Joan Baez 1941年1月9日出生於美國紐約Staten島。我們經常聽到的與“民謠皇帝”Bob Dylan齊名的“民謠女皇”的稱號就是指她。Baez作為民謠界女性權威演繹者的地位是在1959年新港民謠節上奠定的。她對民謠音樂的理解加上天生的近乎完美的嗓音，使得她成為50年代之後民謠音樂中的一株奇葩。Joan Baez
Joan Baez 本身在很多場合演唱過這首歌，最有名的是1963年那次25萬人的遊行，也就在那次遊行示威活動中，馬丁路德金髮表了他著名的演講I have a dream。在那次遊行當中馬丁路德金和參加遊行的人們合唱這首歌，這也是為什麼在之後的“馬丁路德金日”人們會以這首歌紀念他的原因。2011年，Joan Baez在美國白宮為歐巴馬一家獻唱這首經典的，廣為傳誦的歌曲。
Joint Session of Congress Address on Voting Legislation
[AUTHENTICITY CERTIFIED: Text version below transcribed directly from audio.]
Mr. Speaker, Mr. President, Members of the Congress:
I speak tonight for the dignity of man and the destiny of democracy. I urge every member of both parties, Americans of all religions and of all colors, from every section of this country, to join me in that cause.
At times history and fate meet at a single time in a single place to shape a turning point in man's unending search for freedom. So it was at Lexington and Concord. So it was a century ago at Appomattox. So it was last week in Selma, Alabama. There, long-suffering men and women peacefully protested the denial of their rights as Americans. Many were brutally assaulted. One good man, a man of God, was killed.
There is no cause for pride in what has happened in Selma. There is no cause for self-satisfaction in the long denial of equal rights of millions of Americans. But there is cause for hope and for faith in our democracy in what is happening here tonight. For the cries of pain and the hymns and protests of oppressed people have summoned into convocation all the majesty of this great government -- the government of the greatest nation on earth. Our mission is at once the oldest and the most basic of this country: to right wrong, to do justice, to serve man.
In our time we have come to live with the moments of great crisis. Our lives have been marked with debate about great issues -- issues of war and peace, issues of prosperity and depression. But rarely in any time does an issue lay bare the secret heart of America itself. Rarely are we met with a challenge, not to our growth or abundance, or our welfare or our security, but rather to the values, and the purposes, and the meaning of our beloved nation.
The issue of equal rights for American Negroes is such an issue.
And should we defeat every enemy, and should we double our wealth and conquer the stars, and still be unequal to this issue, then we will have failed as a people and as a nation. For with a country as with a person, "What is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
There is no Negro problem. There is no Southern problem. There is no Northern problem. There is only an American problem. And we are met here tonight as Americans -- not as Democrats or Republicans. We are met here as Americans to solve that problem.
Joan Baez
林登·詹森