Visions of Johanna
Ain’t it just like the night to play tricks when you’re trying to be so quiet?
We sit here stranded, though we’re all doin’ our best to deny it
And Louise holds a handful of rain, temptin’ you to defy it
Lights flicker from the opposite loft
In this room the heat pipes just cough
The country music station plays soft
But there’s nothing, really nothing to turn off
Just Louise and her lover so entwined
And these visions of Johanna that conquer my mind
In the empty lot where the ladies play blindman’s bluff with the key chain
And the all-night girls they whisper of escapades out on the “D” train
We can hear the night watchman click his flashlight
Ask himself if it’s him or them that’s really insane
Louise, she’s all right, she’s just near
She’s delicate and seems like the mirror
But she just makes it all too concise and too clear
That Johanna’s not here
The ghost of ’lectricity howls in the bones of her face
Where these visions of Johanna have now taken my place
Now, little boy lost, he takes himself so seriously
He brags of his misery, he likes to live dangerously
And when bringing her name up
He speaks of a farewell kiss to me
He’s sure got a lotta gall to be so useless and all
Muttering small talk at the wall while I’m in the hall
How can I explain?
Oh, it’s so hard to get on
And these visions of Johanna, they kept me up past the dawn
Inside the museums, Infinity goes up on trial
Voices echo this is what salvation must be like after a while
But Mona Lisa musta had the highway blues
You can tell by the way she smiles
See the primitive wallflower freeze
When the jelly-faced women all sneeze
Hear the one with the mustache say, “Jeeze
I can’t find my knees”
Oh, jewels and binoculars hang from the head of the mule
But these visions of Johanna, they make it all seem so cruel
The peddler now speaks to the countess who’s pretending to care for him
Sayin’, “Name me someone that’s not a parasite and I’ll go out and say a prayer for him”
But like Louise always says
“Ya can’t look at much, can ya man?”
As she, herself, prepares for him
And Madonna, she still has not showed
We see this empty cage now corrode
Where her cape of the stage once had flowed
The fiddler, he now steps to the road
He writes ev’rything’s been returned which was owed
On the back of the fish truck that loads
While my conscience explodes
The harmonicas play the skeleton keys and the rain
And these visions of Johanna are now all that remain
乔安娜的幻影
[美]鲍勃·迪伦
李皖 译
不就是像是那种作弄人的夜晚，当你努力表现得安静？
我们困坐在这里，尽管每个人都在极力掩饰
而路易丝捧了一捧雨水，逗引你无视它
灯火在对面阁楼闪闪烁烁
但没有什么，真没有什么是需要关掉的
只不过是路易斯和她的情人在这般缠绵
而一幅幅乔安娜的幻影，占领了我的心
空地上，女士们用钥匙串，玩着捉迷藏的游戏
而通宵女郎，悄悄说着地铁D线上的恶作剧
我们能听见守夜人开关手电筒
问他自己，是他还是他们，真的发了疯
路易斯，她没事，就在近处
纤弱娇美像一面镜子
却也让一切简明，清清楚楚：
乔安娜不在这儿
电气幽灵在她的面骨中嚎叫
那里，一幅幅乔安娜的幻影，取代了我的位置
如今，男孩儿迷了路，他太把自己当回事
他吹嘘自己的痛苦，喜欢过得危机四伏
而当提起她的名字
他对我说起一个离别之吻
他确实胆子大，一无是处又天王老子
对着墙壁叽叽咕咕，而我人在大厅里
我该怎么解释？
啊，这实在难以说下去
于是一幅幅乔安娜的幻影，让我彻夜不眠直到天露晨曦
博物馆里，“永恒”升起，受到了检验
众声回响：不久后拯救一定就像是这种情形
但是蒙娜·丽莎想必拥有那公路蓝调
从她微笑的方式，你能弄明白
看见古时的壁花封存结冰
当长着果冻脸的女人们喷嚏声声
就听见那个有胡子的人说：“天哪
我找不到自己的膝盖了”
啊，珠宝和望远镜挂在骡子的头上
但是一幅幅乔安娜的幻影，让这一切看起来如此无情
现在小贩，对假意关心他的伯爵夫人开口说
“告诉我谁不是寄生虫，我就出去为他祈祷”
但就像路易斯常说的
“你看不了太多，是吧老弟？”
当她，她自己为他作准备
圣母玛利亚依然没有出现
我们眼见这空荡荡的囚笼，如今已朽烂
她登台的披肩，一度曾在那里垂悬
提琴手，现在踏上了旅途
他写：所有欠下的，悉数归还
在满载的贩鱼车的后面
我的良心轰然爆炸
口琴们奏起了万能曲调还有雨水
而一幅幅乔安娜的幻影，是现在仅存下来的东西
注释1：壁花，在社交场合因害羞而没有舞伴或不与人交谈的人。
注释2：万能曲调，同时有“万能钥匙”之意，字面意思是“骷髅钥匙”。
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