Live Performances and Recordings
Dylan first performed "Visions of Johanna" in public on December 4, 1965, at the Berkeley Community Theatre. Present at this concert was Joan Baez, who believed the lyrics referred to her. She said, "He'd just written 'Visions of Johanna', which sounded very suspicious to me...he'd never performed it before and Neuwirth told him I was there that night and he performed it." Heylin suggests that if Dylan performed it for anyone that night it was Allen Ginsberg, who was also present. Heylin argues Dylan considered Ginsberg to be an important influence on his songwriting at this juncture, and was keen to showcase the song for the Beat poet.
Two live versions of the song recorded during Dylan's 1966 tour of England have been released. His performance of the song at London's Royal Albert Hall concert, on May 26, 1966, appeared on Biograph, released in 1985. Asked by Cameron Crowe, for the liner notes for Biograph, how he could remember the words of such a complex song in live performance, Dylan responded, "I could remember a song without writing it down because it was so visual." A second version of the song, recorded at the Manchester Free Trade Hall concert, was released on The Bootleg Series Vol. 4: Bob Dylan Live 1966.
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