The image seen here is the cover of a Joan Baez songbook with 66 songs, music, and notations. I somehow ended up with two copies and therefore, will accept “best offer” on this one, if anyone is interested. Write to: pat@quiltersmuse.com for details.
The 1960s: A Time of Turbulence/ A Time of Changing Music
When the fame of Joan Baez first hit, my oldest brother who was nine years older than me, bought her album with his own pocket money he earned by bagging groceries at a local grocery store. He was enamored of Joan’ beauty and her voice.
Shortly thereafter, he found a girlfriend who looked similar to her, with long black hair and brown eyes, slender of build. I felt it was not a coincidence.
Joan’s talents were God-given. What she did with those talents made history.
I have just been watching a summary of Joan’s life on Public Television. The documentary describes her as having a strong sense of right and wrong and acting accordingly. A sense of outrage about the “hideousness” (the murders, etc) of the Vietnam War, brought her to North Vietnam. The same sense of wanting the world’s people to “know that someone cares” sent her to Sarajevo where she sat in the middle of a street singing, “Amazing Grace.”
She felt that she might spend time in and out of prison for speaking out about such timely events of the day related to the draft and civil rights. She was thrown in jail a few times for civil disobedience. If people had a tenth of her gumption, much more social change might be happening today. Ah, but that is another story.
It is always fun to find out the end of someone’s life, or at least, the end thus far. To know that she married David Harris, but did not marry her great love, Bob Dylan, is a personal detail revealed in the film. Their marriage lasted from 1968-1973, during which Harris was mostly serving time in jail for being a draft protester. To know that she has a loving son, with whom she enjoys playing music, is another tidbit that speaks of her life as it is now. She is in her sixth decade of life.
I will always think of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan and others of their generation as forever young. With the sheer courage of youth, they told America what America needed to hear at a time America needed to listen to their messages. Baez states that she was a political activist first, a musician, second. Dylan provided some of her meaningful words, and she played the guitar, rounding out their team presence.
To me, the words of the title of one song she plays, “Diamonds and Rust” are meaningful. Diamonds are selected for their brilliance and longevity. The truth is as pure and clean and long-lasting as a diamond. Lies we tell ourselves or other people are like rust. They corrode relationships; they sully our happiness.
To me, Joan Baez is a true “American Master” who is a diamond. We will never forget her, or her spirit in the face of adversity, as she sought social justice and peace in the world and in her personal life.
Even now, she is a strong, beautiful woman, changed yes, but one whose inner beauty still shines through in a quiet, reflective way of one who has led a full life.
I loved the PBS station’s TV special and this very intimate glimpse into the hardships and challenges that helped to shape the artist, Joan Baez, whom we continue to appreciate today.
Patricia Cummings
Quilter’s Muse Publications
