A Tribute to Bob Dylan and Joan Baez's Duets

Every song they sang together, from the Village folk era through Rolling Thunder and the 1980s

In a few days, the Bob Dylan biopic A Complete Unknown hits theaters. Joan Baez plays a major role in the film, and the actress who plays her, Monica Barbaro, is excellent. So today, I wanted to pay tribute to Baez.

It’s easy when writing about Bob and Joan to get tangled up in the personal drama. But I want to focus purely on the music they made together. Because I don’t think anyone has ever topped Baez as a duet partner for Dylan. She seems to have an innate ability to follow that unpredictable phrasing that trips up so many others. “We could sing just about any kind of thing and make it make sense,” Dylan himself said in the 2009 documentary Joan Baez: How Sweet the Sound.

There were two primary periods where they sang together: the early-to-mid ‘60s and the Rolling Thunder tours. Plus a handful more in the ‘80s as well. Rather than going chronologically, where it’s too easy to veer back into the personal biography stuff rather than the music, I’m going to go alphabetically through the songs they duetted on. I came up with 21 different songs they sang together across all that time—or at least 21 where we have recordings. There are reports of some other early duets we can’t hear: “Masters of War,” “Farewell,” “Don’t Think Twice” (though, notably, not “Girl from the North Country,” which their characters sing together in the movie).

Let’s take a song-by-song look through the canon of Baez-Dylan Duets.

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Blowin’ in the Wind

I’m just going alphabetically, but it feels appropriate that we’re starting with the one song they sang together in three different decades: ‘60s, ‘70s, ‘80s. Here’s a taste of one of their earlier duets, at an unidentified Baez concert in Summer 1963 where she brought Bob up for a few songs. As you can hear, she alternates between singing the words with him and crooning wordlessly, and beautifully, in the background. Too bad the tape cuts off early.

Pretty much any “Blowin’” shows what makes their singing partnership special, but my favorite are the Rolling Thunder ’75 ones. They would start their duo sets singing it, beginning before the painted curtain rose to reveal them onstage. Imagine how powerful a moment that must have been in the crowd to see them standing there, together again. You can get a glimpse of the reveal in the Scorsese movie:

At the tour’s Montreal stop, they added another level of difficulty to their “Blowin’” duet, singing the chorus in French:

Dark As a Dungeon

The first of a number of covers they duetted on during the Rolling Thunder era—some just two the two of them on acoustic guitars; others, like this one, backed by the Rolling Thunder band. They sound great on this old Merle Travis tune, belting every line together, though I think of this as less of a duo performance than a trio, with Scarlet Rivera’s violin as much the star of the show as their singing.

Deportee (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)

Another Rolling Thunder cover duet, but this one from the second leg in 1976. And the first here where we have a video, thanks to its inclusion in Hard Rain. Notice the moment at 2:08 where Dylan starts singing a verse Joan seemingly wasn’t expecting, but she pivots immediately. It’s striking to me that for basically this whole song his eyes are closed, but hers are open, having to follow him precisely.

Dink’s Song

How’s this for a deep cut? For just one show in 1976, Dylan busted out this tune from his earliest folkie days, first heard on the Great White Wonder bootleg via the so-called Minnesota Hotel Tape recording from 1961. It’s a fair bet that Joan herself reminded him about this old traditional tune, sung by Pete Seeger among many others. You can even hear her reminding him of the lyrics off-mic at 1:20.

“Dink’s Song” later got more attention due to its prominent use in an almost-Dylan biopic, Inside Llewyn Davis.

A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall

They didn’t duet on this one often. In fact, this is the only recording I could find, from another unidentified 1963 summer show. And, to be honest, they barely duet on it. It’s 90% Bob solo; Joan only joins for the end of each chorus. She sounds great when she does though!

I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine

Another Rolling Thunder classic. Interestingly, they performed this one two different ways across the two tours. In 1975, the full band backed their duet. In 1976, they did it accompanied only by their own acoustic guitars. Overall I probably prefer the first approach, but don’t miss how they hold the word “head” together at 2:17 in the second. Who else could follow him through that?

I Pity the Poor Immigrant

I wish Rolling Thunder-era Joan and Bob had re-recorded the entire John Wesley Harding as fiery duets. This is another peak of the form, well-known from the Hard Rain movie, and a song they sang many nights on the 1976 tour. The shuddering stop-start arrangement really rips, and gives Joan a chance to sing more raggedly than she’s inclined to on the quiet acoustic ballads. It also gave her a chance to bust out some maracas-shaking dance moves during the instrumental bits.

I Shall Be Released

We return to the first Rolling Thunder tour, which was in fact this song’s live debut. Bob and Joan sang it as part of their set pretty much every night. It’s basically the platonic ideal of this song to me. David Mansfield’s pedal steel steals the show. You can watch a brief clip on YouTube from the Scorsese film. I love the casual way she slings his arm around him. Anyone else would so intimidated or awed to share a microphone with him. Joan doesn’t give a f***.

This is one of the two songs they sang together on the abbreviated 1984 tour. It sounds extremely underrehearsed, alas, though I like Joan’s vocals weaving in and out of his.

It Ain’t Me Babe

Back to the ‘60s! Another one of their more famous duets, due to its inclusion in the Live 1964 Bootleg Series. Baez had just released her own cover of the song that same year, on her album 5. So a natural for them to perform, though not one of my favorites. Her voice blends so well into his it seems extraneous, especially at that Halloween show. I prefer the Newport Folk Festival performance from the earlier summer. They goof the lyrics early on, at which point they start grinning so hard they can barely get through the song. Charming as hell.

Lily, Rosemary, and the Jack of Hearts

[Eleven more below the jump for paid subscribers, including my favorite two duets of all.]