Bob Dylan- Just Like A Woman

[DutchLiberal]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by seabeyond (a host of the Video & Multimedia forum).

Still one of his most beautiful songs.

[left on green only]

1. In MHO it is certainly right up there at the top

But I really am unable to place it anywhere above the likes of his anthem for Big Sur, "Sad Eyed Lady of the Low Lands", or his original incarnation of "One Too Many Mornings". But then the Sur has always held a special place in my heart anyway, and it came to be that my life imitated his art in the other.

I once worked out a killer version of JLAW in open D tuning, with harmonic suspensions all over the place, but it was always really hard for me to get through it.

Upon edit for syntax.

[DutchLiberal]

4. I didn't know what Big Sur was; I googled it, but don't know what it's got to do with the song.

In 'Sara' (Desire, 1976) Dylan says he wrote 'Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' for Sara Lownds/Dylan.

[left on green only]

7. I guess it is really hard to pin Dylan down to anything,

But when you take all of the metaphors used in the song into account, it really is difficult to deny the imagery. I was a fixture of the San Francisco, Santa Cruz, & Carmel areas during the time when all of that was going on (60's), and if you have ever been to The Sur, I guarantee that it will change your life in some way.

"With your Mercury mouth in the missionary times" - The "mouth", or beginning of Big Sur, is located on Hwy 1, about 30 miles below one of the original California missions, The Mission Carmel, in the town of Carmel. There is "nothing" between The Mission and the mouth of the Sur except mile after mile of the most beautiful and breathtaking coastal scenery.

"and your street car visions that you place on the grass". - Right next to Carmel, the city of Monterey is located. Yes, the same Monterey where Jack London used to live and write his stories about the sea. Another big part of the heritage of Monterey has to do with the street cars, which were a major source of transportation in the early history of that city. To this day, you will still find some of those old street cars still being used as part of the appealing charm of that city.

"With your silhouette when the sunlight dims, into your eyes where the moonlight swims." Carved into the side of a mountain, and about 1000' above the Pacific Ocean, somewhere in about the middle of The Sur, is a decades old venerable restaurant/bar called The Nepenthe. In the past, and on different occasions, I have been seated at many of the tables there and gazed out in a non-alcoholic stupor (I don't drink - acid maybe - but never alcohol) out over the Pacific Ocean as the sun set in one quadrant of the sky while the moon rose at the same time in another.

"The farmers and the business men, they all did decide." "To show you where the dead angles are, that they used to hide." - During the 60's for a time, The Sur was home to a chapter of The Hells Angles motorcycle gang. At one point, those fine boys got into a little cutlery-fu with some of their own, and ended up hiding their bodies at some location in The Sur, before riding off into the morning mist. This event was legend to the locals who were into "the scene" there, while I imagine largely unknown to the rest of the planet. All of that happened about the time that Dylan was into his motorcycle fetish.

These are just some of the metaphors used in that song that come immediately to mind, however the theory I have postulated upon is not original to me. There are plenty of "Dylanologists" all over the planet who came up with this idea long before it first entered my mind. But like I say, it's really difficult to pin Dylan down to anything.

LOGO

[DutchLiberal]

14. Fascinating interpretation

The thought that the song could be about something else than a woman never even occurred to me. Of course there are a zillion interpretations for almost all Dylan songs. That's one of the reasons he's so appealing to me: you can talk on and on about it and never get tired of it. Every listening can give you new insights and make you notice new aspects of a song.

I've read interpretations that explained the song was really about Joan Baez, citing some references from the song that fit perfectly with Baez's life. The "magazine husband, who one day just had to go", "your thief, you're on his parole" and "the baby of the hoodlum wrapped in your arms" supposedly referred to her husband David Harris, who got national media attention because he refused military induction and served time in prison because of it, during which his son was born. However, the "magazine husband" has also been said to refer to Hans Lownds, a magazine photographer and Sara's first husband. So you can really go all different directions with the same lyrics.

I like to ponder on the lyrics, too, but I'm not obsessed by figuring them out. I don't have to know what they mean exactly, I just enjoy the beautiful imagery Dylan invokes. Trying ti figure it out is pointless anyway. The only one who knows is Dylan and he's not telling. Even the reference in 'Sara' could be fake; it wouldn't be the first time he tried to pull our legs.

Though it is always interesting to read other people's interpretations; they always give me new appreciation of the depth of Dylan's work. I've read fascinating explanations of 'Changing of the Guards', but there are not 2 which are alike and all of them are equally plausible. Maybe it was never meant to "mean" anything, but he was just going for what sounded best? Fascinating song nonetheless.

[left on green only]

15. Thankyou for picking up on other sections of the song

Yes, all of what we have postulated upon are possible interpretations of this song!

Shortly after David Harris was released from prison, he and Joan Baez appeared to speak at a peace rally that I attended that was held in Memorial Chapel at Stanford, where David Harris had been Student Body President before his incarceration. All of that happened before Sad-Eyed Lady was written, yet it was also by that time after the early days when Dylan and Joan Baez were first an item together around the Sur. And so the song was also written after Dylan began with Sara Lownds. I would say that it is therefore entirely possible that Dylan actually had three muses from which he drew inspiration for that song, and all three of them could have possibly visited him together, as part of a dreamlike sequence.

I do not think for a second that any of what Bob Dylan has ever said in any of his songs, was written because he was going for what sounded best. I think all of his words, on some level, refer to something that has been on his mind. Sadly, I cannot say the same for most of the people who have tried to imitate him in their song writing.

Counter to that, it was fascinating for me to read a description about the conversation that ensued between Dylan and Jackson Browne, one night when Dylan showed up backstage at McCabe's in Long Beach, after Jackson had just finished performing. It has been said that Dylan did not show up that night by accident, as by that time Jackson's reputation had preceded himself as a song writer who was more than worth while listening to. As far as I know, Dylan never thought of their meeting again; however Jackson made reference to it in one of his early songs, "Looking Into You" that was written for someone who at the time held a romantic interest for him (probably Phyllis Major). Towards the end of the song, he mentions his meeting with Dylan in a verse that says:

Ah, the great song traveler passed through here
And he opened my eyes to the view.
And I was among those who called him a prophet,
And I asked him what was true.
'Till the distance had shown,
Now the road remains alone.
Now I'm looking in my life
For the truth that is my own.

We'll I looked into the sky for my anthem,
And the words and the music came through.
But words and music can never touch the beauty that I've seen
Looking into you.

LOGO

[DutchLiberal]

16. I think a lot of Dylan's songs are about more than one thing...

Dylan often combines the concrete with the abstract, seemingly effortlessly switching from one to the other and back. A good example of this is 'Workingman's Blues #2' (Modern Times, 2006), in which he sings both about big shifts in society ("the buying power of the proletariat's gone down/money is getting shallow and weak&quot and things going on in his personal life ("now I'm down on my luck and I'm black and blue/gonna give you 'nother chance&quot and he brings them together seamlessly.

That's why I don't think any of his songs have only one meaning or interpretation, but they're made up of so many different influences and inspirations. Like 'Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands' and I think maybe Dylan was selling himself short in 'Sara'. Or maybe the idea that he wrote the song for her and her alone best fitted the narrative of 'Sara'?

Of course I think everything Dylan writes is about something that is on his mind. What I meant to say is that I think he uses imagery that doesn't necessarily have to "mean" anything in reference to the real world or his own life. I mean, what is 'Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again' about? I've seen deep and meaningful interpretations of 'Desolation Row' and 'Ballad of a Thin Man', both equally surreal and multi-layered songs, but 'Memphis Blues' seems to me like just Dylan having fun with word-play. That doesn't make the song any less impressive or enjoyable to me. I disagree though with critics who have attacked Street-Legal (1978) for saying the lyrics were sometimes/often opaque (especially in 'Changing of the Guards').

Great story about Jackson Browne by the way. I believe he's also referenced in Don McLean's 'American Pie', as the jester who stole the crown from the King (Elvis) and Queen (Janis Joplin?) and wearing a coat he borrowed from James Dean (on the cover of Bringing It All Back Home, 1965).

[struggle4progress]

2. Sad-Eyed Lady Of The Lowlands

Love is Just a Four Letter Word

Forever Young

[left on green only]

3. "Sad Eyed Lady" always held special meaning for Joan Baez

She was the one who introduced Bob Dylan to Big Sur, and then later it was the place where her brother-in-law was killed on a motorcycle.

[Paka]

8. Yes, indeed.

I was there at Big Sur at the festival the summer before Richard was killed. He and Mimi were leading the singing Friday night when I arrived with my friends. It was the perfect venue. It was the perfect time to be alive and an integral part of what was happening.

[barbsved]

11. Richard Farina, brotherinlaw

Deserves to be remembered in his own right. Wrote some great music and a book that he once signed for me: Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up To Me

[classof56]

12. Did Richard also write "Birmingham Sunday"?

I could google that, of course, but these posts and videos have transported me back to a time when the music took me to places I'd never been (including Big Sur). And I didn't drop acid or blow so much as a joint. Saw Joan and Bob in separate concerts, then one together in Seattle. Still have their first albums and all I can say is wow...what a time that was!

Tired Old Cynic

[classof56]

13. Oh, my...thank you for sharing these!

I have several of Joan's early albums and haven't listened to them lately. I was concerned, as I know others who were, that her voice has diminished recently, but I watched the HDNet Concert featuring her a couple of weeks ago, and she was awesome. Maybe not those clear, soaring tones she once blessed us with, but awesome nonetheless. She even did one song a capella. Amazing! What a joy it was to watch her. And damn, she is one fine guitarist. Wow! Plus she looks great for a woman of her age (which, I must confess, it a couple years younger than mine).

Peace.

[MoreGOPoop]

5. K & R

Definitely one of my all-time faves, thanks! My 26 yr. old Daughter & Son-in-law were playing 'Bob Dylan' Self-titled the other day. They get it! How cool is that?

I can tell you exactly where I was, in whose basement, and what we were doing when I first heard the Concert for Bangladesh. : )

[Paka]

10. Totally Cool!

I can't tell you how stoked I was many years ago to hear the report when my nephew was staying at his Grandmother's (my mom where all my things were stored while I was traveling). This was the early '80's and the age of LPs. I had everything mainstream Dylan that was out at the time, plus a lot of underground having lived in San Fran. When he saw how many albums I had of this one particular artist, he decided he must be important. He arranged them in chronological order and listened to them throughout the week he was there. He has been a dedicated Dylan fan ever since. Always good to pass good things on to the next generation.

[marasinghe]

6. you're so right; though my favorite is always ".... Baby Blue"

[drynberg]

9. I AGREE

I play this song, singing along, of course, most days as a way of getting ready to play other songs. "Blue" is my base and I've loved it for more than 45 years! Sumthin' about Dylan...

[marasinghe]

17. man, those lyrics .... out of this world, right?

now strictly from a romantic perspective, along with "Just Like a Woman", "Brownsville Girl" gives me chills.

[DutchLiberal]

18. Yes, it's incredibly beautiful.

[seabeyond]

19. off topic. politics, issues, and current events. locking. nt