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To Ramona
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Wikipedia article
"'To Ramona'" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, which was released on his fourth studio album 'Another Side of Bob Dylan' (1964). The song was written by Dylan, and produced by Tom Wilson. Critics have suggested several different people as inspirations for the song, including Joan Baez, Suze Rotolo, and Sara Lownds.
Dylan recorded all the tracks for 'Another Side of Bob Dylan', including "To Ramona", in a single three-hour session on June 9, 1964, at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, New York. The album was released in August that year.The song has received a positive critical response, and several assessments have ranked the song as one of Dylan's 100 best. "To Ramona" was the b-side to "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" on a single issued in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in 1967, and has been included on some of Dylan's compilation albums. Several live versions have been officially released.
Background and recording
The lyrics to "To Ramona" were started by Bob Dylan at the Mayfair Hotel in London in May 1964, and finished during a week-long stay in the Greek village of Vernilya later that month; at least seven other songs, including "It Ain't Me Babe" and "All I Really Want to Do" were completed during the same visit. Some of the songs lyrics were originally in Dylan's draft for the humorous "I Shall Be Free No. 10", another song completed in Vernilya.
On June 9 at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios, New York, Dylan recorded 14 songs between 7:00 pm and 10:00 pm, 11 of which were chosen for his fourth studio album, 'Another Side of Bob Dylan'. Tom Wilson was the producer. "To Ramona", the third of the songs in the session, was recorded in a single take. It was released as the sixth track, the last on side one, of 'Another Side of Bob Dylan' on August 8, 1964. Musically, the song is similar to Rex Griffin's 1937 song "The Last Letter" (1937). The album version of "To Ramona" is Dylan's first song in a folk waltz style.
Lyrical interpretation
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The song's narrator advises Ramona, who is preparing to return to "the South", not to follow the advice of others. The song ends with the narrator admitting the ineffectivess of his advice, and acknowledging that his and Ramona's position may later be reversed: "someday maybe/ Who knows, baby/ I'll come and be cryin' to you"
In the liner notes to his compilation album 'Biograph' (1985), Dylan remarked of the song: "Well, that's pretty literal. That was just somebody I knew." In her autobiography 'And a Voice to Sing With' (1987), singer Joan Baez wrote that Dylan sometimes called her "Ramona". Authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guedson, whilst acknowledging that there are substantial differences between Baez and the Ramona described in the song, argue that the song may indeed refer to Baez, citing lines that can be interpreted as relevant to her activism, for example:
Commentators including Andy Gill, Oliver Trager and Nigel Williamson have interpreted the song as inspired by Dylan's breakup with Suze Rotolo. Clinton Heylin speculates that Sara Lownds may have been the subject or target for the song. Scholar Timothy Hampton wrote that "To Ramona" "reverses the formulas of such songs as 'Don't Think Twice', with Dylan's persona now no longer the wanderer but a counselor". According to Dylan biographer Robert Shelton, the song is "A gentle lecture mixed with sexual longing that urges the woman to fight for her own identity." Oliver Trager, similarly, feels that the song contains both "advice to a wounded woman whose fate disturbs" the narrator, and "sexual longing". John Nogowski saw it as "a standard love song", and Spencer Leigh calls it a "beautiful love song". Jim Beviglia wrote that the track could be "a dig at Baez" and her activism, and suggested that the narrator may not be fully sincere in their advice to Ramona, as the narrator expresses a desire to kiss her "cracked country lips".
Critical reception
Heylin described the track as "a particularly fine portrait of a woman whose friends betray her with her words or advice." Trager praised the "marvelous, elliptically sensuous verses filled with vivid imagery". Tom Pinnock of 'Uncut' felt that "the lyrics and delivery are enchanting", but added that "Dylan fumbles the fingering a little and the higher strings of his acoustic are audibly out of tune". He awarded three stars out of a maximum five for the song. Nogowski gave the song a "B" rating.
Williamson includes the song amongst Dylan's 51 best, and described it as "impossibly lovely, one of the most tender songs Dylan has ever written." Beviglia rates the song at number 67 in his 2013 ranking of Dylan's 100 best songs. 'Rolling Stone' placed the track 70th in their 2015 ranking of the 100 greatest Dylan songs. A 2021 article in 'The Guardian' included it on a list of "80 Bob Dylan songs everyone should know".
Singer-songwriter Ralph McTell remarked of "To Ramona" and Dylan's "Love Minus Zero/No Limit" that they "are tangential. One thought doesn't unwrap the next. It's like each line is the first line of a new song. The lines are so great and yet he throws them away in a declamatory way." Another singer-songwriter, Loudon Wainwright III, named "To Ramona" as his favorite Dylan song.
Live performances and later releases
Subsequent to its initial release on 'Another Side of Bob Dylan', the track was released as the b-side to "If You Gotta Go, Go Now" in the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg in 1967. It was also included on the compilation album 'Biograph' in 1985. A mono version was included on 'The Original Mono Recordings' (2010).
According to his official website, Dylan has performed the song 381 times in concert since July 26, 1964; as of September 2022, the most recent performance was on June 14, 2017. The first concert performance was at the 1964 Newport Folk Festival. A 1965 live performance recorded at Sheffield City Hall was included on 'Live 19612000: Thirty-Nine Years of Great Concert Performances' (2001), and a concert performance from Philharmonic Hall in 1964 was on 'The Bootleg Series Vol. 6: Bob Dylan Live 1964, Concert at Philharmonic Hall' (2004) The Isle of Wight Festival 1969 version by Dylan and the Band was released as part of 'The Bootleg Series Vol. 10: Another Self Portrait (19691971)' (2013). The 1964 Newport Folk Festival performance appeared on 'Live 19621966 Rare Performances From The Copyright Collections' in 2018. In 2021, a rehearsal version from 1980 was issued on 'The Bootleg Series Vol. 16: Springtime in New York 19801985'.
Dylan is known for making significant changes from the album versions when performing songs live. In a positive review for 'The New York Observer' of a 2017 Dylan concert, Tim Somner remarked that "To Ramona" was one of several of Dylan's older songs "re-envisioned almost to the point of non-recognition."
Credits and personnel
Credits adapted from the 'Bob Dylan All the Songs: The Story Behind Every Track' book.
'Musician'
* Bob Dylanvocals, rhythm guitar, harmonica
'Technical personnel'
* Tom Wilsonproducer
* Roy Halee and Fred Caterosound engineering
Notes
References
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'Citations'
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