Joan Baez is an American folk singer and activist, renowned for her distinctive voice and her role in the 1960s folk revival. She has interpreted many songs about love throughout her career, each reflecting her unique approach to folk music. Here are a few of her notable love songs
22- Joan Baez – Please Come to Boston
The song is a narrative about a singer-songwriter who invites his lover to join him in various cities across America — Boston, Denver, and Los Angeles — as he tries to make his career. However, she consistently declines, saying, “No, would you come home to me… I’m the number one fan of the man from Tennessee”, indicating her wish for him to return home.
21- Joan Baez – I Once Loved A Boy
I once loved a boy, and the bold brown-haired boy I would come and would go at his request; and this bold bonny boy was my pride and my joy and I built him a bower in my breast.
20- Once I Had a Sweetheart
The lyrics tell the story of a person who has lost their sweetheart and is mourning their absence. With verses like “Once I had a sweetheart but now I have none. He’s gone and he’s left me, I care not for one,” the song expresses a deep sense of longing, loss, and heartbreak.
Lines like “Since I lost my true lover, life has no pleasure in store” convey the depth of the narrator’s sorrow and the desolation felt after the departure of a loved one.
19- The River In The Pines – Joan Baez
They plant wild flowers upon it
In the morning fair and fine.
‘Tis the grave of two young lovers
From the river in the pines
18- JOAN BAEZ -Sleeper
Don’t tell me of love everlasting and other sad dreams
I don’t want to hear
Just tell me of passionate strangers who rescue each other
From a lifetime of cares
Because if love means forever, expecting nothing returned
Then I hope I’ll be given another whole lifetime to learn
17- Joan Baez – Strange Rivers
In “Strange Rivers”, Baez uses metaphorical language to describe the journey of fighting for social justice, much like rivers that cross diverse landscapes. The “strange rivers” may represent different paths and challenges that one encounters in life, including the struggle for justice and equality.
16- JOAN BAEZ ~ Pauvre Ruteboeuf
15- Geordie–Joan Baez
14- JOAN BAEZ ~ Bangladesh
13- Joan Baez – Stewball
12- JOAN BAEZ ~ Imagine
11- The Water is Wide
10- Joan Baez – Railroad Boy
9- Joan Baez – The Ballad of Sacco & Vanzetti
8- Joan Baez – Sweet Sir Galahad
7- Joan Baez, Mimì Baez – Catch the wind
6- Joan Baez – The Green Green Grass Of Home
5- Joan Baez -Love song to a stranger
4- Joan Baez : Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word
3- Joan Baez – Jesse
In the song, the narrator is calling out to a person named Jesse, who seems to be a former lover. She expresses a deep yearning for the past and the companionship she once had, reflecting on how her current loneliness contrasts with the warmth and intimacy she once knew.
2- Joan Baez, Diamonds and Rust
“Diamonds & Rust” was written by Baez about her relationship with Bob Dylan in the 1960s. The song is a poignant reflection on their time together, filled with a mix of sweet nostalgia and lingering bitterness.
1- Joan Baez – Plaisir D’amour
The title “Plaisir d’Amour” translates to “The Pleasure of Love” and the song is indeed a melancholic reflection on love. The lyrics tell the story of a man who falls in love with a woman named Sylvia, who eventually leaves him. The man laments, saying that the pleasure of love lasts only a moment, but the pain of love lasts a lifetime.