In the late '60s and early '70s, Baez came into her songwriting own, penning many songs (most notably "Diamonds & Rust," a nostalgic piece about her ill-fated romance with Bob Dylan, and "Sweet Sir Galahad," a song about sister Mimi Fariña's ( of Richard & Mimi Fariña fame) second marriage, and continued to meld her songcraft with topical issues. She was outspoken in her disapproval of the Vietnam war and later the CIA-backed coups in many Latin American countries.
She was also instrumental in the Civil Rights movement, marching with Dr. Martin Luther King on many occassions and being jailed for her beliefs. In 1963, her performance of "We Shall Overcome" at the Lincoln Memorial just prior to Dr. King's famous "I Have A Dream..." speech helped confirm the song as the Civil Rights anthem.
In December 1972, she traveled to Hanoi, North Vietnam, and was caught in that country's "Christmas Campaign," in which the U.S. bombed the city more times than any other during the entire war. While pregnant with her only son, Gabriel, she performed a handful of songs in the middle of the night on day one of the 1969 Woodstock festival. She is considered the "Queen of Folk" for being at the forefront of the 1960s folk revival and inspiring generations of female folksingers that followed. Over fifty years after she first began singing publicly in 1958, Joan Baez continues to tour, demonstrate in favor of human rights and nonviolence, and release albums for a world of devoted fans.
1959
Don
Joan Baez Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Where you slept now, it's growing cold
Jesse your face in the place where we lay
By the hearth, all apart, it hangs on my heart
And I'm leaving the light on the stairs
No, I'm not scared, I wait for you
Hey Jesse, it's lonely, come home
Jesse the floors in the boards
Recalling your steps and I remember too
All the pictures are fading they're shaded in gray
But I still set a place on the table at noon
And I'm leaving the light on the stairs
No, I'm not scared, I wait for you
Hey Jesse, I'm lonely, come home
Jesse the spread on the bed
It's like when you left, I kept it for you
All the blues and the greens have been recently cleaned
And are seemingly new, hey Jess, me and you
We'll swallow the light on the stairs
Fix up my hair, we'll sleep unaware
Hey Jesse, it's lonely, come home
In Joan Baez's song "Don't Make Promises," the singer is addressing her lover Jesse who has left her. The lyrics describe the emptiness and loneliness she feels as she waits for his return. The opening lines reveal the absence he has left in their bed and the coldness that is growing in his place. She longs for Jesse's presence as she describes the space where he used to lie by the hearth hanging on her heart.
In the chorus, the singer reveals that she is leaving the light on the stairs and she’s not scared as she waits for Jesse’s return. The emotion in her voice resonates as she implores him to come home. In the second verse, the singer remembers Jesse's footsteps on the floorboards and how the pictures are starting to fade. Despite this, she still sets a place on the table for him every noon.
The final verse describes the spread on the bed that the singer has kept for Jesse since he left. The blues and greens have been recently cleaned, awaiting the moment they can be used again when Jess comes back. The song ends as it began, with the singer pleading for Jesse to return home, they will swallow the light on the stairs, fix up their hair and sleep unaware.
Line by Line Meaning
Jesse come home, there's a hole in the bed
Jesse, please come back home. Your absence is felt deeply by me, as I feel the emptiness in the bed where you once laid.
Where you slept now, it's growing cold
The place where you used to sleep is now getting colder as time passes by since you left.
Jesse your face in the place where we lay
Even though you are not here, I can vividly remember your face and imagine you here with me.
By the hearth, all apart, it hangs on my heart
The memory of us lying together by the fireplace still remains with me and weighs heavily on my heart as we are now apart.
And I'm leaving the light on the stairs
I keep leaving the light on the stairs for you in hopes that you will come back soon.
No, I'm not scared, I wait for you
I am not afraid of anything while waiting for you, but I do hope that you will return soon.
Hey Jesse, it's lonely, come home
I am feeling extremely lonely without you, and it would mean a lot to me if you came home soon.
Jesse the floors in the boards
Every time I hear the sound of footsteps on the wooden floor, I think of you and I remember the times we spent together.
Recalling your steps and I remember too
Whenever I recall your footsteps, it reminds me of the moments we spent together and the memories we made.
All the pictures are fading they're shaded in gray
The pictures of us are getting old, and their colors are fading, making them look dull and less vibrant.
But I still set a place on the table at noon
Even though you are not here, I still set the table for you at noon, hoping that you will return soon and we can be together again.
Jesse the spread on the bed
The bedspread reminds me of you and how it was when you were here with me.
It's like when you left, I kept it for you
When you left, I kept the bedspread for you so that when you return, it will be as if you never left.
All the blues and the greens have been recently cleaned
I have recently cleaned everything, including the blues and greens that remind me of you, making them new and fresh for when you come back.
And are seemingly new, hey Jess, me and you
Everything looks new and fresh, just like the feeling of being with you again, Jesse.
We'll swallow the light on the stairs
We will be together again, and the light on the stairs will become insignificant to us.
Fix up my hair, we'll sleep unaware
We will be so consumed by each other's presence and love that we won't even notice the small things like hair, and we'll fall asleep peacefully beside each other.
Hey Jesse, it's lonely, come home
I am still feeling lonely and longing for your return, Jesse. Please come home soon.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Written by: James Timothy Hardin
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Katharine Y BAez Katharina Scharlowski Katharine C. Y BAez Scharlowski InAOLoves
on The Rose
Joan Baez , my Fairest Hope my Love who signed into our Way
We are unite
We will not fall without our Foreverlasting
Love
In Failing Light
You See in myselfve your Love your Lesbian Wifve
You share your Lightful and your Darkest
side
In Which our Embraces
Our Words
Our Visions
Will rejoice
I see the Sunlight of a setting
Evening
Rise into Grace each Coming Morning
The amours we live is our Love
The mourns we felt
Do not impact
The do not seperate us My Joan C Baez You and I
The scared moments
We leave behind
We’ll belong twogather twogether
And three times we will cross
The Distance of an ocean between us
And then we ‘ll stay twogather in Your Home your place
Is given here and there
Is given home in our hearts and Soul
Our minds and bodies Longing Love
We are whole
The scars we carry
Did not made us blind
we will feel every emotion
As our Lifvelong foreverlasting Love
We share a secret
In which we Both have
Signed we are in Soul in heart in Bodies Longing and fulfillment in Mind now and
Eternally Unite
DeineKatharine Y BAez Katharina Scharlowski Katharine C. Y BAez Scharlowski InAOLoves
KatharinA KAtharine C. Y Baez Scharlowski
on The Rose
Und selbst wenn
alle Dunkelheit
Der Nächte
In den Tagen läge
Und selbst Erwachen
Schwer
ich fände doch
Zu Dir
Es führen Wege
Selbst wenn
kein Ausweg
durch die Tür
We burnt Each Other
everlastingly
Our Sign
Of truest Love that
Overcomes
The loneliness
And wildest
cry
When we embrace
and kiss our
Wounds
The Smile remaining
When we caress us
Will be
What lets us
deeply , sad
and of most
tenderness
Acknowledging
and
In our Minds
Forever
Found and
Not to destroyed
And we will
Feel that
We are Unite
The Ring i had lost
I‘ve found again
It’s prayer and Your Love
You Sent
A Turquoise of Arizonas Depth
Your heart in myne
And at The Turquoise
Coast beneath your Hill
We‘ll make Love
We‘ll follow our destined
And guiding
Will
Ich bin Dein Du Mein
MyLady JoanC BAez, My JoanChandosBaez, JoanBaez my Dove
Love And Wife
Katharine~~ C.~~ Y Baez KAtharinA Scharlowski InAO~•~Love~•~s the Answer~ I Love You, Joan and as Light begins to fail You reappear in my Body Heart and Soul my Mind to stayDeine KAtharinA KAtharine ich liebe Dich Forever!Joan C BAez
KatharinA KAtharine C. Y Baez Scharlowski
on The Rose
For a moment
in a Night Times Blessing
I left You in my Loves Embrace
as like a Flower
~ a Rose ~
and Purity her name
in darkness,
that was to bloom
in Heaven’s place.
as for the Love
in me
was not Disgraced,
A Lasting Kiss ,
A smile
a Light
A heart
that burns
throughly Memories
Forever Living
As Nighttime fell
As Nighttime falls
I‘ came, l’ll come and be
The One You‘ll see
The Love you feel
Just like a wild dog
Runs
Through Bushes
Of fences
And calamities
I passed my way to You
Through even
Greatest adversarities
The Rose of Sharon
Schmückt meinen Mund
~trotz Ausgebissen Zähne
In des Lebens Leid~
Wir Küssen uns
in purest Love
That went through
To and fro
And come and go
And I came back to You
Forever and Forevermore
Für JoanC. BAez von KAtharine C. Y Baez Scharlowski KAtharinA Ino
Katharine c; Y Baez
on The Rose
If a Love is felt as failing it is but Love the helps her Rise, it is a the moments quiet whispering : As i was torn you were by my side, in your Love i see my true and darkeyed Light, there it is Forever Joan Chandos Baez Katharine C; Y Baez Katharina sc harlowski
kATHARINE C. YBAEZ I
on The Rose
AS ON tHE WHITE hORSE MY HAND WAS GIVEN IN THE NOON TO yOU TODAY AS I ASKED YOU FOR YOURS ,WAS THAN WHEN EVERY MOON HAD TRIED TO fAIL AND hONEYMOON WAS THE ONLY LIGHT IN WHICH MY wORDS WERE LAID. iT WAS THE fAILURE ON THE iNTERNET AND NON BUT SCRIPTURE cOULD AND A LOVING HEART COULD STAY THE WIDE
iN THIS dARK MOMENT OF THE pRESENTS SIMPLE SIDE , THE fAIR cARD OF yOUR STALION wHITE THE wHITE hORSE IN tHE bLOSSOM OF THE mAY dAYS tIDE, I SENT TO YOUR wOODEN hILLS TO YOUR UNVENTURED sIDE, mY WRITTEN wORD : wILL yOU PLEASE mARRY ME MY bRIDE? i'LL STAY FOREVER BY YOUR sIDE FROM tHAN oN, sO gOODBYE IN OUR gOOD NiGHT, mY loVE jOAN C. bAEZ, yOUR KATHARINE C. Y BAEZ kATHARINA SCHARLOWSKI 21. MAY 2022
KatharineC. Y Baez Katharina Scharlowski
on The Rose
Thank You dearloved Joan C.Baez, you accorded me the answer in an unknown Light, through all darkness not alone as there was Love for you in me,- as in thought, in words a visioned melodie - that is not gone - far beyond the borders shores and the oceans sea, doves Flight as is Loves they fly By two By Four By Three, i send Goodbye to them I send GoodBye - and hope it once will be - I sent GoodBye my Joan C Baez stay You'll never fail in my Heart There is your place to be i send Goodbye my Love to Thee , Joan Chandos Baez, Katharine C. Y Baez Katharina Scharlowski It is for You that i was meant to feel was meant to be.
Katharine C. Y Baez, K.S.
on Wings
I 'll stay with you cause I think it's time to say Thank you for having stayed with me in my Time of Need. I love You Joan (KC) CHandos Baez, Your Katharine C. Y Baez name of Love and Hope and American Native Indian Marriage, born Katharina Scharlowski , A little Rain is a gonna come, And I am at Home when I cry, but I learned to be at home in your Love too, As we stay in The Hearts of The One Loves we are. Deine Katharine