A Deep Dive into Blonde on Blonde (Part 2/3) - Song Analysis & facts Tracks 2 - 8

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Pledging My Time
This song was also a single and saw some good chart success.
I think it’s a very good song, and Bob fits in well with the 8 bar Chicago blues. Everything from the title and the sound gets inspiration from Dylan’s heroes, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters and Johnny Ace. The latter having a song titled 'Pledging My Love'". In 1974, Dylan said "the singers and musicians I grew up with transcend nostalgia – Buddy Holly and Johnny Ace are just as valid to me today as then."
Towards the end of the song, the harmonica gets over saturated and I’m not sure what the true explanation is for this.
In any event, this recording came from the 2nd block of the Nashville sessions.
Visions of Johanna
I did a separate deep dive into this song before, unfortunately, that video is lost from when my old channel got deleted – so please subscribe to build this one up … but…much of this song was written during a power outage while Dylan was staying at the Chelsea Hotel in New York on November 9th, 1965. Its working title even gives a clue to this - “Freeze Out” was the name. I surmise, and I think lots of others can agree that the “Johanna” in this song is Joan Baez. She even said herself it “sounded very suspicious as though it had images of me in it.”
Many have compared it to a poem by John Keats, which wouldn’t be the first time Dylan has been inspired by him.
This is one of the surviving ideas that came from New York, he tried to record this quickly, as Dylan states “I write fast. The inspiration doesn’t last.”
They tried their best in New York changing keys, changing tempos, adding the harpsichord.
They tried to flesh things out and even recorded for over 9mins on this song that ended up being 7mins and 30 seconds.
Along the way, minor lyric changes were made.
“She's delicate and seems like the mirror” used to be “Like silk, she’s like the mirror” and “She’s steady, and seems like the mirror”
The singer for Cockney Rebel , Steve Harley said “…I was hearing poetry…This isn’t Wordsworth or Keats. Dylan is beyond them.”
If you listen closely to the bass at 1:16, you can hear it wanting to go back to a verse, Joe South quickly corrects himself and you can barely hear it. It happens again at 6:27 but Al Kooper didn’t even care or notice backing up the bass playing saying “it’s very important what Joe South’s bass is doing…. He’s playing this throbbing thing which rhythmically is an amazing bass part and it really makes the track”
One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
As said before, this was the only song recorded in New York to survive those sessions. This recording took 3 straight 3 hour sessions to do! I believe it was worth it. The climbing piano playing adds to the build up to the chorus that pays off so well. This song seems like an apology of some sorts. A lot of “I didn’ts and I couldn’ts…” The organ player is Al Kooper, who again, found himself on a recording that he wasn’t supposed to be on! He wasn’t booked for this session and just showed up. Robbie plays another guitar and his Band mate Rick Danko does bass. I love the drums on this, played by Bobby Gregg, who played with Dylan before on “Like a rolling stone” and many other Dylan songs. He also played on the sound of silence. For the only song not recorded at Nashville, you can’t tell much of a difference – this song belongs on this album perfectly.
This song did not do well in the US, but did reach number 33 in the UK.

I Want You
This was the last song they recorded for the album. It opens up with Dylan’s harmonica, doing awesome work with some bends towards the end of the phrase. It’s up beat, it’s a song you can grove to a bit.
This song shows off Dylan’s voice, and his ‘dragging’ of words.
It’s a pop song that shines when the chorus comes around –
In the lines “Now your dancing child with his Chinese suit, he spoke to me, I took his flute” might refer to a friend and Rolling Stone member Brian Jones who among being able to play multiple instruments, played the flute – Dylan reenforces this with the line “because time was on his side” which matches up with “time is on my side” the first Rolling Stones song (all be it a cover) to reach the top 10 in the US.


Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blonde_...

https://www.bobdylan.com/albums/blond...

“Revolution in the air – The songs of Bob Dylan 1957 – 1973” by Clinton Heylin
“Bob Dylan All the songs – The story behind every track” by Philippe Margotin & Jean-Michel Guesdon