Joan Baez

[fox69]

"Sleeper"

"Sleeper"


It's another happy April
To every happy fool.
And you move through my dreams
Like a trout moves through a pool.
Sure I will do anything,
But I blush at the reverie.
Sleeper come and go with me.

And she always was a painter
And she left me her suitcase,
And I still remember
The soft lines of her drunken face,
As she stood there in my doorway,
Like a cat up in a tree.
Sleeper come and go with me.

A small farm in Wisconsin
For a driftless man,
Supper on the table,
And a lover's tender hands,
Though she leaves my salt and woodsmoke,
For a job in the city.
Sleeper come and go with me.

I will take you with my children,
Through the clover, to the creek,
When Orion's gone a hunting
Through the fields our wishes seek,
Where we all can love each other
Like sugar in our tea.
Sleeper come and go with me.

Well the last wild fling is over
And a cold wind brings the dawn,
To rows of parking meters
And the shadow of a blond,
Who is standing by the wild rye
In a pointless dream.
Sleeper come and go with me.

[repeat first verse]

 

[fox69]

"So Soon In The Morning"

"So Soon In The Morning"


[Refrain:]
So soon in the morning when the clouds roll away
So soon in the morning I'll never go astray
I'll hope and I'll trust and I watch through the night
So soon in the morning when the dark clouds roll away

I heard the voice of Jesus say: come unto me and rest
Lay down thou weary ones, lay down thou head upon my breast

[Refrain]

Oh Lord I stretch my hands to Thee - no other help I know
If Thou withdray Thou help from me, wherever shall I go

[Refrain]

I'm standing at the station with the ticket in my hand
I'm standing at the station trying to make it to the promised land

[Refrain]

 

[fox69]

"So We'll Go No More A-Roving"

"So We'll Go No More A-Roving"


So we'll go no more a-roving
So late into the night
Though the heart be still as loving
And the moon be still as bright

For the sword outwears the sheath
And the soul wears out the breast
And the heart must pause to breathe
And love itself must rest

Though the night was made for loving
And the day returns too soon
Still we'll go no more a-roving
By the light of the moon

 

[fox69]

"Song In The Blood"

"Song In The Blood"


There are great puddles of blood on the world
Where is it all going? all this spilled blood?
Is it the earth that drinks it and gets drunk?
Funny kind of drunkography then,
So wise,
So monotonous,
No,
The earth doesn’t get drunk
The earth doesn’t turn askew
It pushes its little car regularly, it’s four seasons,
Rain, snow, hail, fair weather,
Never is it drunk
It’s with difficulty it permits itself from time to time
An unhappy little volcano
It turns, the earth,
It turns with its trees, its gardens, its houses
It turns with its great pools of blood
And all living things turn with it and bleed

It doesn’t give a damn the earth
It turns
And all living things set up a howl,
It doesn’t give a damn,
It turns
It doesn’t stop turning
And the blood doesn’t stop running

Where’s it going all this spilled blood?
Murder’s blood, war’s blood, misery’s blood,
And the blood of men tortured in prisons,
And the blood of children calmly tortured by their papa and their mama
And the blood of men whose heads bleed in padded cells
And the roofers blood when the roofer slips and falls from the roof
And the blood that comes and flows in great gushes with the newborn
The mother cries,
The baby cries,
The blood flows
The earth turns
The earth doesn’t stop turning,
The blood doesn’t stop flowing

Where’s it going all this spilled blood?
Blood of the blackjacked,
Of the humiliated,
Of suicides
Of firing squad victims
Of the condemned
And the blood of those that die just like that
By accident

In the street a living being goes by with all his blood inside
Suddenly there he is, dead
And all his blood outside
And other living beings make the blood disappear
They carry the body away
But it’s stubborn the blood
And there where the dead one was,
Much later, all black,
A little blood still stretches
Coagulated blood,
Life’s rust, body’s rust
Blood curdled like milk,
Like milk when it turns,
When it turns like the earth,
Like the earth it turns with its milk,
With its cows,
With its living,
With its dead,
The earth that turns with its trees,
With it’s living beings, its houses
The earth that turns with marriages,
Burials,
Shells,
Regiments,
The earth that turns and turns and turns
With its great streams of blood.

 

[fox69]

"Song Of Bangladesh"

"Song Of Bangladesh"


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 commmands
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

 

[fox69]

"Speaking Of Dreams"

"Speaking Of Dreams"


Speaking of dreams
Here we are in the glistening streets of Gay Paree
Playing the Gipsy Kings
After the rain and taking tea at the Ritz in boots and jeans
With a teenage girl who said that it would be her grandest dream
And speaking of dreams, I really must say
I couldn't have dreamed you up
Nor the way you burst into my life, rattled my cage
And woke my sleeping demons up

You were not yet born
When my career began in '59
We're a sign of the times
Who cares if you are a breath of spring and I am vintage wine
We come from two different worlds
Like every other couple on the Rue de Rivoli
You spent your youth in the rainforests of distant Camaroon
Your father was a Navy captain, I am the Queen of Hearts
And the daughter of the moon

Speaking of dreams
You took me to see the paintings of Paul Gaughin
Speaking of dreams
We stood in the midst of waterfalls, flaming trees
Golden dogs and shining Tahitian ladies
But it was you, not Paul Gaughin
Who stopped my heart and then
Started my life over again

And if you feel as I do
That we've erased the lines between reality
And all our painted dreams
Then take me down to where the Gipsies sing
The songs their mothers knew
Tie bright ribbons in my hair
Lean on the wind and watch me while I dance for you

And carry me off to the rainforests of distant Camaroon
Tell me that you've always know that
I am the Queen of Hearts
And the daughter of the moon

 

[fox69]

"Steal Across The Border"

"Steal Across The Border"


Kneeling in the moonlight, gazing on the shore, the girl with the blue bouquet
What if you got it, what you're praying for? Careful what you pray

You turn around, the old way is gone, you wonder how you will carry on
All my pride I will lay aside, I will steal across the border for you

Lying in the dusty shadows of your bed, dreaming on a clear blue sky
Paying for something that you never even did, victim of a time gone by

You turn around, everything has changed, familiar scenes have been rearranged
All my life I will work and strive, I will steal across the border for you
All my pride I will lay aside, I will steal across the border for you

 

[fox69]

"Stephanie's Room"

"Stephanie's Room"


"You've loved me exquisitely."
"I tried to."
"Can we be best of friends now?"
"I never lied to you."
"And can I love you forever?"
"Sure," she said and smiled
"But will you?"

I wish there was some new way
To sing about a full moon
Poured down on us like a thousand rivers
In Stephanie's room
And you said you'd remember always
The shadows on the hills below us
But will you?

You never once tried to sell me
A bill of goods I wouldn't buy
But I'm seasoned and I know a pirate
By the devil in his eye
And the only thing you ever stole from me
Was laughter and some love I made
To fill you

White snow in the morning
Kind of frightened me
But you'd go sailing anyway
Things are different at sea
You know I'll never try and change your habit
As sure as you know if your ship sinks
It'll kill you

And all the lovely ladies who came before me
Are very much the same
As the others soon to follow
In your merry little game
I guess I just want to be remembered
Especially and frequently
Like Stephanie

Five red tail hawks are circling
Above us in the sky
You said they'd bring good luck
And then you said goodbye
You smiled and said, "I'll see you
Sooner than you think."
But will you?

 

[fox69]

"Stewball"

"Stewball"


Stewball was a good horse, he wore his head high,
And the mane on his foretop, was fine as silk thread.
I rode him in England, I rode him in Spain,
And I never did lose, boys, I always did gain.
So come all you gamblers, wherever you are,
And don't bet your money on that little grey mare.
Most likely she'll stumble, most likely she'll fall,
But never you'll lose, boys, on my noble Stewball.
As they were a-riding, 'bout halfway round,
That grey mare she stumbled, and fell on the ground.
And way out yonder, ahead of them all,
Came a-prancing and a-dancing, my noble Stewball.
Stewball was a race horse, and by the day he was mine,
He never drank water, he always drank wine.

 

[fox69]

"Still Waters At Night"

"Still Waters At Night"


Still waters at night
In the darkest of dark
But you rise as white
As the birch tree's bark
Or a pale wolf in winter
You look down and shiver
At still waters at night

Your eyes are as black
As the blackness you're fearing
And yonder a bridge
And a voice within hearing
Come walk on me softly
Look down and you'll see
Still waters at night

You've reason to fear
There is no protection
But a garland of emeralds
And a moonlit reflection
Of a boat in the distance
Will the devil take his chance
At still waters at night

So dance me a small dance
And the night cannot hurt you
Nor the waters be silent
Nor the emeralds desert you
For the boat's full of bright scarves
And wild hats among them
Songs of the vagabond
It's to you he has sung them
And shattered the stillness
Of still waters at night