I love this song a lot, I always have. One line that has always intrigued me is his comment about the lady's father, 'Her father would emphasize you got to be more than street-wise, but he practiced what he preached from the heart. A full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted it to me, the time and the place that we'd part....'
This line had me stumped until just a few minutes ago. The reason why it had, had me stumped was because just a little while ago I had felt the need to go research Sara Lowndes, due to a line from a Dylan song from Bringing it all Back Home. The line was from Outlaw Blues. He claims that he is involved with a dark-sinned woman from Jackson. That's all he said, but Jackson could be anywhere for all intents and purposes. I am assuming he's referring to Jackson, Mississippi, but I could be wrong.
At any rate, I felt the need to research Sara Lowndes at that point, so I did. It turns out that in so doing I found a reference on Wikkipedia about her "father", who apparently was a Jewish immigrant who came over to the US in 1912. He moved to Wilmington, DE, and was evidently murdered by a fellow European immigrant, in 1956. But I don't recall the article ever specifying whether Sara Lowndes ever lived in 'Jackson' or not. So this remains a mystery to this day I suppose.
But nevertheless if this is true then we have a conundrum here. Dylan said he actually met her "father", and that he was a full-blooded Cherokee.
But I believe that the answer to this conundrum may have come to me when I first started composing this 'General Thought' of mine here at this site. The notion came to me that Dylan was not referring to Sara's BIOLOGICAL father, but rather to her Priest. I don't know what Sara's denomination is or was, but if she was Catholic (or some variant of Catholicism), then I believe that this might explain quite a bit ----- especially considering that I have probably listened to this song at least a hundred times and NEVER knew that this was what he meant.
If anyone else has a thought or opinion to add, please don't hesitate. I am all ears.
Thank you.
[Edit: Correcting Lyrical, Factual, and (possibly) Grammatical errors.]
@driver8ball The New York Times offered a clue to the woman in "Outlaw Blues" in a 3/15/24 obituary of Dorie Ann Ladner, "a largely unsung heroine on the front lines of the 1960s civil rights movement in the South," who was born in Mississippi. She had Native American heritage but identified as black.
@driver8ball The New York Times offered a clue to the woman in "Outlaw Blues" in a 3/15/24 obituary of Dorie Ann Ladner, "a largely unsung heroine on the front lines of the 1960s civil rights movement in the South," who was born in Mississippi. She had Native American heritage but identified as black.
The obituary includes this paragraph: "During her hiatuses from college, Ms. Ladner was serenaded by Bob Dylan in the New York apartment where she helped to plan the 1963 March on Washington. He was said to have been smitten with her and to...
The obituary includes this paragraph: "During her hiatuses from college, Ms. Ladner was serenaded by Bob Dylan in the New York apartment where she helped to plan the 1963 March on Washington. He was said to have been smitten with her and to have alluded to her in his song `Outlaw Blues'I got a woman in Jackson / I ain’t gonna say her name / She’s a brown-skin woman, but I / Love her just the same."
I love this song a lot, I always have. One line that has always intrigued me is his comment about the lady's father, 'Her father would emphasize you got to be more than street-wise, but he practiced what he preached from the heart. A full-blooded Cherokee, he predicted it to me, the time and the place that we'd part....'
This line had me stumped until just a few minutes ago. The reason why it had, had me stumped was because just a little while ago I had felt the need to go research Sara Lowndes, due to a line from a Dylan song from Bringing it all Back Home. The line was from Outlaw Blues. He claims that he is involved with a dark-sinned woman from Jackson. That's all he said, but Jackson could be anywhere for all intents and purposes. I am assuming he's referring to Jackson, Mississippi, but I could be wrong.
At any rate, I felt the need to research Sara Lowndes at that point, so I did. It turns out that in so doing I found a reference on Wikkipedia about her "father", who apparently was a Jewish immigrant who came over to the US in 1912. He moved to Wilmington, DE, and was evidently murdered by a fellow European immigrant, in 1956. But I don't recall the article ever specifying whether Sara Lowndes ever lived in 'Jackson' or not. So this remains a mystery to this day I suppose.
But nevertheless if this is true then we have a conundrum here. Dylan said he actually met her "father", and that he was a full-blooded Cherokee.
But I believe that the answer to this conundrum may have come to me when I first started composing this 'General Thought' of mine here at this site. The notion came to me that Dylan was not referring to Sara's BIOLOGICAL father, but rather to her Priest. I don't know what Sara's denomination is or was, but if she was Catholic (or some variant of Catholicism), then I believe that this might explain quite a bit ----- especially considering that I have probably listened to this song at least a hundred times and NEVER knew that this was what he meant.
If anyone else has a thought or opinion to add, please don't hesitate. I am all ears.
Thank you.
[Edit: Correcting Lyrical, Factual, and (possibly) Grammatical errors.]
@driver8ball The New York Times offered a clue to the woman in "Outlaw Blues" in a 3/15/24 obituary of Dorie Ann Ladner, "a largely unsung heroine on the front lines of the 1960s civil rights movement in the South," who was born in Mississippi. She had Native American heritage but identified as black.
@driver8ball The New York Times offered a clue to the woman in "Outlaw Blues" in a 3/15/24 obituary of Dorie Ann Ladner, "a largely unsung heroine on the front lines of the 1960s civil rights movement in the South," who was born in Mississippi. She had Native American heritage but identified as black.
The obituary includes this paragraph: "During her hiatuses from college, Ms. Ladner was serenaded by Bob Dylan in the New York apartment where she helped to plan the 1963 March on Washington. He was said to have been smitten with her and to...
The obituary includes this paragraph: "During her hiatuses from college, Ms. Ladner was serenaded by Bob Dylan in the New York apartment where she helped to plan the 1963 March on Washington. He was said to have been smitten with her and to have alluded to her in his song `Outlaw Blues'I got a woman in Jackson / I ain’t gonna say her name / She’s a brown-skin woman, but I / Love her just the same."
Here's the link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/15/us/dorie-ladner-dead.html