As I go through Taylor Swift’s new album, I can’t help but think of another troubled muse.
Written by Tracy Thorn
I’m thinking of Joan Baez because of all this chatter about Taylor Swift. Over the weekend, I listened to The Tortured Poets Department and had even more pleasure reading lengthy internet discussions in which each song’s subject was stated with assurance. If I didn’t say that I was loving every second of this, I would be lying. However, my obsession with Swift’s muses made me think of the new documentary I Am a Noise, which I had watched about Baez only a week prior.
The video features some amazing early footage of Joan becoming an overnight folk superstar, performing Carnegie Hall and making an appearance on the cover of Time magazine. The title is derived from a passage in her teenage journal, “I am not a saint, I am a noise.” Later in the film, Joan meets Bob Dylan. The images and video clips of the two of them together are simply amazing; they are both heartwarming and joyful in equal measure.
She was more well-known and prosperous in 1963 than Dylan was, and it was onstage at the Newport Folk Festival that she made him famous. He’s still a sweet, wickedly amusing, plump-faced vagabond, and the two of them are in that phase of life where everything is just playful fun, including music and love. Both of them exude beauty and brilliance, and their youthful light permeates everything.
Right up until it’s not. Joan describes how she visited Dylan in 1965 while he was performing in London, during the events that were the subject of the Don’t Look Back documentary by DA Pennebaker. My opinions of Baez were influenced by the movie I saw decades ago. I didn’t like her singing, thought she sounded a little religious and goody-goody, and worst of all, I thought she was needy and clinging, sticking around Dylan when he didn’t want her to. Maybe I was too young to notice or comprehend that he treats her cruelly in the movie.
She acknowledges that he broke her heart in her new documentary. His lack of warmth toward her was heartbreaking because they had been so close. With the drugs, the celebrity, and the new undercurrent of darkness surrounding him, she realized she couldn’t and didn’t want to keep up with him as he entered a new phase and attracted a new crowd. After watching I Am a Noise, she managed to flee, but not before carrying a profound wound with her. She went on to release Diamonds & Rust in 1975, which I can’t stop listening to.
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