Joan Baez Album

Billy Rose was a low rider, Billy Rose was a night fighter
Billy knew trouble like the sound of his own name
Busted on a drunken charge driving someone else's car
The local midnight sheriffs claim to fame

In an Arizona jail there are some who tell the tale how
Billy fought the sergeant for some milk that he demanded
Knowing they'd remain the boss, knowing he would pay the cost
They saw he was severely repremanded

In the blackest cell on "A" Block
He hanged himself at dawn
With a note stuck to the bunk head
Don't mess with me, just take me home

Come lay, help us lay
Young Billy down

Luna was a Mexican the law called an alien
For coming across the border with a baby and a wife
Though the clothes upon his back were wet still he thought
That he could get some money and things to start a life

It hadn't been to very long when it seemed like everything went wrong
They didn't even have the time to find themselves a home
This foreigner, a brown-skin male thrown into a Texas jail
It left the wife and baby quite alone

He eased the pain inside him
With a needle in his arm
But the dope just crucified him
He died to no one's great alarm

Come lay, help us lay young Luna down
Were gonna raze, raze the prisons to the ground

Kilowatt was an aging con of 65 who stood a chance to stay alive
And leave the joint and walk the streets again
As the time he was to leave drew near he suffered all the joy and fear
Of leaving 35 years in the pen

And on the day of his release he was approached by the police
Who took him to te warden walking slowly by his side
The warden said "You won't remain here but it seems a state retainer
claims another 10 years of your life"

He stepped out in the Texas sunlight
The cops all stood around
Old Kilowatt ran 50 yards
Then threw himself on the ground

They may as well just laid the old man down
And we're gonna raze, raze the prisons to the ground
Help us raze the prisons to the ground

I was born a poor poor man
All my life I had hard workin' hands
But I sang a song as I carried my load
Cuz I had a dream about rainbow, rainbow road

Then one day my chance came along
A man heard me singin' and playing these old songs
He bought me fine clothes, paid the money I owed
Started me on my way down rainbow, rainbow road

Then one night a man wiht a knife
Pushed me till I had to take his life
Fast as fallin' all my friends were gone
That old judge traded me a sentence for a song

Just livin' with that ball 'n chain
Had to wear a number 'for they'd ever call my name
Like a dream I'm growing old
But we still sing about rainbow, rainbow read

How long since I've spent a whole night in a twin bed with a stranger
His warm arms all around me?
How long since I've gazed into dark eyes that melted my soul down
To a place where it longs to be?
All of your history has little to do with your face
You're mainly a mystery with violins filling in space

You stood in the nude by the mirror and picked out a rose
From the bouquet in our hotel
And lay down beside me again and I watched the rose
On the pillow where it fell
I sank and I slept in a twilight with only one care
To know that when day broke and I woke that you'd still be there

The hours for once they passed slowly, unendingly by
Like a sweet breeze on a field
Your gentleness came down upon me and I guess I thanked you
When you caused me to yield
We spoke not a sentence and took not a footstep beyond
Our two days together which seemingly soon would be gone

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

Because you gave to me oh so many things it makes me wonder
How they could belong to me
And I gave you only my dark eyes that melted your soul down
To a place where it longs to be

(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

A myth has just been shattered
Upon the four winds scattered
Back to some storybook
From whence it came
Vicarious hearts may ache
And try to mend the break
And seek for a righteous place
To put the blame

Neither of us knew
What the future would bring
We only know that now there is
Some room to talk and sing
The baby laughs a lot
And that's the most important thing
And as soon as we can handle
The hurt and pain
There may be more
Than just happy memories to gain

So to hell with all the troubles
And counting up the couples
Who travelled this same route
On their way down
Because if we keep on growing
There is no way of knowing
When we'll meet
As two new people we just found
We just found

© 1972 Chandos Music (ASCAP)

In the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail

She once walked right at my side
I'm sure she walked by you
Her striding steps could not deny
Torment from a child who knew

That in the quiet morning
There would be despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
She cried out her song so loud
It was heard the whole world round
A symphony of violence
The great southwest unbound

la laa laa laa la la la laa laa
la laa laa laa la la laa laa
la laa laa laa la la la laa laa
la la la laa laa
la la la laa

In the quiet morning
There was much despair
And in the hours that followed
No one could repair

That poor girl
Tossed by the tides of misfortune
Barely here to tell her tale
Rolled in on a sea of disaster
Rolled out on a mainline rail

All the weary mothers of the earth will finally rest
We will take their babies in our arms and do our best
When the sun is low upon the field
To love and music they will yield
And the weary mothers of the earth shall rest

And the farmer on his tractor and beside his plow
Will stand there in confusion as we wet his brow
With the tears of all the businessmen
Who see what they have done to him
And the weary farmers of the earth shall rest

And the aching workers of the world again shall sing
These words in mighty choruses to all will bring
"We shall no longer be the poor
For no one owns us anymore"

And the workers of the world again shall sing
And when the soldiers burn their uniforms in every land
The foxholes at the borders will be left unmanned
General, when you come for the review
The troops will have forgotten you
And the men and women of the earth shall rest

You set us marching along the road
And said how heavy was the load
But the years were young
The struggle bearly had its start

You have seen the children in the night crying
Seen the children in the morning light dying

Perhaps the pictures in the Times
Could no longer be put in rhymes
But all the eyes of starving children are wide open

You cast aside the cursed crown
And put your magic into a sound
That made me think your heart was aching
Or even broken

You stood alone upon the mountain til it was sinking
And in a frenzy we tried to reach you
With looks and letters we would beseech you
Never knowing what where or how you were thinking

But if God hears my complaint
He will forgive you
And so will I with all respect I'll just relive you

Like these flowers at your door
And scribbled notes about the war
We're only saying that time is short
And there is work to do

And we're still marching along the streets
With little victories and big defeats
But there is joy and there is hope
And there's a place for you

And you have seen the children in the night Bobby
Seen the children in the morning light Bobby

They're dying

(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

The story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By blind men who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nation stands
Which is to sacrifice a people for a land

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

Once again we stand aside
And watch the families crucified
See a teenage mother's vacant eyes
As she watches her feeble baby try
To fight the monsoon rains and the cholera flies

And the students at the university
Asleep at night quite peacefully
The soldiers came and shot them in their beds
And terror took the dorm awakening shrieks of dread
And silent frozen forms and pillows drenched in red

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

Did you read about the army officer's plea
For donor's blood? It was given willingly
By boys who took the needles in their veins
And from their bodies every drop of blood was drained
No time to comprehend and there was little pain

And so the story of Bangladesh
Is an ancient one again made fresh
By all who carry out commands
Which flow out of the laws upon which nations stand
Which say to sacrifice a people for a land

Bangladesh, Bangladesh
Bangladesh, Bangladesh
When the sun sinks in the west
Die a million people of the Bangladesh

© 1972 Chandos Music (ASCAP)

I see the town
Where we were born,
I see the place
We were raised,
I see all the things you wanted
That I never gave.

I see sadness,
I see sorrow,
I see pain in your face,
But I just can't see
A stranger in my place.

I can see now where we quarrelled,
I can see now I was wrong,
I can see where you might weaken
When I wasn't strong.
I see mem'ries of a love gone bad
That time cannot erase,
But I just can't see a stranger in my place.

No one seems to know you quite like I do,
No one knows the thigs that make you cry.
Looking back it seems
I never showed you,
And now I lay alone and wonder why.

I can see now
Where you might grow tired of dreams
That don't come true,
I can see where I have fallen short
Of the things I promised you.
I can see mow throug my tear filled eyes no love on your face,
I must get used to seein' strangers in my place.

I feel like a lonesome tumbleweed
rolling across an open plain,
I feel like something nobody needs
I feel my life drifting away,
drifting away -

I feel like a broken wagon wheel
when I can't hop a slow-moving train
Think I know how a coyote feels
when he's howling just to
ease the pain, since he's been away.

Lord, I feel like rolling,
rolling along, so keep your big
wind blowing till all my natural
days are gone -
till my days are all gone.

I'm just a lonesome tumbleweed
turning end over end.
Once I pulled all my roots free
I became a slave to the wind,
a slave to the wind.

They poured across the borders
We were cautioned to surrender
This I could not do
Into the hills I vanished

No one ever asks me
Who I am or where I'm going
But those of you who know
You cover up my footprints

I have changed my name so often
I have lost my wife and children
But I have many friends
And some of them are with me

An old woman gave us shelter
Kept us hidden in a garrett
And then the soldiers came
She died without a whisper

There were three of us this morning
And I'm the only one this ev'ning
Still I must go on
Frontiers are my prison

Oh the winds, the winds are blowing
Thru the graves the winds are blowing
Freedom soon will come!
Then we'll come from the shadow.

Imagine there's no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living in peace

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be one

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed nor hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one