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
Could keep you unharmed
Now I see you standing
With brown leaves falling all 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
'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
"Diamonds & Rust" is a song written, composed, and performed by Joan Baez. It was written in November 1974 and released in 1975.
In the song, Baez recounts an out-of-the-blue phone call from an old lover, which sends her a decade back in time, to a "crummy" hotel in Greenwich Village circa 1964 or 1965; she recalls giving him a pair of cuff-links, and summarizes that memories bring "diamonds and rust." Baez has stated that the lyrics refer to her relationship with Bob Dylan.
The song, which was a top-40 hit for Baez on the U.S. pop singles chart, is regarded by a number of critics, as well as by Baez fans, as one of her best compositions. It served as the title song on Baez's gold-selling album Diamonds & Rust, which was released in 1975.
Variations
For her 1995 live recording Ring Them Bells, Baez performed the song as a duet with Mary Chapin Carpenter. In that performance, she changed the end lines: "And if you're / offering me diamonds and rust / I've already paid," to: "And if you... well I'll take the diamonds." The line "I bought you some cuff links, you brought me something" was changed to "I bought you some cuff links, you brought troubles." And on 25 February 2009, in Austin, she sang it, "And if you... well I'll take the Grammy." In 2010, she recorded it as a duet with Judy Collins on Collins's album Paradise.
Bob Dylan
The song alludes to Baez's relationship with Bob Dylan ten years before. Although Dylan is not specifically named in the song, in the third chapter of her memoir, And a Voice to Sing With (1987), Baez uses phrases from the song in describing her relationship with Dylan, and has been explicit that he was the inspiration for the song. She recounts how she originally told Dylan that the song was about her ex-husband David Harris, which was obviously not true.[2] The lyrics, for example, include the lines, "Well, you burst on the scene already a legend / the unwashed phenomenon, the original vagabond..." which would describe Dylan but not Harris.
In her memoir, And A Voice To Sing With, Baez records a 1975 conversation between herself and Dylan, discussing songs to include in the then-upcoming Rolling Thunder Revue concerts:
But Baez's marriage to Harris had, in fact, already ended by the time the song was written and composed. In an interview with music writer Mike Ragogna, Baez later admitted that the character in the song is Dylan:
Charts
| Chart (1972-2016) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Canada Adult Contemporary (RPM) | 14 |
| Canada Top Singles (RPM) | 61 |
| US Adult Contemporary (Billboard) | 5 |
| US Billboard Hot 100 | 35 |
Popular covers
| "Diamonds and Rust" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Judas Priest | ||||
| from the album Sin After Sin | ||||
| Released | 23 April 1977 | |||
| Recorded | January – February 1977, Ramport Studios, Battersea | |||
| Genre | Heavy metal | |||
| Length | 3:28 | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Joan Baez | |||
| Producer(s) | Roger Glover, Judas Priest | |||
| Judas Priest singles chronology | ||||
| ||||
| Sin After Sin track listing | ||||
| ||||
The song was later covered with edited lyrics by Judas Priest for the album Sin After Sin. It was originally recorded a year earlier for Sad Wings of Destiny, but not included on that album. This early version appears on The Best of Judas Priest, Hero, Hero, and some remasters of their first album, Rocka Rolla. A live version of the song is on Unleashed in the East. The song remains a staple of Judas Priest live concert performances. In recent years, Priest have been performing a mostly acoustic version of the song that is more similar to the original than the rock version on their recorded albums.
Baez commented on the Judas Priest version:
Cover versions have also been recorded by Blackmore's Night, S.O.D., Great White, Taylor Mitchell, and Thunderstone.
The song has been sampled in two popular hip-hop songs, "Happiness" by Busdriver and "Upgrade Call" by Andre Nickatina. The versions used in both songs are pitch-warped to sound squeaky.
Song Facts
- In this song, Joan Baez is singing to her former lover Bob Dylan, fondly reminiscing about their 1960s affair. Released as a single, this track became only her second top 40 hit in the States, and her biggest self-composed hit (her other hit came in 1971 with "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down."
- Baez revealed to The Huffington Post that she wrote this song after Bob Dylan called her from a phone booth and sang her the lyrics to his song "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts." Baez said that this gave her inspiration to write "Diamonds & Rust," and that she lied to Dylan, telling him it was about David Harris, to whom she was married from 1968-1973. Bob Dylan rarely reveals much about his songs, but his track "Queen Jane Approximately" is most likely his take on his relationship with Baez.
- The song was later covered by Judas Priest, first appearing on Sin After Sin, and later as an earlier recording on The Best of Judas Priest, Hero Hero, and on some remasters of their first album, Rocka Rolla. It also appeared live on Unleashed in the East and other live albums. It remains a staple of their live concert performances. In the 2000s, Priest performed a mostly-acoustic version of the song more similar to the original than the "rocked up" recorded version.
- The band wes named after "The Ballad Of Frankie Lee And Judas Priest," a track from Dylan's album John Wesley Harding. >>
- In addition to singing on this, Baez played the Moog and Arp Synthesizers.
- The end of Side 1 of the album contains a parody of Bob Dylan's voice on his own "A Simple Twist Of Fate."
- "That crummy hotel over Washington Square" refers to the Hotel Earle, where Baez and Dylan lived for a while. It's located at 103 Waverly Place on the corner of MacDougal Street in New York City. Once a place of luxury, the Hotel Earle deteriorated in the '60s and became an apartment hotel popular with starving artists. Notable inhabitants included Ernest Hemingway, Barbra Streisand and Bill Cosby. It was purchased in the '70s and became the Washington Square Hotel in 1986.
- Asked by Mojo July 2014 what Bob Dylan thought of the song, Baez replied: "When I saw Bob on the Rolling Thunder Tour he said, (Impersonates Dylan) 'Are you going to do that song you wrote about me?' I said, 'Oh the one about the blue eyes, the one about my husband?' (Facially impersonates Dylan looking glum). 'Bob, I'm bullsh---ing you!'"
- "He has actually said nice things about Diamonds And Rust," she added.
- Blackmore's Night covered this song for their 2003 album Ghost of a Rose. Candice Night describes Joan Baez as her "favorite American folk singer."
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