Joan Baez has spent the past 60 years singing protest songs. While many from her generation gave up on social justice activism, she carried on.
Videos by American Songwriter
She’s also recorded many Bob Dylan songs throughout her long career. Even when Dylan seemed disinterested in politics, Baez used his words to reinforce her political activities.
Furthermore, she told Huffington Post in 2017, “I don’t think Dylan had much interest in doing the politics. I backed up what I did with his arsenal of music. So I used it to its best advantage, and I also used what was not political, what was just beautiful. I mean, it’s all poetry.”
Speaking of poetry and Dylan, “Diamonds and Rust” describes the arc of their platonic and romantic relationship. It opens her 1975 album of the same name.
Bob Dylan Calls
Baez was already writing “Diamonds and Rust” when she received a phone call from Dylan. He called from a phone booth in the Midwest and read the lyrics to his song “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts.”
Her song wasn’t about him initially. But she was writing about him now.
Dylan recorded “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts” in Minneapolis in December 1974. It appeared on his 1975 album Blood on the Tracks. Meanwhile, the liner notes to Diamonds & Rust show that Baez had written her title track in November 1974.
As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin’s eggs
My poetry was lousy, you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the Midwest
She sings about meeting Dylan for the first time. How he appeared as a fully formed legend.
Well, you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
Tangled Up in Blue
“Diamonds and Rust” also describes their relationship from a decade earlier. And how painful memories still linger for Baez. Though they are mixed up with an ongoing friendship between the two.
Now you’re telling me you’re not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You were so good with words
And at keeping things vague
’Cause I need some of that vagueness now
It’s all come back too clearly
Yes, I loved you dearly
And if you’re offering me diamonds and rust
I’ve already paid
When they speak, Dylan brushes away nostalgia. Baez points to the irony of a man famous for his words yet unable to communicate clearly with her. Still, he hides behind elusive language when they speak. And she wishes for vagueness, too. Because the flooding back of feelings from a failed romance is too much to take.
Finally, the metaphor of diamonds and rust shows both the sparkle and emotional scars from the old entanglement.
Rolling Thunder Revue
Writing in her memoir, And a Voice to Sing With, Baez recalls telling Dylan the song was about her husband, David Harris.
In 1975, they were discussing songs to perform on Dylan’s upcoming tour, the Rolling Thunder Revue. He asked if she was going to play “that song about robin’s eggs and diamonds.” She said she’d written it for Harris while he was in prison.
Dylan seemed surprised. “For your husband?” he said.
She answered, “Yeah. Who did you think it was about?”
“Oh, hey, what the f–k do I know?” he said.
Photo by David Redfern/Redferns
Leave a Reply
Only members can comment. Become a member. Already a member? Log in.