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Joan Baez — Stones In The Road
Album: Play Me Backwards
Avg rating:
6.6

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Total ratings: 1126









Released: 1992
Length: 4:34
Plays (last 30 days): 0
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When we were young, we pledged allegiance every morning of our lives

The classroom rang with children's voices under teacher's watchful eye

We learned about the world around us at our desks and at dinnertime

Reminded of the starving children, we cleaned our plates with guilty minds

And the stones in the road we played like marbles in the dust

Until a voice called for us to make our way back home

When I was ten, my father held me on his shoulders above the crowd

To see a train draped in mourning pass slowly through our town

His widow kneeled with all her children at the sacred burial ground

The TV glowed that long hot summer with all the cities burning down

And the stones in the road flew out from our bicycle tires

Worlds removed from all those fires as we raced each other home

And now we drink our coffee on the run and climb that ladder rung by rung

We are the daughters and the sons and here's the line that's missing...

The starving children have been replaced by souls out on the street

We give a dollar when we pass and hope our eyes don't meet

We pencil in, we cancel out, we crave the corner suite

We kiss your ass, we make you hold, we doctor the receipt

And the stones in the road leave a mark from whence they came

A thousand points of light or shame, baby, I don't know

Stones in the road
Comments (65)add comment
Up to a more than robust 8 for now.

This is not really a cover version, but the first recorded release of this song, written by Mary.

I like them both, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Joan Baez. 
Posted 9 months ago by Fabian_R    [ Reply ]
Fine, it’s 30 years old, but that’s 25 years of keeping current for Queen Joan. And damn near 20 years of prescience. Wonderful, wonderful.
Posted 1 year ago by MassivRuss    [ Reply ]
 Cynaera wrote:

I heard the refrain and realized that I'd heard this song about a million years ago and fell in love with it but never knew who did it because the DJ never announced it... So I've had this chorus echoing in my head for decades, and now I know with certainty that I love it - and I know why.  Talk about closure - or perhaps a new beginning...



DJs: always back announce please!

Ah, never mind. There ARE no more DJs, in the original sense of the word: 

"The term 'disc jockey' was ostensibly coined by radio gossip commentator Walter Winchell in 1935, and the phrase first appeared in print in a 1941 Variety magazine. Originally, the word "disc" in "disc jockey" referred to phonograph or gramophone records and was used to describe radio personalities who introduced them on the air." ~ Wikipedia

Of course, none of that matters now because the world has Radio Paradise!

Miss you Cynaera!
Posted 1 year ago by bimmerfan739    [ Reply ]
Posted 1 year ago by ciarataylor    [ Reply ]
It took one glance to see that JOAN BAEZ wrote Stones In The Road. Not Mary Chaplin Carpenter. It takes a visionary to write lyrics like that, not a wanna be who lifts other people’s songs.
Posted 1 year ago by ciarataylor    [ Reply ]
Ten years later.  Theme is still relevant.
Posted 2 years ago by bruceandjenna    [ Reply ]
Recognized that voice  right away.  Lovely.
Posted 2 years ago by LizK    [ Reply ]
What a great record by Mary Chapin Carpenter
Every track is a standout
Posted 2 years ago by NorthernLad    [ Reply ]
 davlon wrote:

All lyrics, no melody.  Not my cup of tea.


I assume you are using hyperbole, because this song certainly has a very distinct melody.
Posted 2 years ago by Proclivities    [ Reply ]
 kbs wrote:

This is what I think Natalie Merchant should aspire to - very pleasing to the ear! Much wider dynamics.


Neither of those sentences make any sense to me.
Posted 2 years ago by Ok_Sobriquet    [ Reply ]
 Lyndont wrote:

How about playing some Mary Chaplin Carpenter? Her original is so much better than this.



I agree!
Posted 3 years ago by dfphillips1    [ Reply ]
 diggyduffy wrote:

Did Mary Chaipan Carpenter write this or Joan Baez? 




Mary Chapin Carpenter. 
Posted 3 years ago by bahalana    [ Reply ]
Did Mary Chaipan Carpenter write this or Joan Baez? 
Posted 3 years ago by diggyduffy    [ Reply ]
 ExpatLarry wrote:

Well I'm impressed. I haven't heard Joan Baez from this angle. Sounds pretty darn good.


Yes - I found her music/politics tedious in short order and stopped listening. Had to look to verify that it was JB and read the lyrics. Simple and effective.

Posted 3 years ago by xcranky_yankee    [ Reply ]
 Hey_Porter wrote:

Joan Baez as Dar Williams

Yeah, I hear that. But Ms. Baez was a superstar when Dar Williams was still in diapers. No doubt Dar Williams would count Joan Baez as a big influence - a quick glance through Wiki indicates they have performed together.

No matter. I like 'em both. Their music and their activism - I like to think Dar Williams makes Joan Baez proud.
c.


Posted 3 years ago by cc_rider    [ Reply ]
Well I'm impressed. I haven't heard Joan Baez from this angle. Sounds pretty darn good.
Posted 3 years ago by ExpatLarry    [ Reply ]
 Hey_Porter wrote:

Joan Baez as Dar Williams




I'm pretty sure Ms Baez isn't trying to 'do' anybody else.
Posted 3 years ago by ExpatLarry    [ Reply ]
How about playing some Mary Chaplin Carpenter? Her original is so much better than this.
Posted 3 years ago by Lyndont    [ Reply ]
muse_Kidd wrote:
I've never thought that Joan mattered much.. does she? Who cares what I think.

Even if you don't like her music, she's worthy of deep respect. Here's a bit from Dylan about her.

The 22-minute piece, "Where Are You Now, My Son?" (one side of the album of the same name) is a unique depiction of the Vietnam War, a collage of sounds, conversations and singing accompanying the lament of a mother who has lost her son.

The sounds were recorded in Hanoi, where Joan Baez was stuck with a delegation of the peace movement around Christmas 1972. While the bombs were falling, Joan Baez was singing "Silent Night" with the people around her.

The "Christmas Bombings" were the heaviest bombardments by the US Air Force since the Second World War. Baez later wrote in her memoir, And a Voice to Sing With, that the album "is my gift to the Vietnamese people, and my prayer of thanks for being alive."

When the album was released in 1973, Joan Baez was 31 and a world star. Her performance at the Newport Folk Festival in 1959 had launched her meteoric career. Many of her records went gold. She was onstage at the legendary Woodstock Festival in 1969 and also made Bob Dylan and his songs world famous. Those were just a few of her musical achievements.

Inseparable from Joan Baez' music was her political activism: In 1963, she marched side by side with Martin Luther King against racial segregation. She was later arrested during protests against the Vietnam War.

In 1966, right in the middle of the Cold War, she was invited to perform in East Germany on May 1, International Workers' Day. Rather than serving as the poster child of Communist authorities, she had dissident songwriter Wolf Biermann join her unannounced onstage at the East Berlin cabaret, Distel.

The state had already blacklisted and banned Biermann from performing publicly. But Baez wouldn't toe any ideological line: She opposed oppression, whether from the right or the left. The concert was filmed for East German television but never broadcast.


Posted 3 years ago by RabbitEars    [ Reply ]
This is what I think Natalie Merchant should aspire to - very pleasing to the ear! Much wider dynamics.
Posted 4 years ago by kbs    [ Reply ]
Posted 4 years ago by Sofa_King    [ Reply ]
I never knew Joan covered this Mary Chapin Carpenter song - it's great! 
Posted 4 years ago by stevegoertz    [ Reply ]
A beautiful song.  As poignant now as it was when first written.  

Highlow
American Net'Zen
Posted 4 years ago by Highlowsel    [ Reply ]
Joan Baez as Dar Williams
Posted 5 years ago by Hey_Porter    [ Reply ]
 NorthernLad wrote:
Mary Chapin Carpenter's eternal gift to our world and here enduring legacy is this song, for sure.

 
She has quite a catalog of great songs, but I agree this one stands alone.
Posted 8 years ago by dsd    [ Reply ]
Nice cover. You'd think this is Joan making herself relevant, but I can't remember a time when she was ever irrelevant.
Posted 8 years ago by WonderLizard    [ Reply ]
Very good. I'm sorry to say this is the first time I've heard Joan's version.

Although I'm used to MCC version which I just prefer.
Posted 8 years ago by hbs47    [ Reply ]
 kingart wrote:
I've never heard this before. I had no good reason to think it Joan when she began singing, but thought it I did. She is distinctive, even among the many contemporaries who resemble her. 

 

 

No one resembles her.


Posted 9 years ago by Segue    [ Reply ]
Mary Chapin Carpenter's eternal gift to our world and here enduring legacy is this song, for sure.
Posted 9 years ago by NorthernLad    [ Reply ]
She is a clean singer with depth and dimension!      {#Cheers}
Posted 12 years ago by dew34    [ Reply ]
I've never heard this before. I had no good reason to think it Joan when she began singing, but thought it I did. She is distinctive, even among the many contemporaries who resemble her. 
Posted 12 years ago by kingart    [ Reply ]
 eswiley2 wrote:


Me, too.  This one seems "too happy"...
 

Mary Chapin Carpenter's version is WAY superior!
Posted 12 years ago by akiml    [ Reply ]
This lady can sing.
Posted 12 years ago by DeeCee1109    [ Reply ]
 lazylistener wrote:
I like Mary Chapin Carpenter's version better.
 

Me, too.  This one seems "too happy"...
Posted 12 years ago by eswiley2    [ Reply ]
Prefer this over the Mary Chapin Carpenter version.
Posted 12 years ago by ziakut    [ Reply ]
 WonderLizard wrote:
Sittin' here, tappin' me foot—hey, that's a Mary Chapin Carpenter song, but that's not MCC singing.
 
Sounds like her a little - i know i know it Joan Baez 
  I sort of like the phrasing Mary does a little better 
Posted 12 years ago by michaelc    [ Reply ]
I heard the refrain and realized that I'd heard this song about a million years ago and fell in love with it but never knew who did it because the DJ never announced it... So I've had this chorus echoing in my head for decades, and now I know with certainty that I love it - and I know why.  Talk about closure - or perhaps a new beginning...
Posted 13 years ago by Cynaera    [ Reply ]
 iam_overlord wrote:
Don't know what my dad ever saw in her.
 

{#Lol}
Posted 13 years ago by sirdroseph    [ Reply ]
Sittin' here, tappin' me foot—hey, that's a Mary Chapin Carpenter song, but that's not MCC singing.
Posted 13 years ago by WonderLizard    [ Reply ]
I like Mary Chapin Carpenter's version better.
Posted 13 years ago by lazylistener    [ Reply ]
Lovely.
Posted 13 years ago by casey1024    [ Reply ]
This song is rather amazing!  I've always been a little ambiguous about Ms. Baez's music - her voice used to drive me bugf*ck, but I couldn't stop listening, because her guitar-playing and her lyrics hooked me.  I'm glad to be hearing her again, now that I'm older and hopefully wiser. {#Sunny}
Posted 13 years ago by Cynaera    [ Reply ]
Who would have thought I would find a Joan Baez song I would like. I guess as she got older she did not have to try and show off her voice anymore.
Posted 13 years ago by rabaak    [ Reply ]
I've never thought that Joan mattered much.. does she? Who cares what I think.
Posted 14 years ago by muse_Kidd    [ Reply ]
Don't know what my dad ever saw in her.
Posted 14 years ago by iam_overlord    [ Reply ]
This song caught me by surprise... hadn't heard it before and was surprised to discover it was Joan Baez... then I listened to the lyrics and knew for certain. Great tune all around, and possibly the best "message" song I've heard in years.
Posted 14 years ago by mediamarv    [ Reply ]
I grew up listening to Joan, and always liked her just fine.

I don't think I've heard this song before, and I liked it better that way.
Posted 14 years ago by gregormiz    [ Reply ]

Joan Baez by ~anastazijavrzina

Posted 14 years ago by calypsus_1    [ Reply ]
All lyrics, no melody.  Not my cup of tea.
Posted 14 years ago by davlon    [ Reply ]
 QrazyQat wrote:
Nioce but I do prefer Mary Chapin Carpenter's original.  Along with House of Cards one of the two best songs on an album of great songs by MCC. 
 
Without knowing this, I thought it really sounded like MCC's style. I'll have to see if I can find MCC singing it.

Posted 14 years ago by Antigone    [ Reply ]
Please NO
Posted 14 years ago by ckcotton    [ Reply ]
Her voice sounds great. I recognized it right off, even though it's lower.
Posted 14 years ago by Leslie    [ Reply ]
Is that really Joan? How nice!
Posted 14 years ago by hippiechick    [ Reply ]

Joan Baez - "Oh, Freedom" Live in Stockholm (1966)
    

"toujours un plaisir d'ecouter une pareille voix on a pas oublie"

"I wonder why few of today's modern singers are unable to sing with this kind of emotion"

"But try to hear portuguese singers like Amalia, Teresa Salgueiro, Mariza, among others"


Posted 15 years ago by calypsus_1    [ Reply ]
One of my first "lp's" was Joan Baez Vol 2 from 1961. I always loved listening to her back then.
Posted 15 years ago by Carl    [ Reply ]

Posted 15 years ago by a_genuine_find    [ Reply ]
 dmax wrote:
I like how her voice has changed. As much as I admired the other aspects of her career, her voice drove me crazy. This is a better sound, to my ears.
 
 I agree. Like Joni, she abandoned that shrill sound of her earlier work (yay).


Posted 15 years ago by On_The_Beach    [ Reply ]
 QrazyQat wrote:
Nioce but I do prefer Mary Chapin Carpenter's original.  Along with House of Cards one of the two best songs on an album of great songs by MCC. 
 

I agree. But this is still good. I like the way Joan Baez' voice has matured.

Posted 15 years ago by Ntropy    [ Reply ]
 pugifat wrote:
she sounds old here...
 
Sweet irony, since it's a song about childhood. {#Daisy}
Posted 15 years ago by lmic    [ Reply ]
sucko barfo {#Puke}
Posted 15 years ago by milchschnitte    [ Reply ]
I wouldn't step into my backyard to hear this.
Posted 15 years ago by zipper    [ Reply ]
Nioce but I do prefer Mary Chapin Carpenter's original.  Along with House of Cards one of the two best songs on an album of great songs by MCC. 
Posted 15 years ago by QrazyQat    [ Reply ]
she sounds old here...
Posted 15 years ago by pugifat    [ Reply ]
Great album.
Posted 15 years ago by PatsyMat    [ Reply ]