I don't pretend to know what was really in Dylan's mind when he wrote it, but to me this is a song about longing for God. (I'm sure I'm not the first to have this take). It reminds me of Ecclesiastes - the writings of a philosopher who searches for meaning and fulfillment by chasing pleasure, then wisdom, then work, and so on, never really finding it.
This seems like a similar journey. Johanna (not far from Jehovah) may be a reference to God, or at least the idea of God - perfect love and wisdom and knowledge.
Maybe the "all night girls" represent trying to find meaning and fulfillment in frivolity. Great while it lasts, but ultimately empty. God isnt' there.
"Little boy lost" is, perhaps, modern culture (as of 1966 anyway) with its cynicism, arrogance ("he's sure got a lot of gall"), and it's nose turned up at religion ("And when bringing her (Johanna's) name up, he speaks of a farewell kiss to me.") In the end, it proves useless.
"Inside the museums..." even art falls short. "This is what salvation must be like after awhile." Everything, even great art, fades and ends up frozen in its time. Maybe it is cruel to plant creative seed in humans, this desire for perfect goodness and fulfillment, and never allow them to get there on their own?
And then the last verse - the peddler and the countess and the Madonna and the fiddler. Maybe here he's referring to religion. The fiddler, and "the fish truck that loads," could be a reference to Christ - "Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men," Jesus said to Peter and Andrew. "Everything's been returned which was owed" sounds a lot like Christ's mission on Earth. This was written years before Dylan's actual conversion, of course, but perhaps it was something on his mind.
Ultimately, again like the philosopher in Ecclesiastes, who concludes there is nothing to do but accept your place and thank God for your existence, once everything fades away, he's left with the task of creating his music ("the harmonica plays the skeleton keys in the rain") and hope it opens the door to God.
I don't pretend to know what was really in Dylan's mind when he wrote it, but to me this is a song about longing for God. (I'm sure I'm not the first to have this take). It reminds me of Ecclesiastes - the writings of a philosopher who searches for meaning and fulfillment by chasing pleasure, then wisdom, then work, and so on, never really finding it.
This seems like a similar journey. Johanna (not far from Jehovah) may be a reference to God, or at least the idea of God - perfect love and wisdom and knowledge.
Maybe the "all night girls" represent trying to find meaning and fulfillment in frivolity. Great while it lasts, but ultimately empty. God isnt' there.
"Little boy lost" is, perhaps, modern culture (as of 1966 anyway) with its cynicism, arrogance ("he's sure got a lot of gall"), and it's nose turned up at religion ("And when bringing her (Johanna's) name up, he speaks of a farewell kiss to me.") In the end, it proves useless.
"Inside the museums..." even art falls short. "This is what salvation must be like after awhile." Everything, even great art, fades and ends up frozen in its time. Maybe it is cruel to plant creative seed in humans, this desire for perfect goodness and fulfillment, and never allow them to get there on their own?
And then the last verse - the peddler and the countess and the Madonna and the fiddler. Maybe here he's referring to religion. The fiddler, and "the fish truck that loads," could be a reference to Christ - "Follow me and I'll make you fishers of men," Jesus said to Peter and Andrew. "Everything's been returned which was owed" sounds a lot like Christ's mission on Earth. This was written years before Dylan's actual conversion, of course, but perhaps it was something on his mind.
Ultimately, again like the philosopher in Ecclesiastes, who concludes there is nothing to do but accept your place and thank God for your existence, once everything fades away, he's left with the task of creating his music ("the harmonica plays the skeleton keys in the rain") and hope it opens the door to God.
Just one take. Just how it hits me.