Finally, Joan Baez and Bob Dylan have reached a point where they have “total forgiveness” for one another.
The 82-year-old singer of “Farewell, Angelina” talks on her connection with Dylan, who is also 82 years old, in an exclusive conversation with PEOPLE. This is a subject that she tackles in her new documentary Joan Baez: I Am a Noise, which will be released in select theaters on October 6.
After Baez achieved success in 1960, she started working with and dating Dylan, who was a relative unknown at the time. Despite the fruitful creative cooperation they had, the romance was brought to a screeching conclusion in 1965 when he unexpectedly shattered her heart. This was a record-scratching breakup. Their passionate romance served as the impetus for one of Baez’s most successful songs, “Diamonds & Rust,” which was released in 1975.
Baez, who describes the connection as “completely disheartening” in the movie, claims that the two of them were in their early 20s. “We were foolish, and you can’t blame the same person for everything forever. I did make an effort, but in the end, I gave up.”
Later on, she was able to find “total forgiveness” for Dylan when she painted a picture of him when he was younger. She said, “I put on his music, and I just broke down in tears.” After I finished the painting, I found that I no longer had any ill will against anybody. None. It has continued on in the same manner.”
According to Baez, the two individuals have not been in communication with one another in all these years.
PEOPLE has reached out to a representative for Dylan, but they have not yet provided a response.
I Am a Noise is a startlingly open picture of the folk queen that covers her career as an artist and activist, while also diving into her relationships, family, and trauma, as she finishes up her farewell tour in 2019. The film was directed by Karen O’Connor, Miri Navasky, and Maeve O’Boyle.
During her interview with PEOPLE, Baez also discussed the struggles she encountered back at her childhood home. In the movie, she discusses her recollections of being abused as a child by her family. Baez describes his upbringing as “a dark childhood.” “There were some very serious and upsetting events that took place.”
Baez said that she started having panic attacks at an early age and that she often encountered racial insults at school as a result of her Latin American origin. ” ‘Skinny, dumb Mexican’ is basically how I saw myself,” she adds. “That’s how I saw myself.”
“I believe that comes through as clearly as it possibly can in the movie. She explains how her mental health was impacted during the movie by saying things like, “that’s how I’m living was from panic to panic,” which continues coming up as you go through the movie.
When she was a child, her mother had a hard time figuring out what it was that was bothering her daughter.
“At one time, my mother tells me that, ”There’s something in there. We are unable to determine what it is. I was under the impression that she was a happy youngster, but clearly she is struggling with something. I’m not sure whether she is aware of what it is,'” Baez remembers saying.
Later on, her panic attacks were made worse when she had to make public appearances; nevertheless, she was unable to determine the root cause of these episodes.
Even if going on tour may not be an option, what about releasing new music?
She responds, “I don’t know,” when asked by PEOPLE. It feels like a somewhat late move at this point in the game.
Baez has recently found out that her voice has altered, which may be contributing to some of her insecurity.
She adds of her voice, “In order for me to sing anything, I have to give up the old one and any thoughts I had that I could really revitalize that.” “There’s part of stuff remaining that goes into this new period in the lower range, which is sort of interesting for me because it’s something I’ve always been interested in. It is a difficult task.”
Baez announced her retirement from touring in 2019, however she did make an exception in May for the 2023 Acoustic-4-A-Cure benefit concert in San Francisco, which was organized by Sammy Hagar and Bob Weir.
In all other respects, Baez is making the most of her retirement by, among other things, spending time with her son Gabriel Harris (from her previous marriage to David Harris) and granddaughter Jasmine, in addition to sketching and composing poetry.
She explains, “The word’retirement’ didn’t have any meaning to me,” but the change has “loosened up this creative energy that just kind of exploded.”
