Album: Blonde on Blonde
Year: 1966
First off, let me just point out that this is the man’s best song. Which is an impossible and stupid thing to say, and almost totally indefensible. So how about this: “Visions of Johanna” may or may not be the best Bob Dylan song ever, but it is certainly the most Bob Dylan song ever.
Here are a few reasons why:
He recorded multiple different versions. Dylan tried again and again to get a version of “Visions of Johanna” recorded, and each version is somewhat different. Beyond the two studio versions have have been released, there are at least two more that exist only on bootlegs, one of which is a slow, organ-drenched dreamy version where he sings about “the nightingales code.”
Cryptic lyrics that evoke imagery just this side of actually making sense. I mean, it opens with:
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 concludes the second verse with the famous:
The ghost of ’lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place
Though my favorite has always been this:
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
There really isn’t a chorus. Instead of an actual chorus, “Visions of Johanna” ends each verse with how those visions are affecting him, followed by a lonely harmonica-and-high-hat breakdown before the next verse starts up.
There is an audible mistake on the released version. In the last verse of the Blonde on Blonde version, he adds a couple of extra lines prior to going into the “and these visions of Johanna” part. However, bassist Joe South didn’t get the memo, and you can hear his confusion as he starts playing the wrong part, but quickly recovers.
And Bob Dylan decided to go with the version with that mistake, understanding that perfection is often the enemy of awesome.
“Visions of Johanna”
My Certain Songs Spotify Playlist: