Q: We're at home with Joan Baez. We're speaking with an icon. And we're going to talk about another icon named Elvis Presley. The next song we're going to hear from "Dark Chords on a Big Guitar", Elvis Presley Blues. You were becoming a folk singer when Elvis Presley and rock and roll were happening. So did the King change your life?
A: Did the King change my life? I think when anybody gets that size -- and I'm not talking about the later years. I'm talking about the number of people who saw him or were affected by him. It affects -- one way or another it affects everybody. The image I have that always comes to mind is going to see Love Me Tender. And I guess the big rush was over and there were a few girls scattered around there. And the girls in front of me were saying, "Are you going to scream? I don't know. I won't scream. Do you think we'll scream? I don't know." It was crazy. So their lives were affected. They were acting like fools. But that's what happens with somebody like Elvis.
Q: Did you scream?
A: I wasn't discussing it. I was a little bit older and I did not scream. I thought he was sexy and had a fantastic mouth.
Q: Did you ever meet Elvis Presley?
A: No, I didn't. That one got away. So did Jimmy Dean I'm sorry to say.
SONG: ELVIS PRESLEY BLUES
Q: Ah, the King is dead. Long live the King. Your voice is your ultimate instrument. And it's very dramatic and swinging and downright sexy on that song.
A: Well, my, my, isn't that nice. Can you say that again?
Q: Can you sense that your voice has deepened and grown as you've deepened and grown?
A: Of course, it has, yeah. Partly, it's just physical. As one gets older, the vocal chords don't have as much elasticity. So those high notes begin to be a struggle and your forced down into the lower range. But what I've done is keep up vocal lessons, because I don't want to be forced solely into lower range. That's why there's a wisecrack to my vocal coach on this record, on "Dark Chords...", because I'm not using the upper range. I only go up there about five times on this. And the rest of it's all chest voice, which you would notice most women singers move into their chest voice and stay there, because it's much more -- it's much easier and much more comfortable, but I don't really want to sacrifice the upper range. And that takes a tremendous amount of work. So I said to my coach, "Well, don't worry, I've got another record in me and the next one you'll be proud of, because I'll use the other range."
Q: Well, your voice has deepened and grown and you've been on this journey that has made you grow. If I sat here and listed all the things you've been involved with for the last 40 years we'd, uh...
A: We'd be asleep...
Q: I'm just going to run a few of them by you now then.
A: Okay.
Q: You sang and marched and traveled and fought for civil rights, for the rights of migrant farm workers, against capital punishment, for Amnesty International, for the nuclear freeze movement, for peace in Vietnam and Chili and Ireland and Sarajevo, for gay rights, for landmine clearance. You co-founded the Institute for the Study of Non-Violence, founded Humanitas. And most recently, you participated in the peace rallies here close to your home in San Francisco before the war in Iraq. Activism is still a daily part of your life, isn't it?
A: Well, it is now. I mean, there was a time, as I said earlier, when I had to put it aside if I wanted to have a career in music. And I'm glad I did that. And it's as though the timing for all this insanity, for me, is right. I am able now to go and do whatever I have to do. I don't know what that is yet. I guess I've talked about this, but I never believed there would be in this bad a position that the States are in now. It frightens me that we're that near -- we could be that near to something like Marshall Law, because that's the way it is with the current administration. I mean, they just do.
So I think all of us -- when you have a day when there are six million people around the world marching and it's referred to as a focus group and completely ignored: woops, well, what do we do next? And we haven't reached that point of what do we do next yet. At least, I haven't. I think some people are moving very actively towards just doing anything to get Bush out of office. And that's going to be hard, because he has millions of dollars and because the majority of people in this country are frightened and gullible.
Q: It is fear that is motivating a lot of people, sadly. You've received honorary degrees and a bunch of awards. I'm kind of leading back into the activism thing. Most recently, there was the prestigious John Steinbeck award for your humanitarian efforts. You probably don't look back often, but when you are, are you satisfied that the activism you've been involved with has made a difference?
A: You know, the first time I really considered that was when Vazclav Havel said that my appearance in Czechoslovakia was the last drop that spilled over into their revolution. And I thought, "oh, wow." But measuring what my contribution is, I've never done much of that. But I was very pleased and sort of delighted to read that.
Q: Well, obviously, if you didn't think you were making a difference, you wouldn't keep on.
A: Well, that's not necessarily true. I mean that, one has to do what the conscious dictates, whether it makes a difference or not. When somebody's a genius like King or like Ghandi they have a knack for listening to, as Ghandi called it the still small voice within. I guess the Quakers call it that. He was -- he had a direct connection to God. God would give him instructions and he'd walk to the sea. And by the time he got there, he had half a million people with him. So that's a -- that is a kind of a genius. And that's what makes a leader in political activism. The ability to move people to do -- to do something they wouldn't otherwise do.
Q: Which is why I think it's important that you return to your music, because it moves people and then it's a platform. There's really not separating one from the other.
You and I spoke months ago. And I think it was either -- it was probably right before the war was going on. And I expressed a sense of hopelessness and helplessness. And correct me if I'm paraphrasing you wrong, 'cause I may. But you said something to the effect of, once you realize that things are totally screwed up, then you can move forward. Am I -- is that sort of what ??
A: Yeah, that's -- that's true. I mean, that's true for me, reading The Culture Of Make Believe by Derek Jensen. He just starts off basically saying -- he says he starts his speeches by saying, okay, we can bleep this, but we're fucked. When I start off realizing that we are screwed in so many ways, so many essential ways, the military is taking over everything, that indigenous people are being wiped out continually, that there's absolutely no concern for the environment. I'm talking about the Administration and the larger powers. Then when you see that -- when I saw that more clearly, as ruined, then I put myself in that context, instead of the one I was struggling to try to keep together. I mean, I happen to live in this gorgeous place. And it's an accident of birth. You know, in places around the world, it's just ferocious. And you sort of admit to that, it's not -- we can't cave into it, but it's better for me than thinking that somehow my job is pulling things together, because you can't go back. We have to somehow or other take whatever limited supplies we have and move forward.
Q: Well, and we never know when our drop is going to be the one, as Mr. Havel said, that made things change.
A: Yeah.
Q: So is there a chance for a global peace movement or maybe just a global sanity movement?
A: It would be the same thing. Is there a chance? I don't know. I mean -- but that's what I mean by you can't be result oriented, especially in a time like now, when the results seem so tiny. But when somebody gets the fire to do something they know is right, it doesn't stop them. They get kicked off a radio station or they, you know -- people say rude things about them: "if you're not with us, you're against us and all that baloney". And you suddenly realize it's all ridiculous. And you do what you have to do and don't worry about what people say.
Q: And then sometimes people do things that we can't make heads or tails of.
And now we're going to listen to King's Highway, the next song we're going to listen to, because I can't make heads or tails of what a lot of people seem to do and they think they're right. And King's Highway, as I feel, it's about a man who just killed someone for the hell of it, huh?
A: I think what he's saying is a lot of people say they're going to do stuff and they never get around to it. So am I going to actually do this thing or am I just going to talk about it? Hmm, hmm, hmm…let's see, tapping of fingers and then wham, he kills this guy. And then he thinks "oh gosh, well, I'll take some money from his pocket so he'll think that that's what I was after, so he won't think that I just killed him just because." But he did just kill him just because. So if we ain't talking about this society, that song is written by somebody…I don't know where it could be coming from.
SONG: KING'S HIGHWAY
[Joan clucks like her chickens!]
Q: Joan, there's a lot of chickens here?
A: There are 20 egg-layers, yeah. (Inaudible.) It only takes about 11 seconds... (til they cluck again).
Q: You're egging them (the chickens) on. Maybe it's because we're here so close to San Francisco, I keep thinking what a long, strange trip it's been, because it certainly has. Your 62 years have been historical. You've written a couple of autobiographical books. Books have been written about you. Maybe it's your background that's set you on this unique path. You were born in New York of Irish and Mexican decent. And you were one of three sisters. You come from a very close family, right?
A: Yeah, I would say so.
Q: Your mom's here with us.
A: She's here with us for God knows how long. She's very healthy and she's beautiful.
Q: I know a couple of summers ago, your younger sister, Mimi Farina, passed away. The work of her organization brought music to prisons, Bread and Roses. Is that working continuing?
A: Yes, it is. She set it up as carefully as she could so that it would continue on. Well, first of all, she was going to retire. And so the work had already started to set it up properly and get somebody to -- you can't replace her, but to do that job. And then she became sick and she continued that process as long as she could. And it's in pretty good hands.
Q: And your other sister, does she live in California?
A: Yes, she does. She lives in Carmel Valley, deep in Carmel Family. She and I have gotten a little closer since Mimi died.
Q: Does your son Gabe live in California?
A: He lives about an hour away.
Q: That's good. So --
A: Yes, it's good. And I go up there once a week (adopts an old lady's voice): "Sonny, what are you up to this week? No, not that..."
Q: Legends are just moms and it doesn't matter.The song that ends "Dark Chords on a Big Guitar", it strikes just the right chord of resignation and hope. It's Steve Earle's Christmas in Washington. And it sounds like it was written just for you...
A: It feels like it. It really feels like it. When I sing it in concert, it's just spellbinding. It's -- it's absolutely spellbinding. It feels as though it was written for me.
SONG: CHRISTMAS IN WASHINGTON
Q: From the album "Dark Chords on a Big Guitar", that's Joan Baez and Christmas in Washington. Are you sure you didn't write that yourself?
A: No, I made him write it.
Q: You made Steve Earle do it. Joan, thanks for making us feel at home with you.
A: Well, you are at home here. Thank you very much.
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Joan on doing what the conscious dictates... 
