All of us alive are survivors, but how many of us transcend survival?

Joan Chandos Báez (born 9 January 1941) is an American folk singer and songwriter, known for her distinctive vocal style as well as her outspoken political views.

You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now.

Quotes

The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of nonviolence has been the organization of violence.
  • The only thing that's been a worse flop than the organization of nonviolence has been the organization of violence.
  • You don't get to choose how you're going to die. Or when. You can only decide how you're going to live. Now.
    • Daybreak (1968)
    • Variant or paraphrase: You can't decide how you're going to die. Or when. What you can decide is how you're going to live now.
  • Some Vietnam veterans have told me what they did over there when they were animals. They have been giving testimony about it to the public, to juries, to judges. Some of the juries cry, and so do some of the judges.
    One Ex-Marine has a face like a Puerto Rican angel and a body count of 390. That means he and his unit killed 390 people in a variety of hideous ways, and the angel got to go count the dead bodies for the record.
    And now he and a lot of his buddies are trying to make up for what we made them do. We paid the taxes that bought the war that hired the men and dropped the fire that burned the huts and killed the people who then were the bodies that Scott counted. It's a rotten thing to brainwash someone into doing the dirty part of killing while we stay at home. It's a rotten thing to pretend the war is coming to an end when it's only taken to the air. And in 1972 if you don't fight against a rotten thing you become a part of it.
    What I'm asking you to do is take some risks. Stop paying war taxes, refuse the armed forces, organize against the air war, support the strikes and boycotts of farmers, workers and poor people, analyze the flag salute, give up the nation state, share your money, refuse to hate, be willing to work … in short, sisters and brothers, arm up with love and come from the shadows.


  • If we survive this century it will only be because you and I refuse to become Nazis.
    • Joan Baez, SF Chronicle, 16 January 1973, reprinted as the epigraph of the book Bohemia: the protoculture then and now by Richard Miller (Nelson-Hall, Chicago, 1977)
  • All of us alive are survivors, but how many of us transcend survival?
    • And A Voice to Sing With : A Memoir (2012), p. 322
  • Bangladesh, Bangladesh
    When the sun sinks in the west
    Die a million people of the Bangladesh
    • Joan Baez, in the Song for Bangladesh (1971)

Sacco e Vanzetti (1971)

Blessed are the persecuted
And blessed are the pure in heart
Blessed are the merciful
And blessed are the ones who mourn
Lyrics for songs written for the film; the music for the songs composed by Ennio Morricone.
You never steal, you never kill
You are a part of hope and life
The revolution goes from man to man
And heart to heart
And I sense when I look at the stars
That we are children of life
Death is small
Here's to you, Nicola and Bart
Rest forever here in our hearts
The last and final moment is yours
That agony is your triumph
  • Blessed are the persecuted
    And blessed are the pure in heart
    Blessed are the merciful
    And blessed are the ones who mourn
    • "The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti, Part One"

  • Against us is the law
    With its immensity of strength and power
    Against us is the law!
    Police know how to make a man
    A guilty or an innocent
    Against us is the power of police!
    The shameless lies that men have told
    Will ever more be paid in gold
    Against us is the power of the gold!
    Against us is racial hatred
    And the simple fact that we are poor

    My father dear, I am a prisoner
    Don't be ashamed to tell my crime
    The crime of love and brotherhood
    And only silence is shame

    • "The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti, Part Two"
  • Rebellion, revolution don't need dollars
    They need this instead
    Imagination, suffering, light and love
    And care for every human being
    You never steal, you never kill
    You are a part of hope and life
    The revolution goes from man to man
    And heart to heart
    And I sense when I look at the stars
    That we are children of life
    Death is small
    • "The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti, Part Two"

  • Yes, your father and Bartolo
    They have fallen
    And yesterday they fought and fell
    But in the quest for joy and freedom
    And in the struggle of this life you'll find
    That there is love and sometimes more
    Yes, in the struggle you will find
    That you can love and be loved also

    Forgive me all who are my friends
    I am with you
    I beg of you, do not cry

    • "The Ballad of Sacco and Vanzetti, Part Three"
  • Here's to you, Nicola and Bart
    Rest forever here in our hearts
    The last and final moment is yours
    That agony is your triumph

Diamonds & Rust (1975)

Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend…
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid
  • 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
    • Diamonds & Rust
  • 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
    • Diamonds & Rust

Gulf Winds (1976)

Bring infinity home
Let me embrace it one more time
Make it the lilies of the field
Or Caruso in his prime
True he was a vocal miracle
But that's only secondary
It's the soul of the monarch butterfly
That I find a little bit scary

  • Miracles bowl me over
    And often will they do so
    Now I think I was asleep till I heard
    The voice of the great Caruso

    Bring infinity home
    Let me embrace it one more time
    Make it the lilies of the field
    Or Caruso in his prime

    • Caruso
  • With the precision of a hummingbird's heart
    Was the lord of the monarch butterflies
    One-time ruler of the world of art
    • Caruso
  • True he was a vocal miracle
    But that's only secondary
    It's the soul of the monarch butterfly
    That I find a little bit scary
    • Caruso
  • Perhaps he's just a vehicle
    To bear us to the hills of Truth
    That's Truth spelled with a great big T
    And peddled in the mystic's booth
    There are oh so many miracles
    That the western sky exposes
    Why go looking for lilacs
    When you're lying in a bed of roses?
    • Caruso

Children of the 80's (1980)

Full lyrics online · 24 December 1980 performance · 31 December 1981 performance · 1984 performance ·
  • We're the children of the 80's, haven't we grown
    We're tender as a lotus and we're tougher than stone
    And the age of our innocence is somewhere in the garden
  • Some of us may offer a surprise
    Recently have you looked in our eyes
    Maybe we're your conscience in disguise
  • We are the warriors of the sun
    The golden boys and the golden girls
    For a better world

Quotes about Baez

  • Oh, and I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Joan Baez. She was the queen of folk music then and now. She took a liking to my songs and brought me with her to play concerts, where she had crowds of thousands of people enthralled with her beauty and voice.
    People would say, "What are you doing with that ragtag scrubby little waif?" And she'd tell everybody in no uncertain terms, "Now you better be quiet and listen to the songs." We even played a few of them together. Joan Baez is as tough-minded as they come. Love. And she's a free, independent spirit. Nobody can tell her what to do if she doesn't want to do it. I learned a lot of things from her. A woman with devastating honesty. And for her kind of love and devotion, I could never pay that back.
  • She was something else, almost too much to take. Her voice was like that of a siren from off some Greek island. Just the sound of it could put you into a spell. She was an enchantress. You'd have to get yourself strapped to the mast like Odysseus and plug up your ears so you wouldn't hear her. She'd make you forget who you were.
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