Diamonds & Rust (song)

"Diamonds & Rust" is a song written and performed by Joan Baez. It was written in November 1974 and released in 1975.

In the song, Baez recounts an out-of-the-blue phone call from an old lover, which sends her a decade back in time, to a "crummy" hotel in Greenwich Village; she recalls giving him a pair of cuff-links, and summarizes that memories bring "diamonds and rust." Baez has stated that the lyrics refer to her relationship with Bob Dylan.

The song, which was a top-40 hit for Baez on the U.S. pop singles chart, is regarded by a number of critics, as well as by Baez fans, as one of her best compositions. It served as the title song on Baez's gold-selling Diamonds & Rust album in 1975.

Variations

For her 1995 live recording Ring Them Bells, Baez performed the song as a duet with Mary Chapin Carpenter. In that performance, she changed the end lines: "And if you're / offering me diamonds and rust / I've already paid," to: "And if you... well I'll take the diamonds." The line "I bought you some cuff links, you brought me something" was changed to "I bought you some cuff links, you brought troubles". And on 25 February 2009, in Austin, she sang it, "And if you... well I'll take the Grammy." In 2010, she recorded it as a duet with Judy Collins on Collins' album Paradise.

Diamonds & Rust

Diamonds & Rust is a 1975 album by Joan Baez. Baez is often regarded as an interpreter of other people's work, and on this album she covered songs written or played by Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, The Allman Brothers, and Jackson Browne. But Diamonds & Rust also contained a number of her own compositions, including the acclaimed title track, a distinctive song written about Bob Dylan.

The title track was covered by British heavy metal band Judas Priest on their 1977 album Sin After Sin, and has since been one of their staples in live performance. American folk duo The Smith Sisters featured the song on their 1986 album Mockingbird. Anglo-American Renaissance rock band Blackmore's Night covered the song on their 2003 album Ghost of a Rose. Finnish power metal band Thunderstone covered the song on their 2004 album The Burning.

On her cover of Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate", one verse features Baez attempting a good-humoured impersonation of the song's composer.

An alternate recording of "Dida" had appeared on the previous year's Gracias A la Vida. The Diamonds & Rust recording of the song was more uptempo and featured duet vocals by Joni Mitchell.