Bob Dylan "Visions Of Johanna"

I was always jealous of the kid in “Almost Famous.”

At the beginning of the movie William's older sister is leaving home. But before she goes, she bequeaths him her stash of records. Discovering the music, his world opens up. (And let’s face it, having Zooey Deschanel give you her record collection is the stuff teenage dreams are made of)

I was the oldest child in my family. I didn’t have an older sibling to hip me to any amazing music.

The closest I would come to an older sibling, was the older siblings of my friends.

6th Grade overnights at a schoolmate’s house were the rare opportunity to hear what cool older kids were listening to.

My friend Brian had a brother Peter, 3 years older, who was in a discovery phase. Not only did he have records from new, “out there” bands like Devo (who Brian and I could not comprehend), he was also discovering the classic albums of the 60s.

On nights that I’d sleep over, Peter would move to the spare room (or go sleep over one of his friends’ houses), and I’d take over the other twin bed in Brian’s room.

And after a night of . . . (good God, what did we do in 6th grade? Pinball? Watch “Dukes Of Hazard”?) whatever it is we did at that age, we’d go to bed and put one of Peter’s big vinyl albums on the boxy turntable perched atop one of the dressers, and listen as we fell asleep.

That’s where I first hear “Blonde On Blonde.”

Now I’m think it’s pretty likely that Peter, and in turn, Brian and I, were mostly excited by the opening track “Rainy Day Women No. 12 & 35” and its shocking (to a 12 year old) refrain, “Everybody Must Get Stoned.”

But the thing is, we listened to that record, over and over. In our sleep even.

And though it would be many years before I would really discover Dylan, or scratch the surface of understanding him, “Blonde On Blonde” was etched onto my subconscious.

Had you asked me, at age 25, if I knew “Visions Of Johanna,” I would have said no.

But had you played me “Visions of Johanna” at age 25, I would have recognized it as surely as I would have recognized a lullaby my mother sang or a tune my Dad hummed while driving. On an elemental level.

So here's to the older siblings, with gratitude, from the William's of the world.


See the video on Youtube.

(Make sure you watch the last few frames)

See the video on Youtube.