3 Chord Thursday Names on Buttons August 11, 2023.

3 Chord Thursday I Love America August 11, 2023.

3 Chord Thursday Songs of Faith August 11, 2023.

Pachelbel Birthday Party August 28, 2023.

Over the Rainbow from Oz to Iz August 31, 2023.

Pachelbel Medley (workshops in Zoom) September 8, 2023.

Puff, the Magic Dragon September 15, 2023.

Brown Eyed Girl double stops in Margaritaville September 17, 2023.

Fall 2023 Classes in Zoom September 18, 2023.

Spooky & scary tune for Halloween October 6, 2023.

Uke with Ku: Ukulele Bootcamp October 26, 2023.

Fun with Uke & Wild Chocolate November 5, 2023.

Voila! I will arrange a version easy to read and play for pianists - with one sharp - in the easy key of E minor. In between Eb and F minor is the easy key of E minor for pianists and guitarists. It’s not unusual for our voice range to drop with age. She did this by either fixing a capo on the first fret or simply tuning the strings down half a step.įorty years later, Joan Baez sang the song in Eb minor, a whole step down and at a slower tempo. In 1975, Joan Baez sang in F minor but played it in E minor. The score is written as a direct translation of how it sounds on the guitar. Four flats is not a common occurrence for folk songs. The guitar picking of the accompaniment and ascending bass is what makes it so sticky. It’s a love song Baez wrote for Bob Dylan in 1974 and released a year later. I decided to look into the lyrics and the music. Was there a reason “Diamonds and Rust” stuck to me whenever I thought of my father?

Unfortunately “Diamonds and Rust” was not among the sixty-six titles. Handwritten on the title page were the Chinese words from his old friend and classmate Lao Ong, who was instrumental in getting him the lectureship in English composition at Taiwan’s top university back in the sixties. I requested for it, on the premise that I wanted to select something to sing for his funeral. Why did my father like the songs of Joan Baez so much? I knew he owned a song book of hers.

Her words stung on the 2 am taxi ride to Taichung, Taiwan. From there, the song continued to play on my twenty-hour flight from Boston to Chicago to Hong Kong and finally Taipei. Her folk guitar introduction accompanied me from Antrim, New Hampshire on the long drive back to Newton, Massachusetts. When I learned of my dad’s unexpected passing last July, “Diamonds and Rust” burst on the scene. Also important: To fully enjoy a song, you must know not only its lyrics but also the background of its composition.” One of his favorite singers was Joan Baez.ĭad wrote in one of his emails, “By the way, the best song sung by her, I think, is Diamonds and Rust, particularly the guitar played by her in the prelude. In his last years, he took a liking to Youtube. My dad never hesitated to share titles of the songs he loved.

Diamonds and rust bob dylan