JOAN BAEZ: WHERE ARE YOU NOW, MY SON?
Parallel with her career as a singer-songwriter, Joan Baez has been a human rights activist and anti-war campaigner. In December 1972, at the height of the Vietnam conflict, she spent thirteen days in North Vietnam and returned home with fifteen hours of tapes. "Where Are You Now, My Son?", the title track of the album, runs to twenty-two minutes, taking up the whole of side two. It refers to the repeated uttering of a mother who was looking for her son after one of the dreadful attacks of the so-called "Christmas Bombing" in December 1972, eleven days of continued bombardments of North Vietnam and Hanoi. Joan Baez survived these days at the Hotel Metropole, then called Thong Nhat. She spent many hours in the hotel’s shelter. "Where are you now my son?" 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. Side one, on the other hand, contains one of Baez's best original songs, "A Young Gypsy," and two by her sister, "Mary Call" and "Best of Friends."
Tracklist:
1.Only Heaven Knows (Ah, The Sad Wind Blows) 2.Less Than A Song 3.A Young Gypsy 4.Mary Call 5.Rider Pass By 6.Best Of Friends 7.Windrose (Instrumental) 8.Where Are You Now, My Son?
Lineup:
Joan Baez - vocals, guitar, piano, Norbert Putnam - bass, Mike Leech - bass, string arrangements, Jerry Carrigan - drums, Grady Martin, Pete Wade, Reggie Young - guitar, Mimi Farina - guitar, vocals, David Briggs - piano (2)