Diamonds & Rust (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Diamonds & Rust" was a 1975 song written and performed by Joan Baez, which is said to describe her relationship with Bob Dylan ten years prior. 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 seedy hotel in Greenwich Village. She recalls giving him a pair of cuff links, and summarizes that memories bring "diamonds and rust" (time both turns dirty charcoal into beautiful diamonds and shiny metal into ugly rust).
The song, which provided a top-forty hit for Baez on the U.S. pop singles chart, is regarded by a number of critics, as well as Baez' fans as one of her best compositions. It served as the title song on Baez' gold-selling Diamonds & Rust album in 1975. The song was later covered by Judas Priest, first appearing on Sin After Sin and later on some remasters of the Rocka Rolla, and Unleashed in the East albums. It remains a staple of their live concert performance. In recent years, Priest have been performing a mostly-acoustic version of the song more similar to the original than the "rocked up" recorded version. Diamonds & Rust was also covered by Blackmore's Night, on their album Ghost of a Rose. The thrash crossover band Stormtroopers of Death also covered an "extended version" which consists of only the song title and a single chord. The song was also covered by the power-metal band Thunderstone (they actually covered Judas Priest's version).
On her live 1995 recording Ring Them Bells, Baez performed the song as a duet with Mary Chapin Carpenter. On 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 keep the diamonds."
[edit] Trivia
Dylan is never specifically named in the song, but Baez has admitted in her memoir, as well as a number of interviews that he is inspiration for the song.
The song includes the verses: "Hearing a voice I'd known / A couple of light years ago," although the light year is a measure of distance, not of time.
[edit] References
- Baez, Joan. 1987. And a Voice to Sing With: A Memoir. Century Hutchinson, London. ISBN 0671400622
