Top Ten 1975 Songs: Diamonds and Rust (#8)

Tweet

Hey, it’s Saturday, so I’m at that restaurant that was in the video a couple of days ago! And it’s still 1975, at least in the countdown. Here’s the next song on my list…one that might find itself on my 100 favorites list the next time I update it. #8: Diamonds and Rust - Joan Baez Judas Priest covered this song. I don’t know why they’d cover a song about an old love affair with Bob Dylan…unless Rob Halford had a crush on Dylan. Actually, according to an interview with Halford, the record label suggested that they cover it to give them something a little “radio friendly” to help give the band exposure (their version dates to 1977, long before “Breaking the Law”), so they did it. Halford later said that Judas Priest was at Live Aid. While he was doing interviews in a media trailer, who walked in but….Joan Baez. “She’s going to come and kick my ass about the way we treated ‘Diamonds and Rust’!” Halford remembered thinking. NO. He said Baez hugged him and told him that her son wanted her to tell him that he “loved their version of ‘Diamonds and Rust’ better than my mom’s version!” That’s probably true of every metal head. I don’t see them going around, saying, “Oh, the Priest version is good, but MAN have you heard that headbanging Joan Baez original?” The cover served its purpose. I can say I know one Judas Priest song. The other funny story about this song is that Baez obviously wrote it about Dylan…but when Dylan heard it, he asked her who it was about. She lied, initially, telling him it was about her ex-husband, David Harris (who, as a journalist, might have been “so good with words and at keeping things vague,” but was hardly “the unwashed phenomenon, the original vagabond”). Can’t believe Dylan didn’t know it was about him…or maybe he was looking for clarification. Anyway, while Baez has had hits, this, to me, is her legacy. What a great song. Diamonds and Rust Written by Joan Baez Recorded by Joan Baez From Diamonds and Rust, 1975 You’re telling me you’re not nostalgic: