“She’d make you forget who you were”: the singer Bob Dylan said was too much to handle
We often celebrate Bob Dylan as being one of the most important folk artists of all time, and we’re right in doing so, but while he might be the biggest name in the genre, he certainly wasn’t the first.
Joan Baez first rose to prominence at the back end of the 1950s, as she took to the stage at Newport Folk Festival and blew the minds of everyone in attendance – she was given the nickname of “the barefoot Madonna” after her show, and became one of the most sought-after names in folk.
When Dylan started making a name for himself, it was only a matter of time before they bumped into one another, after all, they were very much operating in the same circles and making music that was an offset of one another’s. They had a mutual respect for each other, and that resulted in them eventually making music together. Their relationship began purely as a collaborative effort because of the fact they saw eye to eye.
“I always liked singing and playing with her,” said Dylan. “I thought our voices really blended well; we could sing just about any kind of thing and make it make sense. To me, it always sounded good, and I think it sounded good to her, too.”
The two of them wound up falling for each other, and that was reflected in their music, as they wrote songs which perfectly reflected their complex adoration for each other as people and for one another’s art. They became a source of inspiration for one another, and since the whole genre of folk is built around trying to reflect the world around you as effectively as possible, it became the case that Baez and Dylan were quite frequently penning lyrics which were in some way an ode to one another.
The two of them continued rising to fame on similar paths, but Dylan’s soon eclipsed Baez’s, and as he became the go-to name in folk music and then took inspiration from bands like The Byrds when adopting his folk-rock sound, Dylan soon became the most famous folk artist on the planet, inspiring musicians far and wide, regardless of how invested they were in the genre.
Dylan got blindsided by his own success, and his relationship with Joan Baez crumbled as a result. “I think that his fame happened so fast,” she said. “And it was so huge that I kind of got lost in the shuffle.” Bob Dylan agreed, saying that he feels bad about the way things went with Baez.
“I was just trying to deal with the madness that had become my career, and unfortunately, she got swept up along, and I felt very bad about it,” he added. “I was sorry to ever see our relationship ever end.”
Despite the two of them drifting apart, Bob Dylan’s adoration for Baez, both as a person and a musician, never faded. He always spoke fondly of her voice, saying that he would often get completely lost in her whenever he heard her sing.
“She was something else, almost too much to take,” he said, concluding, “Her voice was like that of a siren from off some Greek island. Just the sound of it could put you into a spell. She was an enchantress. You’d have to get yourself strapped to the mast like Odysseus and plug up your ears so you wouldn’t hear her. She’d make you forget who you were.”
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