Joan Baez

[fox69]

"Rake And Rambling Boy"

"Rake And Rambling Boy"


[Chorus:]
Well I'm a rake and ramblin' boy.
There's many a city I did enjoy,
And now I've married me a pretty little wife
And I love her dearer than I love my life.

Oh, she was pretty, both neat and gay
Caused me to rob the broad highway
Oh, yes, I robbed it, I do declare.
And I got myself ten thousand bail.

[Chorus]

Oh when I die don't bury me at all
Place my bones in alcohol
And at my feet place a snow white dove
To let the world know I died for love.

Well I'm a rake and a ramblin' boy.
There's many a city I did enjoy,
And now I've married me a pretty little wife
And I love her dearer than I love my life.
And I love her dearer than I love my life.

 

[fox69]

"Rambler Gambler"

"Rambler Gambler"


I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler
I'm a long way from home
And if you don't like me
You can leave me alone

For it's dark and it's rainin'
And the moon gives no light
And my pony can't travel
This dark road at night

Oh, I once had me a true love
Her age was sixteen
She was the flower of Belton
And the rose of Saline

But her parents didn't like me
Now she's just the same
If I'm writ on your books, gal
Just blot out my name

I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler
I'm a rambler, I'm a gambler

 

[fox69]

"Ranger's Command"

"Ranger's Command"


Come all of you cowboys all over this land
I'll sing you the law of the Ranger's command.

To hold a six-shooter and never to run
As long as there's bullets in both of your guns.

I met a fair maiden whose name I don't know
I asked her to the round-up with me would she go.

She said she'd go with me to the cold round-up
And drink that hard liquor from a cold bitter cup.

We started for the round-up in the fall of the year
Expecting to get there with a herd of fat steer.

When the rustlers broke on us in the dead hour of night
She rose from her warm bed a battle to fight.
She rose from her warm bed with a gun in each hand
Saying, "Come all you cowboys, and fight for your land."

Come all of you cowboys, and don't ever run
As long as there's bullets in both of your guns.

 

[fox69]

"Recently"

"Recently"


Recently it all came back to me
Somebody promised us roses
We slid by for awhile on dreams
But today I see what's only a memory
Of a decade ago that vanished from sight
With the speed of a shooting star
Leaving you, leaving me, where we are...

Well, you could say we sailed on stormy seas
Or you could say that we failed
Like seven out of ten in our neighborhood
But I prefer remembering the way we were
When we both thought the other had hung the moon
'Cause all too soon came the troubled times
And the broken rhymes so hard to define 'til recently

Oh, I could have tried for a thousand years
Through the long and winding night
Could have cried another million tears
It would never come out right

And recently the product of all our years
Dressed in a navy blue blazer
Headed for a first class school in the east
And I'd like to say he's hardly a failure now
And neither are you on the second time around
With a wife and a family
And the roses that lately arrived in the new baby's eyes
So recently

 

[fox69]

"Requiem"

"Requiem"


Ooh....

Mother mary, full or grace, awaken,
All our homes are gone, our loved ones taken,
Taken by the sea,

Mother mary calm our fears, have mercy,
Drowning in a sea of tears, have mercy,
Hear our mournful plea,

Our world has been shaken,
We wander our homelands forsaken,
In the dark night of the soul bring some comfort to us all,
O mother mary come and carry us in your embrace,
That our sorrows may be faced,

Mary fill the glass to overflowing,
Illuminate the path where we are going,
Have mercy on us all,
In funeral fires burning,
Each flame to your mystery returning,

In the dark night of the soul your shattered dreamers,
Make them whole,
O mother mary find us where we've fallen out of grace,
Lead us to a higher place,

In the dark night of the soul our broken hearts you can make whole,
O mother mary come and carry us in your embrace,
Let us see your gentle face, mary.

Ooh.....

 

[fox69]

"Restless Farewell"
(originally by Bob Dylan)

"Restless Farewell"
(originally by Bob Dylan)



Oh all the money that in my whole life I spent
Be it mine right or wrongfully
I'd let it slip gladly past the hands of my friends
To tie up the time most forcefully
But the bottles are done, we've killed each one
And the table is full and overflowed
And the corner sign says it's closing time
So I'll bid farewell and be down the road

Oh every boy that ever I've touched
I did not do it harmfully
And every boy that ever I've hurt
I did not do it knowingly
But to remain as friends, you need the time
To make amends and stay behind
And since my feet are now fast
And point away from the past
I'll bid farewell and be down the line

Oh every foe that ever I faced
The cause was there before we came
And every cause that ever I fought
I fought it full without regret or shame
But the dark does die as the curtain is drawn
And somebody's eyes must meet the dawn
And if I see the day I'd only have to stay
So I'll bid farewell in the night and be gone

Oh a false clock tries to tick out my time
To disgrace, distract and bother me
And the dirt of gossip blows into my face
And the dust of rumors covers me
But if the arrow is straight and the point is slick
It can pierce through the dust no matter how thick
So I'll make my stand and remain as I am
And bid farewell and not give a damn

 

[fox69]

"Reunion Hill"

"Reunion Hill"


Must've been in late September
When last I climbed Reunion Hill
I fell asleep on Indian Boulder
And dreamed a dream I will not tell
I came home as the sun went down
One eye trained upon the ground
Even now I find their things
Glasses, coins, and golden rings

It's ten years since that ragged army
Limped across these fields of mine
I gave them bread, I gave them brandy
But most of all I gave them time
My well is deep, the water pure
The streams are fed by mountain lakes
I cleaned the brow of many a soldier
Dousing for my husband's face

I won't forget our sad farewell
And how I ran to climb that hill
Just to watch him walk across the valley
And disappear into the trees

Along there in a sea of blue
It circles every afternoon
A single hawk in God's great sky
Looking down with God's own eyes
He soars above Reunion Hill
I pray he spiral higher still
As if from such an altitude
He might just keep our love in view

 

[fox69]

"Rexroth's Daughter"

"Rexroth's Daughter"


Coldest night of the winter working up my farewell
In the middle of everything under no particular spell
I am dreaming of the mountains where the children learn the stars
Clouds roll in from nebraska dark chords on a big guitar
My restlessness is long gone I would stand here like an old jack pine
But I'm looking for rexroth's daughter the friend of a friend of mine

I can't believe your hands and mouth did all that to me
Are so daily naked for all the world to see
That thunderstorm in michigan I never will forget
We shook right with the thunder & with the pounding rain got wet
Where did you turn when you turned from me with your arms across your chest
I am looking for rexroth's daughter I saw her in the great northwest

Would she have said it was the wrong time if I had found her then
I don't want too much a field across the road and a few good friends
She used to come & see me but she was always there & gone
Even the very longest love does not last too long
She'd stand there in my doorway smoothing out her dress
& say "this life is a thump-ripe melon--so sweet and such a mess"

I wanted to get to know you but you said you were shy
I would have followed you anywhere but hello rolled into goodbye
I just stood there watching as you walked along the fence
Beware of them that look at you as an experience
You're back out on the highway with your poems of city heat
& I'm looking for rexroth's daughter here on my own side street

The murderer who lived next door seemed like such a normal guy--
If you try to follow what they shove at us you run out of tears to cry
I heard a man speak quietly I listened for a while
He spoke from his heart to my woe & then he bowed & smiled
What is real but compassion as we move from birth to death
I am looking for rexroth's daughter & I'm running out of breath

Spring will come back I know it will & it will do its best
So useful so endangered like a lion or a breast
I think about my children when I look at any child's face
& pray that we will find a way to get with all this amazing grace
It's so cold out there tonight so stormy I can hardly see
& I'm looking for rexroth's daughter & I guess I always will be

 

[fox69]

"Rider, Pass By"

"Rider, Pass By"


Tell me when you see them
Gathered at the shore
Dancing on their broken chains
Ah, the ladies are no more
In their blue jeans and their necklaces
Against an evening sky
But some of them are weeping
Crying rider, please pass by

The ship with all the riders
Has drifted out to sea
Compass cracked and stars unnamed
It's lost to history
And the riders in captivity
Watch ancient waves roll high
And hear the distant voices
Crying rider, please pass by

All you men who should have been
Your fathers beat you down
Your mothers loved you badly
Your teachers stole your crowns
And the wars you fought have taken toll
The price was far too high
You've buried all the images
Of riders passing by

The horses of the riders
Have waited at the tide
But years have passed, they know at last
Their heroes will not ride
So the women oh so gracefully
Mount noble horses high
Shattering the timelessness
Of rider, please pass by

But who can dare to judge us
The women or the men?
If freedom's wings shall not be clipped
We all can love again
So the choice is not of etiquette
Or finding lonesome ways to die
But liberty to ships at sea
And riders passing by

But liberty to ships at sea
And riders passing by

 

[fox69]

"Ring Them Bells"

"Ring Them Bells"


Ring them bells ye heathen from the city that dreams
Ring them bells from the sanctuaries cross the valleys and streams
For they're deep and they're wide
And the world on its side
And time is running backwards
And so is the bride.

Ring them bells Saint Peter where the four winds blow
Ring them bells with an ironhand
So the people will know
Oh it's rush hour now
On the wheel and the plow
And the sun is going down upon the sacred cow.

Ring them bells Sweet Martha for the poor man's son
Ring them bells so the world will know that God is one
Oh the shepherd is asleep
Where the willows weep
And the mountains are filled with lost sheep
Ring them bells for the blind and the deaf
Ring them bells for all of us who are left
Ring them bells for the chosen few
Who will judge the many when the game is through
Ring them bells for the time that flies
For the child that cries
When innocence dies.

Ring them bells Saint Catherine from the top of the room
Ring them from the fortress for the lilies that bloom
Oh the lines are long and the fighting is strong
And they're breaking down the distance between right and wrong.