Joan Baez

Diamond and Dust



Foever young



We shall overcome



NEW YORK (CNN) -- Joan Baez is in a celebratory mood. And rightly so: She's survived 50 years in show business.
The legendary singer, who rose to fame during the folk movement of the 1950s and 1960s, is marking the occasion with a new album called "Day After Tomorrow." Produced by Steve Earle (whom Baez likes to call "Mister Gruff"), it's a collection of bluegrass-tinged songs reminiscent of her early repertoire.

"We were looking for songs that feel like now but sound like back then," she said.

Earle penned one of the album's standout tracks, "God Is God," which he describes as "recovery speak." Baez also covers "Scarlet Tide," a song written by Elvis Costello and T Bone Burnett for the 2003 film "Cold Mountain."

At 67, Baez's voice may not have the sheer power it did in her 20s, but her political spirit is intact. She passionately expressed her support for Barack Obama during the presidential campaign, the first time the self-described pacifist has taken sides in party politics.

"I haven't heard an orator like that since King," she said. Baez knew the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and famously sang the protest song "We Shall Overcome" to a massive crowd at the Lincoln Memorial during King's 1963 March on Washington.

Baez spoke to CNN about sustaining her voice and finding happiness in her 60s. The following is an edited version of that interview, which was conducted before Tuesday's election.

CNN: What did Steve Earle bring to the table with your new album?

Joan Baez: Oh, everything but the voice. Spirit, some songs. His gruffness to my non-gruffness. He worked fast, really fast, and I like that. And he brought the musicians. I don't know who to choose for musicians. We were a good match.

CNN: Is there a song on the album that speaks to you more than others?

Baez: I guess the ones I go back listening to are "God Is God" and "Rose of Sharon." "Rose of Sharon" sounds exactly like an old folk song. I wouldn't have guessed in a million years that it's contemporary.

CNN: How does it feel to be embarking on a new tour at such a politically charged time?

Baez: I've never seen this country this politically charged. I realized something this morning. I was watching Obama on TV and I thought, "I really love this guy." I love what he's capable of, I love that he's genuine. He's a statesman, and he's brilliant. People say do you think he can change America? He already has. ...

And I know most of the things he'll have to do I would battle him to the death. He's going to be commander in chief of the Army, Navy and Air Force, and I'm a pacifist [laughs].

CNN: So you would almost prefer that he didn't run for president, that his talents could be applied in other ways?

Baez: Yeah. I've thought that, yeah. Part of me wishes very strongly that Obama would be outside the system and his hands would be less tied.

CNN: In the '50s and '60s, you lived and breathed the causes you rallied behind. When you look at young musicians today, do you feel they're attaching themselves to charities or causes because it's hip, rather than meaningful?

Baez: I think it's probably a combination of things. I think people are afraid of risk so they'll [only] go so far. But I don't think people have felt the urgency that we felt in the '60s. But it's there. The urgency is there. There's a need for community, but we don't feel it.

CNN: Why is that?

Baez: That we don't feel it? Because we live more and more separately. Kids are walking down the street plugged in [to personal electronics]. The only place there's community really is in the ghetto, where they need each other and they know it. We need each other, and we don't know it.

CNN: You look back at all the causes you've rallied behind, and there have been so many. ...

Baez: It makes me dizzy.

CNN: [Do] you feel emotionally wrung out?

Baez: No. It's the opposite. What happens is it starts generating energy for myself.

There's some part of me that's wiped out. I feel that sometimes.

CNN: Do you find you have to work harder to keep your voice in shape?

Baez: Oh God, yeah. It was very humiliating to find out that I was like everybody else in the world and that I had to get coaching. And now it's a real issue. I have to do [vocal exercises] every day, especially on tour. It's pretty exhausting.

CNN: Would you say that life in your 60s is easier than life in your 20s and 30s?

Baez: Oh God, yes. ... I was a highly neurotic kid, not particularly happy, which probably accounts for all those beautiful songs, those beautiful sad ballads. I found my home there.

And as the years went by and as the therapy went on I was holding together. And then at around 50, I decided to fall apart and find the pieces and put them back where they should've been. And I did. And I did what I thought was impossible, which was really drag the stuff up, look at it, go through all that and then each time I did that ... it became a daily thing with the therapist ... to find out something huge. Go through the terror, go through all of it and then by the end of the week something had changed a little bit. This went on for a number of years.

So I am now in a stage nothing like where I was before then. There's no stage fright now. Just the joy of singing.

CNN: You're happy being single, aren't you?

Baez: Yeah. After all I've been through, I don't want to risk [pats her heart]. I mean I feel so extraordinary, so much better. And you know if something walked into my life that feels right ... the question is, am I ready to see it or not? I'm sure it's wandered by me a few times. But at some point maybe I'll be ready to see that in which case it would be a good thing. ...

[In] Buddhism there's no real happiness without the struggle. But the struggle has to defeat you in a way [before] you get to be like the Dalai Lama. You know those monks all giggle? All the time! They've got it figured out. Because things are what they are on Earth, and you be as good as you can, and you die, it's the next life. So what's the big f****** deal?

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*************民谣的分割线***************


1975年琼贝茨(Joan Baez)出版了一张全部由她自己创作的专辑，其中的标题歌曲《钻石与铁锈》(Diamond and Rust)被认为是贝茨最出色的歌曲之一，并立即成为主流乐坛的畅销歌曲。这首曲子以Baez和鲍勃8226;迪伦(Bob Dylan)十四年间亦师亦友，分分合合的感情为背景描写的一段贝茨的内心独白。歌词或可说晦涩但却蕴含真情。那之后人们以为他们俩人能够重归于好，然而他们只是继十年的分手后在当初相识的地方又合作了一场。

贝茨后来说：和鲍勃8226;迪伦一起演出好象总有触电的感觉，特别是早期，他那种叛逆性的超凡魅力对我很有吸引力。我虽然是个严谨而有度的人，可我们真能融为一体。听众总是为我们之间神话般的合作而倾倒，我们的音乐素材也总是新鲜而独特的！
1977年英国重金属乐队Judas Priest翻唱该首歌曲，把《钻石与铁锈）从民谣风格带到摇滚，从此该首歌曲也成为Judas Priest现场演出时的保留节目。近年，该乐队重新演奏该首歌曲，使歌曲的摇滚味道减弱，而更接近最初的创作风格，歌曲在乐队灵魂人物Robert Halford性感磁性嗓音的演绎下变得舒缓和深情。





DIAMONDS AND RUST
(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

Well I'll be damned
Here comes your ghost again
But that's not unusual
It's just that the moon is full
And you happened to call
And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

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
Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust

Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms
And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed

Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your hair
Now you're smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington Square
Our breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the air
Speaking strictly for me
We both could have died then and there

Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague
Because 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