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Whistle Stop Help: meaning of 'Desolation Row' (Bob Dylan) (29) RE: Help: meaning of the lyrics of Desolation Row 16 Aug 01


Joan Baez thought so, Little Hawk. I read an interview with her once where she said that she thought she was Johanna, and Dylan was "little boy lost". She thought the line "he speaks of her farewell kiss to me" referred to the kiss on the top of the head that she gave him before she walked out on his tour (in the movie "Don't Look Back").

However, I also write in a similar style much of the time (I don't claim to be the writer Dylan is, but he has had a huge influence on me), and in my experience it is quite possible for lines like this to have multiple meanings -- even to the writer. I have often written these sorts of "ambiguous" songs where I was aware of one meaning as I was writing it, and became aware of others later. I think a lot of creative people are in the business of finding the connections between things -- analogies, allegories, parables, what have you. Sometimes the words get written before all the connections have actually been made, at least on a conscious level. That's one of the things that makes someone like Dylan so fascinating -- it's like an onion skin.


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