Diamonds and Rust by Joan Baez and Send in the Clowns by Judy Collins
The Baez song was an odd one for smooth, clean girls in Indian cotton to love but love it they did. Generally, they didn't go for songs that felt like they belonged to the sixties generations unless they were introduced to them by an older sister. This was one big exception. I think they would have loved it a lot less if they'd known it was about Bob Dylan.
It was a song that fits into a category I call anticipatory nostalgia. A girl can sit there listening to a song like this and think how terribly cool it will be to have her heart broken so romantically that she'll really understand what all the words to this mean.
The Baez song was an odd one for smooth, clean girls in Indian cotton to love but love it they did. Generally, they didn't go for songs that felt like they belonged to the sixties generations unless they were introduced to them by an older sister. This was one big exception. I think they would have loved it a lot less if they'd known it was about Bob Dylan.
It was a song that fits into a category I call anticipatory nostalgia. A girl can sit there listening to a song like this and think how terribly cool it will be to have her heart broken so romantically that she'll really understand what all the words to this mean.
The Judy Collins song, OTOH, felt odd at the time ("a Broadway tune?") but now makes perfect sense. It is, in every way, a vastly superior piece of songwriting. It actually goes somewhere both lyrically and harmonically instead of endlessly circling around the same vaguely expressed lyrical notions over the same boring chord sequence like the Baez song does. You might object that there are much better interpretations out there, and there are, but this one is good enough.
The series starts here.
The next song is here.
Update, I can't resist adding this. Here is a version:
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