“The hardest song to write is a protest song, a topical song with meaning.” WritingSongHardestProtestProtest Songs Author:Joan Baez
“During the 'ballad' years for me, the politics was latent; I was just falling in love with the ballads and my boyfriend. And there was the beauty of the songs.” YearsSongFallFalling In LoveMy BoyfriendLatentBallads Author:Joan Baez
“I wish it was clear for me how it happened [stop writing songs], then maybe I could start writing again. But it's kind of an "it." It just submerged itself. Because the way I had always written was just that it came out. It just happened.” WayWritingKindSongWishClearWrittenHappenedWriting SongsSubmerged Author:Joan Baez
“I'd hear a tune in my head and the words would come. And then, very suddenly it just stopped. It seemed too stilted to try and learn how to write a song, to go to round robins and to learn things from other people on how to write a song. So I just stopped and did other things.” PeopleWritingTryingSongRoundsTunesRobins Author:Joan Baez
“If it came back I would be thrilled. I would be delighted to write more songs. I need them now because I want to make an album and I have to depend on other people's music, which I've done for years. But still, it'd be really nice to be able to sprinkle it with my own.” PeopleIfsWantNeedsWritingYearsStillsDoneWould BeAbleSongMy OwnNiceDependsAlbumsDelightedReally NiceSprinkles Author:Joan Baez
“I love the lower ranges of my new voice. I really enjoy that. It's a challenge, and I accept the challenge. I sort of enjoy it now to reach notes that maybe four years ago I couldn't reach. I don't mean to grumble about it. I'm past that critical period and have gone on to a whole new field. And we go everywhere. We travel around the world, and I learn songs from every place we go, and it's a joyful process.” WorldYearsMeanWholePastSongProcessEnjoyVoiceChallengesAcceptingGoneFourFieldsPeriodsYears AgoNotesCriticalAround The WorldRangeFour YearsJoyful Author:Joan Baez
“It sounds corny, but it's absolutely true: A song chooses me. I don't go looking for a certain kind of lyric. It kind of develops its own little arc and I'll just see what happens.” KindLittlesHappensCertainSongSoundCornyArcsChoose Me Author:Joan Baez
“I wasn't popular in school, I was Mexican, I was all these inappropriate things. I started playing the ukulele and taking it to school, and I realized people liked listening to it. I would play it to comfort myself at home, and I'd play rhythm and blues songs that had four chords. That's how it started.” PeoplePlayHomeSchoolSongFourListeningComfortI RealizedRhythmChordsMexicanInappropriateUkuleleRhythm And Blues Author:Joan Baez
“"Diamonds & Rust" started off as another song. Then the words started to morph. When you write a song that deep, the words come from some place else. But when the songs stop coming, it would be so contrived to try and force it. Since then I've just been doing other people's music.” WritingTryingSongDiamond Author:Joan Baez
“"Nasty Man" isn't a laughing matter, but you have to laugh anyway. The song, itself, becomes something of a laughing matter because we'd go crazy if we didn't keep laughing.” MenSongLaughingCrazyNasty Author:Joan Baez
“If you're gonna sing meaningful songs, you have to be committed to living a life that backs that up.” IfsSongMusicJazzCommittedMeaningfulMeaningful Song Author:Joan Baez
“It seems to me that those songs that have been any good, I have nothing much to do with the writing of them. The words have just crawled down my sleeve and come out on the page.” WritingHas BeensSeemsSongMusicPagesSingingMemorableSongwritingSongwritersSleevesWriting SongsSinging Songs Author:Joan Baez
“I was writing "Diamonds and Rust' and it had nothing to do with what it turned out to be. I don't remember what it is, but I think I was writing a song. It was literally interrupted by a phone call, and it just took another curve and it came out to be what it was.” ThinkingWritingRememberSongPhonesSongwritingDiamondCurvesPhone CallsInterruptedRust Author:Joan Baez
“Now I know I understand that it was Sgt. Pepper's Band, that put the sixties into song, where have all the heroes gone?” KnowsSongGoneHeroBandSixtyPeppersSgt Pepper Author:Joan Baez
