Bob dylan blonde on blonde album meaning

BOB DYLAN BLONDE ON BLONDE ALBUM MEANING SKIN

вЂњThere is not a bigger giant in the history of American music,вЂќ President Obama said when presenting the Medal of Freedom to Dylan in 2012. Swoon.Д«londe on Blonde peaked at No.В 9 on the Billboard 200 chart and produced two Top 20 hits, вЂњRainy Day Women #12 & 35вЂќ and вЂњI Want You.вЂќ But its influence outsizes its commercial performance. This is Dylan at his most romantic - itвЂ™s a wedding song for his new bride, Sara Lownds: вЂњWith your silhouette when the sunlight dims / Into your eyes where the moonlight swims,вЂќ he sings. Dylan kept the very first take for the album. Finally, he called the group together, counted off, and had them follow his lead, driving each chorus higher and higher. Dylan had spent the previous eight hours writing the tune, while the band played cards in the studio. Then thereвЂ™s the sidelong 11-minute closer вЂњSad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands,вЂќ recorded in just one take at 4 a.m. ItвЂ™s the albumвЂ™s poppiest and most surrealistic track.

On вЂњI Want You,вЂќ Dylan pairs a tightly-wound pop guitar lick with a repeated chorus of вЂњI want you, I want you so bad.вЂќ Yet the song crams over 20 characters intoВ three minutes, including a guilty undertaker, a lonesome organ grinder, a drunken politician, a chambermaid, the Queen of Spades, and a dancing child in a Chinese suit.

He tells his story in colorful detail: вЂњLights flicker from the opposite loft / In this room the heat pipes just cough / The country music station plays soft.вЂќ ItвЂ™s vivid and personal, yet listeners the globe across can place themselves right there in that apartment. On вЂњVisions of Johanna,вЂќ one of his career masterstrokes, the troubadour compares two women and seeks an idealistic - and perhaps unattainable - true love. He vents his broken heart on the blasting brass kiss-off вЂњMost Likely You Go Your Way (And IвЂ™ll Go Mine)вЂќ: вЂњTime will tell just who fell / And whoвЂ™s been left behind / When you go your way and I go mine.вЂќ Then thereвЂ™s the scornful вЂњJust Like a Woman,вЂќ including semi-veiled references of SedgwickвЂ™s pearls and amphetamine, and вЂњOne of Us Must Go (Sooner or Later),вЂќ the only album track salvaged from the NYC sessions, which finds Dylan telling the story of a doomed relationship:В вЂњI really did try to get close to you,вЂќ he sings.

BOB DYLAN BLONDE ON BLONDE ALBUM MEANING SKIN

In the searing Chicago blues of вЂњLeopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat,вЂќ Dylan uses high (pill-box hats) and low fashion (leopard skin designs) to cheekily diss a lady thought to be his former lover and Andy Warhol museВ Edie Sedgwick: вЂњI see you got a new boyfriend / You know, I never seen him before / Well, I saw him makinвЂ™ love to you / You forgot to close the garage door.вЂќ Ouch. Its songs cover all shades of love, heartbreak, resentment, and discovery. The rest of the LPвЂ™s songs were recorded in just seven days total.ДЇrom there, though, Blonde on Blonde gets straight to the point: Women.

That something was in Music City.ДЄt producer Bob JohnstonвЂ™s suggestion -В and despite protests from DylanвЂ™s manager, Albert Grossman - Dylan and two members of the Hawks (organist Al Kooper and guitarist Robbie Robertson)В flew to Nashville for sessions in February and March of вЂ™66. The sessions with his backing group, The Hawks - later to be known as The Band - were missing something.

After five recording sessions - almost the entire time it took to record Highway 61 Revisited, and two days more than it took to record all of Bringing It All Back Home - Dylan had finished just one song. The young man who was the musical entertainment at Martin Luther KingвЂ™s вЂњI Have a DreamвЂќ speech three years earlier buried his folk singer beginnings with his electric debut at Newport Folk Fest, and he was amid a frenzied run of plugged-in breakthroughs.Д«ut Blonde on Blonde started in New York City with a thud. Dylan was settling into his new identity as a bonafide rock star. As the first double LP in rock music, Blonde on Blonde is the finale forВ his trilogy of albums released over 15 months in вЂ™65 and вЂ™66, beginning with Bringing It All Back Home and Highway 61 Revisited.

Bob dylan blonde on blonde album meaning