The Star-Crossed Love Affair of Bob Dylan and Joan Baez and How It Inspired “Diamonds and Rust”

Before there was the freewheelin’ Bob Dylan, there was the Queen of Folk, Joan Baez.

He, a rising star, and she, an established folk singer and prominent activist, entered a short-lived romance in the 1960s that would see their professional and personal lives pivot as Dylan skyrocketed to fame ahead of and away from Baez. From the dust of Dylan’s screeching wheels came one of Baez’s biggest hits, “Diamonds and Rust.”

Written in November 1974 and released the following April, Baez’s heart-wrenching song about reconnecting with a lover-turned-stranger paints an intimate portrait of two of the most iconic folk musicians of their generation.

Bob Dylan’s First and Most Effective Champion

As Joan Baez made her mark as a talented and passionate songwriter of the 1960s folk revival, she was introduced to the scruffy, brooding Bob Dylan. Enthralled by his writing, Baez began covering the earliest tracks of his catalogue. She also invited him to perform at her shows, which garnered his first of thousands of adoring fans. 

“People would say, ‘What are you doing with that ragtag scrubby-looking welk?’ and she’d tell them in no uncertain terms, ‘You be quiet and listen to his songs,’” Dylan recalled during a 2015 MusiCares speech. Baez offered her own perspective on their early careers in her 1975 ballad.

You burst on the scene already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon, the original vagabond
You strayed into my arms

An Unexpected Reconnection via Phone Booth

Dylan and Baez’s mutual collaboration began to fall out of balance in the mid-1960s. Uncomfortable with the chaos, recreational drugs, and boys’ club nature of the pop music industry, Baez began to withdraw from the relationship. Propelled by his growing stardom, Dylan did, too. Following Dylan’s career-defining solo tour of the U.K., he and Baez parted ways romantically and professionally. 

Nearly a decade later, Baez got an unexpected phone call from her long-lost and now internationally renowned lover.

Here I sit, hand on the telephone, hearing a voice I’d known 
A couple of lightyears ago, heading straight for a fall
As I remember, your eyes were bluer than robin’s eggs 
My poetry was lousy, you said
Where are you calling from? A booth in the Midwest

In a 2010 interview with the Huffington Post, Baez said she didn’t start writing “Diamonds and Rust” with the intention to talk about Dylan. After their fateful phone call, the song’s narrative shifted to her previous romance. She explored their days together in Greenwich Village — Now you’re smiling out the window of that crummy hotel over Washington Square — and the wistful, nostalgic, and bitter emotions dredged up by their brief reunion — Speaking strictly for me, we both could have died then and there.

Closing With a Subtle Dig at Bob Dylan

Baez revealed to the Huffington Post that Dylan had called her from the Midwest phone booth to read her the lyrics to “Lily, Rosemary, And The Jack Of Hearts.” Her 1975 ode to a former lover suggests that Dylan denied calling her for sentimentality’s sake — a declaration she met with the disdain only a scorned woman can hold. 

Now you’re telling me you’re not nostalgic
Well, give me another word for it
You who are so good with words and keeping things vague 
Cause I need some of that vagueness now, it all came back too clearly 
Yes, I loved you dearly, but if you’re offering me diamonds and rust, I already paid 

Although it took some time to get there, Baez said she has since forgiven Dylan and holds no animosity toward him in her 2023 documentary “I Am Noise.” Dylan, for his part, has expressed similar regret for the outcome of their 1960s romance. He has spoken highly of his first musical champion and former partner, including the song that he inspired. 

“I love that song ‘Diamonds and Rust,’” Dylan said in the 2009 documentary “Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound.” “To be included in something that Joaney had written, I mean to this day, it still impresses me.”

(Photo by Evening Standard/Getty Images)