Wednesday, October 16, 2024

There but for fortune (Joan Baez)



Wie geht's?

Joan Baez' autobiography - And a Voice To Sing With came out in 1987. I came across it in Arty Bee's for $16 a few weeks ago. Back of the net!! 

I didn't know it existed. But it does. And it's wonderful. The front cover has a pull quote from the Washington Post - A prose voice of rare timbre...a book worth devouring. 

That's no idle boast. She writes as well as she sings!

How about this:

We lived in a beautiful little house across from an open field of hay which was piled into small hills after it was cut. There is a picture of my mother and father straddling their bicycles in front of that field, young and smiling, the sun in their eyes, the wind blowing wisps of hair from my mother's braids, and across my father's forehead.

Wonderful.

Loads of revelations and I've only devoured 100 pages so far. Seems the whole world has been mispronouncing her surname all these years.

As she points out - it's not Buy-ezz, it's more like Bize.

She explains that she gave an interview to Time magazine and explained the correct pronunciation but it still came out wrong and has been pronounced Buy-ezz ever since. Eek.

The book is great - I appreciate her talents even more.

Love and peace - Wozza

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