mario Rodriguez

4y↑273

How do none of these newly posted songs have a million views yet? These are some of the most perfectly written songs of all time.

Joey Slap

Because people are trained to consume. Music is a product. Must have the latest thing. Also, music is background noise to 90% of people. Most people don't care about music anymore past age 25

Sam Gilbert

Well, most of us do have the LP.

blacksaxmusic

For ages all Bob Dylan tracks were always taken down by copywrite etc,,, only last few years Bob or moreso his record company have put his music up for free (stupid for any record label to deny new fans etc),,, so all official Dylan songs have only been on YouTube a few years,,, before that only bootlegs were allowed

js88888888

Because there’s at least 50 different uploads of each of his songs on youtube...so if add them all up, you’ll get the numbers you’d expect...

The Cysko Kid

@Ar marq Adelle is not that bad. The world has become stupid enough that cardi b is getting 10 million views.

22 More Replies...

Valter Domingueti

2y↑11

Compositor intérprete , um poeta eterno.

Pepote Coll

35w↑9

Gabriel Farias Jr

2y↑45

Came here to relax and listen to some good music and left with a Phd in literature. Visions of Johanna. Dylan plain and simple a masterpiece.

Hamid Musik

❤

John Myhill

11w↑1

This is going to sound trivial but it was an episode of 'Billions' which brought me back to this song after 50 years. It fit so perfectly, it immediately turned the way I thought about the show upside down.

toddharper2003

2y↑40

This never gets old. I find something new every time I listen to this. A true masterpiece.

Herbert Richard (lonesetback)

38w↑1

The ghost of selfish howl in the bones America's face.

Paul Mauro

32w↑4

Happy to have livex the last 70 years with this sound in my ears .live ,recorded and now digital

kelvinkloud

3y↑43

The magic of Dylan at his peak is he could combine echoes of the amer culture lyrically and musically pre rock, yet converge it with insight and originality that launched thousands of new ships 20 years forward.... the band is certainly part of that... listen close you can hear Dixieland New Orleans Jazz cymbals, steam engine iron horses pulling around the bend, Mark Twain spinning yarn, Holliday jazz blues smoke mixed in with the carnival organ, surrealism and grit that would launch sounds and visions that artist like manzarek, Richard Wright, Lennon, the byrds, Costello, waits and Kristoffersen would find fertile ground.... 65-66 Dylan was struck with a bolt of lightening Indians couldve see 200 miles away across the plains night landscape.

Michael J. Burchill

29w

Well said

Jordan Grieve

33w

Sounds like dylan him self wrote this comment lol, well done

Herbert Richard (lonesetback)

38w

And. The ghosts of lunatic cruelty howl in every American face.

Gabriel Pogue

3y↑9

hey, dont you dare come write that beautiful paragraph then disappear into the wind. i need more

Dyl-Ann fan

3y↑10

Perfect lyrics, perfect vocals, perfect delivery, perfect backing, the most perfect musical magic ever performed... unless you know better?

Georgie Thumbs

Well there is Justin Beiber....

Jonn Galt

15w↑2

Another example of why Dylan is the greatest poet of his generation.

Dio Magno

26w↑3

Grandisimo Bob Dylan!!

jesuisravi

41w↑10

when I was a kid--75 now--Dylan's first songs hit us like a bomb. I mean, compare these lyrics with the kind of stuff we were used to, such as " I just wanna hold your hand" etc.

jesuisravi

20w

@Mayhem on Wax Friend, the first time I heard a Dylan song on the radio ( the song was" Ramona") was 1963. There had been nothing like that before on the radio--I know because, like most kids my age back then, I was an avid listener of the local rock-playing stations.

Mayhem on Wax

20w↑1

The Beatles song is from 1963 and Bob's song from 1967 and you can't compare both songs.

lorna Olivrira

3y↑1

Bob Dilan amo muito.

John MacDonald

38w↑23

Is this the best song ever written? This is the best song ever written

Luciano Mezzetta

No. It is certainly not.

Zachery Loreen

27w↑1

It’s literally perfection from start to finish. Perhaps Dylan’s magnum opus in my opinion .

diego dagostino

4y↑4

Mi canción favorita de Bob Dylan.

Eva MG

2y↑9

What a masterpiece. My all time favourite. ❤

Yolanda Garcia

32w↑2

La armónica es una explosión, pero pero no los ruidos atroces, sino que la armónica es una explosión de verdad y comprensión, para aquellos que estamos muertos en vida y que no comprendemos la crueldad del mundo......

Rosie Pestel

1y↑7

And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain...simply beautiful line.

Bob Dylan

38w

Hello Rosie, how are you doing today? It's a pleasure meeting you here.

mancmal

4y↑60

So pleased to see so many people still listening to this complete classic, the entire Album is pure genius and this track is the Diamond of them all

TRIPLESEVENSIX

4y↑2

@mancmal I do lad yeah. Is your logo a reference to Boddingtons by any chance? Going by your name see. Throwing out the olive branch...all the best from downtown Liverpool. Lol. Cheers our kid. ;) Have a sound weekend.

mancmal

4y↑1

@TRIPLESEVENSIX hope you still have such good taste 🎸🎼

TRIPLESEVENSIX

4y↑2

My Ma had it on vinyl & I wore that fucking thing out. Loved the whole album but used to love playing obviously 5 believers while blasting my guitar playing along with those blistering stinging guitar lines! One of my fave L.P.s ever.

Cody Jarrett

31w↑3

Greatest artist of the 20th century hands down.

Massimiliano Mecocci

4y↑14

Che canzone! Di una bellezza trascendentale, un fuoco incontenibile di visioni impresse nell'anima del poeta. Grazie Bob

jamesdeansghost55

2y↑18

I didn't own my first Dylan album (cd) until I was well into my mid to late 30's sometime in the 90's. As a Gen X teen I grew up knowing who Dylan was without ever hearing him apart from "Like A Rolling Stone" or "Knocking On Heaven's Door" occasionally being played on local radio. None of my friends owned any Dylan and this is way before internet, YouTube or streaming so it was always word of mouth, magazine or by chance someone let you borrow it back in the day. That's how we found out about music that wasn't played on the radio, new or old. So I went on never listening to anything by him except what I may have heard on the radio...just another classic artist I took for granted. Little did I know I was missing only the most important figure ever in modern music. It took one listen to "Blonde On Blonde" and I knew I was listening to such greatness that I had never heard before.

Pablo Van Cleef

1y↑1

Same boat man. Born in the middle of the Xers, liked some of the radio Dylan, tangled up in blue was always a top song for me by any artist, but I too was late 20s when I “got” Dylan, I’ve nevwr looked back. A master I. The realm of the grass like Bach and Motzart. We are Blessed to love in his time.

James Orr

6w↑1

Dylan is magical with his harmonica.

James Orr

what a goddamn great song. Thank You Bob

Gillie Pryor

2y↑17

Exquisite contemporary poetry from a truly gifted writer.

duncan w craig

3y↑8

Bob is so good that even if you don't care for folk music, his music is amazing. thank you Bob. First heard this song around 1982 when i was a teenager. Love it.

BlueSkies Above

3y↑1

An indescribably brilliant song !

Robert Testa

3y↑38

I concur, with those who ,by similar experiences, and sensibilities, consider this song to be a true song master's masterpiece

Herbert Richard (lonesetback)

38w↑1

The ghost of consumption howl in America;s face.

LittleHorhey

50w

This was, without a doubt, the most stupendously, uncecessarily pretentious choice of phrase for a sentiment which can be enunciated far more saliently and concisely than you, dear sir, chose to do.

Sarah Michelini

34w↑4

One of the best songs ever

AlienBaby

3y↑9

There will never be another Dylan...I have seen him in concert back in the day, he is mesmerizing almost God like.

max smelser

4y↑6

A classic, my first Dylan album when I turned 16 and still my favorite 35 years later.

dixon pinfold

3y↑1

@Larry Linn
Good way of looking at it. I somehow bet he's the same person more than is typical (despite a major accident probably complete with concussion, as well as major drug use), as I think that's how it goes for strong personalities.

In his Nobel acceptance shpiel I thought there were hints of boyishness. Cheers.

Larry Linn

@dixon pinfold I first started listening to Dylan in the early 1960’s, and today I still consider his entire career as a single piece of art with numerous facets.

dixon pinfold

3y↑1

The very same tale here, but 38 in my case. An album staying that far aloft in one's mind and heart that long, that's legs. The real legs.

Ernest Gilbert

4y↑68

"Visions of Johanna" captures the eyes-wide-shut, scarcely breathing atmosphere of 3 a.m. stasis perfectly. the poetics, the allusions and surreal imagery ~~--lights flicker heat pipes cough, music plays soft, nothing (no, really) to turn off -~~ the multiple narrative voices and POV's -- it's sublime: it's Dylan at his poetic peak, that "thin, wild mercury sound" curled around the characters, as well as my favorite lyric line in all of his music: "The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face."

ferociousgumby

Followed by Frankenstein, i. e. My Own Version of You.

ferociousgumby

@Romulus The Ninja Think "Bride of Frankenstein" - SHE'S ALIVE!!!!!

Romulus The Ninja

What does that line mean

Richard Fodor

@kelvinkloud ..sounds like shoveling snow

kelvinkloud

the band helped a lot too.

Ben Drescher

3y↑32

“The ghost of ‘lectricity howls in the bones of her face”
Definitely one of Bobs best lines. Tons of other lines to pick as his best, though. That’s what makes him special.

David Teplinsky

14w

Ben Drescher

2y↑3

@Romulus The Ninja it’s describing the beauty of the woman he’s talking about, you know what I’m trying to say? It’s like her face is so electrifying and beautiful.

Romulus The Ninja

What does it mean

Jeremiah Robinson

47w↑9

Listening to this whilst reading all these comments makes me smile :) #Dylanforever

Harriet Bradley Gillen

33w↑2

There is no doubt in my mind that Bob Dylan is a genius, perhaps the only one in my lifetime.

genki2genki

3y↑4

I feel more for Dylan's songs than I do for most people.

Nelson Medeiros

2y↑10

Simply a masterpiece. What a song. Important to listen to this from time to time to avoid throwing this word around a little too much.

David Costa

45w↑8

The other day I listened to “sad eyed lady of the lowlands”and today I’m listening to this track and I looked at the photo on the album cover and it occurred to me it’s the best picture of Bob Dylan ever taken and maybe being out of focus makes it even more amazing words cannot begin to speak about the brilliance of these lyrics and the beauty and the simplicity of the music this ensemble in Nashville created these two masterpiece albums blonde on blonde and highway 61 revisited must know that they are among a certain tier of musicians who are at the pinnacle of musical creativity for all time

Robert Leutwiler

1y↑5

One of my all-time favorite songs. The lyrics are of the finest poetry and completely original.

Ian Hickton

2y↑11

These visions of Johanna are now all that remain... Gets me every time.

MusicRock

4y↑17

Bob is amazing! His voice at that time was fantastic in a way he could only use to sing his poetry. His best songs? So many. I love him.

Ben Drescher

3y↑6

I love the harmonica from 5:33 to 5:41. Another great aspect of this amazing song.

Bob Dylan

You have such a profound impact on my carrier that even the biggest thank you text would fall shout to express my gratitude. Thanks for your support ❤️❤️❤️

ferociousgumby

2y↑5

I LOOOOVE the drumming on this album. I'm revisiting it for the first time in about 50 years.

Juniormint

18w

I believe it's Kenny buttrey. He's on Neil Young's Harvest. Good kick drum sound.

sdgakatbk

3y↑1

His best song imo. He just hits you with fantastic lyric after fantastic lyric.

Bob Terwilliger

2y↑13

Another masterpiece on Dylan’s masterpiece of an album. His best lp, in my uneducated opinion.

George R

50w↑5

I love this song. You have to give tremendous credit to Al Cooper on the Hammond B3 organ, It really made the song with it's haunting sound.

capitaldescent

3y↑142

Johanna Thufvesson

35w↑1

@capitaldescent oh oke👍

capitaldescent

35w

@Johanna Thufvesson about the fleeting nature of contentment and understanding of existence/inspiration by source with the very real sense of mortality and vulnerability of being human.

Robert Morley

35w

'Jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule' It seems that I should get that...but I can't

Lord Makepeace Rakali

36w

@banjomusic76 i hear,..seems like Vermeer....

Rick R

45w↑2

We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it's him or them, "It's him" ya say.
(That's what I hear.)

14 More Replies...

Miss Understood

The best song ever (...and Brownsville Girl.)
But this one in these times it's so prophetic. I'm in awe once again as I hear another Dylan tune written long before it's time.
Thank you Bob

Bob Dylan

You have such a profound impact on my carrier that even the biggest thank you text would fall shout to express my gratitude. Thanks for your support ❤️❤️❤️

Peter Kirstein

The song is impressions, nightmares, trances. It's as non-representational art. Its genius lies in its mood. In Blonde on Blonde, the first double-album CD, it's Dylan giving us poetry without guideposts.

Samuele Conficoni

3y↑2

Bob is the greatest poet of our times.

lovegeorge&bob4ever

2y↑2

Luciano Jesus

3y↑3

Essa música me lembra quando eu fugi da casa do meu pai ...com 18 anos ....fui morar com minha mãe foram 2 anos maravlhosas ....conheci uma mulher maravilhosa que se tornou minha amiga....mãe te AMO

citileft

A high point in the history of popular music of the 20th Century. And yes I know that the writing is out of this world but his singing is spectacular and the band is just perfect. In the 100 indispensable individual recordings of the last century I would say Dylan has about 10 spots on that list. The Beatles about the same. And the next artist probably 3.

malem said

1y↑8

How can I explain?
It's so hard to get on
Whenever I listen to this song, these two lines resonate in my ears and I keep on repeating them all day long

Ian Durn

4y↑454

“The ghost of electricity howl in the bones of her face.” Probably the most disturbingly beautiful thing ever conceived.

Trinidad Apodaca

like the Holy Spirit

Trinidad Apodaca

that reminds me of the video in the year 2525

Revolutionary Views

@dixon pinfold No, he’s saying his current lover, Louise, is beautiful but “dead,” at least metaphorically, compared with his visions of Johanna. “The ghost of electricity [the pale stand-in for a life force, or maybe the Hollywood limelight] howls [like the terrifying apparition that it is] in the bones of her [skeletal] face.” The song is an ode to Joan Baez, his former lover and icon of folk music, all of which he betrayed to pursue the shallow world of superstardom with the supermodels of his day. Listen to the whole song. It’s a history (and a dirge) of the artificial and moneyed world of art and pop music that replaced the authenticity of the folk movement of the sixties.

Arath Villegas

i always expect that part

62 More Replies...

Doug Gillis

Love this song!!

Sandra Wadsworth

1y↑9

Just one of my many favs!❤️

Bob Dylan

38w

Hello Sandra, how are you doing? It's nice meeting you here today.

stuart rutland

2y↑27

The opening line is just sublime...

Wes Brooks

1y↑3

Discovered this song yesterday and I’ve listened to it about 20 times now

Luiz Amorim

1y↑2

Dylan had the gift of gab...the gift of knowing how to use unusual words...and very musical...very melodic...almost like the Beatles.

J Louis

9w↑3

One of the most mystical songs ever recorded and the one that really kicks off the album and makes you go, woah that’s something different

Jacques Burger

3y↑5

Most probably one of his best songs. Recently Margot Cotten also did a brilliant rendition of this.

Don Charlesworth

2y↑2

Every Bob Dylan song is a classic!

Bichiño no Monte do Facho

4y↑5

¡Grandísima!

Beretta Jerson

3y↑1

Formidável .

Steve Andrews

3y↑3

I remember many years back when I used to play this over and over! Bob at his best!

Garry Linahan

Me too... and that started for me more than 40 years ago.

GronkMusic

2y↑20

I'll never forget hearing this song for the first tine when I was fourteen, it was like a thunderclap in my brain

barbara keyock

3y↑1

Every line is a masterpiece . Bob sure didn't waste any words.

John Shaner

3y↑2

Good song. The rhythmic electric guitar strum adds to its charm.

joseph lemko

4y↑16

This song always reminds me what a great writer Dylan is. It is so moving!

Garry Linahan

Not even sure it's moving. I love it but more distressing than moving.

Max Autonomy

3y↑2

My little state of Minnesota produced three of the greatest music-people of the 20th century in Judy Garland, Prince, and Bob Dylan, but Dylan is clearly the greatest--and continues to be well into the 21st century. May you stay forever young, Bobby!

Sam Kane

@Max Autonomy how many hits can people name that aren't from one of the biggest films of all time? None.

Max Autonomy

@Sam Kane How many hits by The Replacements can the average person name? I've lived in the Minneapolis area for nearly 60 years and I can't even name one song by them.

Sam Kane

The Replacements are infinitely better than Garland imo

Max Autonomy

@David Frame I never used the word genius in reference to any of them.

2 More Replies...

Mario Galeano

4y↑720

My favorite song. It's more of a friend than a song for me.

Joan Pérez Jiménez

August West qqq

Spacecowboy

2y↑1

Yup

33 More Replies...

Bruce Delaplain

3y↑1

Man, this song just rocks!

phil allard

4y↑762

If Dylan were born as he was in 1941, immediately went into a coma, woke up in 1966 and uttered: "The ghost of 'lectricity howls in the bones of her face," and then died....he would STILL deserve the Nobel Prize.

Robin Robyn

10w

"The harmonicas play...the skeleton keys in the rain!'

Jack Lazariuk

10w

How about if he said “her very soul is crystallizing right to the edge of her flesh” ?
I personally like that. I might quote myself someday.

Robin Robyn

10w

Bobby was a heavy cat.

Jack Lazariuk

18w

If you are interested in Louise. You can see YouTube videos of her under the name Louise Lecavalier. Beautiful woman inside and out.

Jack Lazariuk

18w

Better than that you can just look at pictures of Louise Lecavalier who he is singing about and even take her online dance classes which are designed for people of all ages. She is such a beautiful woman.

54 More Replies...

Martin Holmes

3y↑7

Once you have heard greatness you will never settle for less

Anki Svensson

3y↑3

One of the best songs ever written

m d

25w

agreed. but it's not even dylans
best.

stonethecrows25

4y↑2

I bought this album in 1975, in Norwich, England, and what I have always liked most about the music on this track (as well as the ribbons of sound on organ), is the great chord that Robbie Robertson plays on the word 'visions' on the last last chorus (at 6:59 here). Musicolgical comment on this is most welcome.

Raul Esparza

3y↑1

Genio de los genios!!!!

Ken McKenzo

1y↑6

There are only about 12 different perfect lines in this. Er, maybe 20. And it all just fits with the music and his voice. My god, what a great song.

Sugar Daddy

3y↑7

Ain't a big Dylan fan, but THIS is a masterpiece.

Peter Kirstein

9w↑3

"Jewels and Binoculars Hang from the Head of the Mule." This is considered the greatest verse in the history of American folk rock.

Peter Kirstein

2w↑1

@K C I agree with you. Like picking Shakespeare's greatest verse. Yes, Subterranean Homesick Blues is another gem.

K C

2w↑1

It's hard to say, he's got so many great ones. I mean I could see some people saying some of the lines in something as early as Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall are the best, even. Or It's Alright Ma, etc.

Jim Brennan

4y↑20

Album is certainly top 10 ever. Double album. "Sad eyed lady of the lowlands" took up an entire side!!

Matthew Brown

It ended up being the exact right length for a single CD edition

Nick Gateley

3y↑1

Bobs still got it. Just went number one this year! Great in concert saw him this year. Only wish he would play more of these older tunes.

Ben Drescher

3y↑2

2:29 is one of my favorite lines in any song ever. Such a great song.

Bob Dylan

You have such a profound impact on my carrier that even the biggest thank you text would fall shout to express my gratitude. Thanks for your support ❤️❤️❤️

Gash

1y↑13

That gold mercury sound. This is the perfect example of that description! The drum, the electric guitar, the organ. And Dylan's singing and then the god damn lyrics!

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