Where Are You Now, My Son? by Joan Baez

Album: Where Are You Now, My Son? (1973)

License This Song

lyrics

artistfacts

Songfacts®:

Parallel with her career as a singer-songwriter, Joan Baez has been a human rights activist and antiwar campaigner. In December 1972, at the height of the Vietnam conflict, she spent 13 days in that country and returned home with 15 hours of tapes. According to Charles J. Fuss in Joan Baez: A Bio-Bibliography, Baez herself referred to the resulting project as a record company's nightmare.
"Where Are You Now, My Son?" the title track of the album, runs to 22 minutes, taking up the whole of side one. It is more than a song, is spoken as well as sung, and includes actual recordings of the war, from the massive Christmas bombing raids on Hanoi. It was produced by Baez and Norbert Putnam.
According to Fuss, Billboard described the title track as "a frighteningly uncomfortable poem-narrative."

The May 12, 1973 issue of that magazine contains a full page advertisement, which it says "chronicles a major chapter in the life and work of Joan Baez." Sadly, though the Vietnam War is long over, her message remains unheeded. >>>
Suggestion credit:
Alexander Baron - London, England, for above 3

Comments

Be the first to comment...

More Songfacts:

JumpVan Halen

Van Halen's first #1 hit was "Jump," an unusual song for the band because the lead instrument was synthesizer, not guitar.

We Are The ChampionsQueen

Freddie Mercury considered "We Are The Champions" his version of "My Way." "We have made it, and it certainly wasn't easy," he said.

We Didn't Start The FireBilly Joel

Billy Joel wrote "We Didn't Start The Fire" after a 21-year-old told him, "everyone knows that nothing happened in the '50s."

Real LoveMary J. Blige

Prince Markie Dee of The Fat Boys co-wrote the Mary J. Blige hit "Real Love."

I Don't Want To Miss A ThingAerosmith

Diane Warren originally wrote Aerosmith's hit tune "I Don't Want To Miss A Thing" for Celine Dion.

Crank That (Soulja Boy)Soulja Boy

"Crank That (Soulja Boy)" was the most successful digital track of 2007 in the US with 2,909,000 downloads. On January 6, 2008 it became the first song ever to sell 3 million digital copies in the States.