| Jackson C. Frank – Yellow Walls Lyrics | 5 years ago |
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This song is autobiographical in a very sad way. Jackson C. Frank was severely burnt by a fire at his school. 15 of his closest friends, virtually all of them including his girlfriend Marlene died in that fire. The school furnace exploded. He spent months in the hospital afterwards as he suffered burns to 50% of his body. He had recurring dreams of the horrendous event The "Yellow Walls" was a reference to the school walls from inside, lit by the fire behind him. The second verse refers to the fact he "died" in that fire in a way his normal life ended. All his friends dead. The third verse again says he felt completely alone after losing everyone he loved. The fourth verse shows how he felt the guilt of the survivor, he lived but they all died. This caused him deep psychological problems which he ultimately had all his tragic life. The last line of the last verse clearly says all of his friends (the hands he chooses to hold) died in that fire. How could anyone recover from that experience? This song lays his soul bare. He later received 110,500 USD compensation from the insurance company with which he sailed to England and then Spain as he says in "Blues run the Game" which is autobiographical too. He married and had a child who died of Cystic Fibrosis which broke the marriage. He sadly died homeless and penniless. Possibly the saddest life which I ever heard about. All we have left of this great man is his songs. |
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| Bob Dylan – Visions of Johanna Lyrics | 14 years ago |
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Visiona of Johanna is a great song. It certainly is NOT about any woman, called Johanna or otherwise. At the time Dylan wrote it he was basically Heroin dependent and had had a wide experience with various drugs. He personifies LSD as Louise and Heroin as Johanna. Verse 1. Simply describes a group of people sitting in a New York loft apartment (like his own at the time) with the radio playing quietly awaiting an LSD trip to begin. Anyone who has had LSD experience will know the feeling of being 'stranded' in that at the start of a trip you know you will have to go through the whole thing lasting 12-18 hours. There is no early way out. The line "And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin' you to defy it" refers to the hallucinatory 'rain' or trouble which the LSD will be 'tempting' the drug taker (Bob Dylan) to overcome/deal with. The line "In this room the heat pipes just cough" refers to the heighten sensory perception which LSD gives the taker causing them to notice even the tiniest sounds. The "visions of Johanna" are Bob's dreams/memories of the stronger more physical effects of Heroin. He is saying the LSD induced hallucinations fail to mask his physical desire for Heroine. These are "conquering his mind". He was probably hoping that taking acid would in some way relieve his desire for Heroine. No way... Verse 2 The ladies (or "all night ladies" because they both will keep the taker up all night!) LSD & Heroine. The two drugs one real the other imagined are playing "blind man's bluff with the key chain" in the empty lot of his mind. The key chain being the way out of this trip. In other words he cannot see any way out of this experience and is at the mercy of these ladies. Louise is Dylan's codeword for LSD. She is just near because he has just taken a tab of acid. She is like the mirror (code for a mind) because as anyone who has ever taken acid knows it is an entirely mental experience. It plays games with your mind. Louise (LSD) merely clarifies to him that Johanna (Heroin) is not there - just her. The "ghost of electricity" actually refers to the physical sensation ones gets when using acid. It feels like you can sense a electric current flowing through the bones of your face. Accurate description oddly enough not poetic license here! Verse 3 The little boy is clearly Bob Dylan. Under acid you can actually see yourself as if you were another person. You can judge yourself harshly too as he does here. He describes how "he likes to live dangerously!" - well taking class A drugs certainly would qualify. He was probably think "What a mess I am in now". The muttering small talk at the wall is reference to the way when under acid you actually verbalise question/answers to your self. Sometime out loud. Again his craving for heroin is dominating his trip. It would do as when you take acid you would expect your trip to be about what was on your mind before you took it. In this case Heroin. Verse 4 He is well and truly under the influence of the acid now. The museums represent his memories. The voices would be in his own head - aspects of his own consciousness. He is relating himself to the enigmatic mona lisa whose smile is ambiguous. Like he himself at that time does not know whether he is honestly enjoying his experience but he has to get through it somehow so he is putting on a fake smile. His knees are turning to jelly. He is well under now. The jewels represent ideas, the binoculars visions (or dreams). He means he is experiencing wonderful ideas and hallucinations but at the same time seeing his physical body (the mule) as where these wonderful ideas and visions are coming from. Most acid takers are at some stage of their trip disgusted with their own bodies. All this is going on but still the physical craving for heroin is making a mockery of it and that is why "it seems so cruel". Verse 5 Dylan himself is raving at his drug (LSD -who he now calls "the Countess" as an insult because the title indicates self importance.) The parasite reference is to himself because he considers his use of both drugs parasitic but at the same time that the drugs are like parasites to him. The "empty cage now corrodes" refers to the fact he is now coming down from the LSD experience. His skeleton keys have got him out once again from a difficult encarceration. Many never get out is has to be remembered. "Everythings been returned which was owed" refers to the fact that you get nothing for nothing with acid and at the end you give back what you owed. Everything. His conscious feels like it is exploding along with his consciousness no doubt! He feels his own guilt because he plays with these ladies (LSD & Heroin) neither have his best interests at heart. The final line reminds us that after his acid trip nothing has been done to alleviate his craving for Heroin. Why would it. LSD is a non addictive drug which is actually negatively addicting meaning the more you take it the less likely you are to want to take more. |
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