Dylanology: Keats With a Guitar -- "Visions of Johanna"

nytimes ^ | January 9, 2000 | nytimes

[dennisw]

I like "Visions of Johanna" better than the Keats you quoted. I can understand it too, just read the first verse.

"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"

[AnAmericanMother]

I'm sorry if "St. Agnes" is a little thick. I was led to it by Kipling, whose instincts I trust. Try this one instead:

. . . Ah, happy, happy boughs! that cannot shed
Your leaves, nor ever bid the Spring adieu;
And, happy melodist, unwearied,
For ever piping songs for ever new;
More happy love! more happy, happy love!
For ever warm and still to be enjoy’d,
For ever panting, and for ever young;
All breathing human passion far above,
That leaves a heart high-sorrowful and cloy’d,
A burning forehead, and a parching tongue.

Who are these coming to the sacrifice?
To what green altar, O mysterious priest,
Lead’st thou that heifer lowing at the skies,
And all her silken flanks with garlands drest?
What little town by river or sea shore,
Or mountain-built with peaceful citadel,
Is emptied of this folk, this pious morn?
And, little town, thy streets for evermore
Will silent be; and not a soul to tell
Why thou art desolate, can e’er return. . . .

"Ode on a Grecian Urn" - it's short, you can read it in its entirety here: Ode on a Grecian Urn

I have never read anything else so eloquent on the chasm between time and eternity.

[martin gibson]

That old man has a couple of good tunes left in him yet.

I will carry his colors for as long as I am able...

(now, check out the Lonesome River duet with Dr. Ralph Stanley...truly a thing of beauty and a pleasure to behold.)

[CobaltBlue]

Thanks for posting the entire lyrics to Visions of Johanna - I was reading the cut up version in the article and trying to puzzle out what was wrong with it.

It really is one of the best ever. The entire album (Blonde on Blonde) was so different and fresh when it came out (1966).

So mature and well-formed compared to the hit songs from 1966, e.g., These Boots are Made for Walking (Nancy Sinatra), Last Train to Clarksville (Monkees), My Baby Does the Hanky-Panky (Tommy James and the Shondells), Winchester Cathedral (The New Vaudeville Sound).
http://www.lagrangeil.com/lt1966/hit_songs.htm

How many other pop albums created in 1966 gave withstood the test of time? The only one I still play myself, other than Blonde on Blonde, is Fresh Cream (Cream).

[dennisw]

How many other pop albums created in 1966 gave withstood the test of time? The only one I still play myself, other than Blonde on Blonde, is Fresh Cream (Cream).

I love "I Feel Free". I saw Eric Clapton a few times way back then.

[dennisw]

It really is one of the best ever. The entire album (Blonde on Blonde) was so different and fresh when it came out (1966).

Super fresh and so was "Music From Big Pink". That one jolted everyone including Eric Clapton. I read a comment he made about it.

[dennisw]

<>The group's back-to-its-roots philosophy came at the height of late-'60s psychedelia and had an impact far beyond record sales. No less than Eric Clapton was inspired to walk away from his group Cream and follow a more homespun direction after hearing Pink, an album devoid of guitar solos. Other early admirers included George Harrison and Aretha Franklin, who later recorded a luminous version of "The Weight."

While the Band's self-titled sophomore release a year later, featuring "Up on Cripple Creek" and "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down," was a far greater commercial success, the impact of "Music from Big Pink" on other musicians establishes it as one of the most influential rock albums of all time. More importantly though, it still sounds as vital today as when it was first committed to tape.<>

[CobaltBlue]

The Band never affected me like Dylan did. Growing up in the deep South, I have always been very familiar with country music, and the Band just did not cut any new ground. They always seemed like a bunch of urban guys trying to play country.

To me, they sounded about as authentic as the Stones playing country (Girl With the Faraway Eyes, Country Honk)

Oddly, most of them were from Canada, so it was indeed odd for them to sound country.

My favorite Dylan album is John Wesley Harding. That really sounded country but I did not mind it because it sounded real.

Don't want to act like I am a purist. My favorite genre is British blues rock, e.g., Peter Green. Hearing the blues as interpreted by Brits appeals to me more than the raw blues, but I love my Robert Johnson straight, too.