Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word

Last updated
"Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word"
Baezfourletter.png
Single by Joan Baez
from the album Any Day Now
B-side "Love Minus Zero/No Limit"
ReleasedDecember 1968
RecordedSeptember 1968
Studio Columbia Studios, Nashville
Genre Folk
Length3:26
Label Vanguard (UK)
Vanguard (US)
Songwriter(s) Bob Dylan
Producer(s) Maynard Solomon
Joan Baez
Joan Baez singles chronology
"Be Not Too Hard"
(1967)
"Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word"
(1968)
"Sweet Sir Galahad"
(1969)

"Love is Just a Four-Letter Word" is a song written by Bob Dylan, first recorded by Joan Baez, who has recorded and performed the song numerous times throughout her career. [1]

Background

Baez immediately took to the song, which was written by Dylan sometime around 1965, and began performing it, even before it was finished. [2] In the film Dont Look Back , a documentary of Dylan's 1965 tour of the UK, Baez is shown in one scene singing a fragment of the then apparently still unfinished song in a hotel room late at night. [3] She then tells Dylan, "If you finish it, I'll sing it on a record". [3]

Baez first included the song on Any Day Now , her 1968 album of Dylan covers; she has since recorded it three additional times. [4] [5] Her 1968 recording was also released as a single, reaching #86 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. [6] Baez has also included the song on numerous compilations such as The First Ten Years and Baez Sings Dylan, as well as on her live album From Every Stage .

Dylan never released a version of his song, and, according to his website, he has never performed the song live. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Joan Baez</span> American contemporary folk musician (born 1941)

Joan Chandos Baez is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and activist. Her contemporary folk music often includes songs of protest and social justice. Baez has performed publicly for over 60 years, releasing more than 30 albums.

<i>Dont Look Back</i> 1967 documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker

Dont [sic] Look Back is a 1967 American documentary film directed by D. A. Pennebaker that covers Bob Dylan's 1965 concert tour in England.

<i>Bringing It All Back Home</i> 1965 studio album by Bob Dylan

Bringing It All Back Home is the fifth studio album by the American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, released in March 1965 by Columbia Records. In a major transition from his earlier sound, it was Dylan's first album to incorporate electric instrumentation, which caused controversy and divided many in the contemporary folk scene.

<i>Another Side of Bob Dylan</i> 1964 studio album by Bob Dylan

Another Side of Bob Dylan is the fourth studio album by the American singer and songwriter Bob Dylan, released on August 8, 1964, by Columbia Records.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">It Ain't Me Babe</span> 1964 song by Bob Dylan

"It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album Another Side of Bob Dylan, which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the album, marked a departure for Dylan as he began to explore the possibilities of language and deeper levels of the human experience. Within a year of its release, the song was picked up as a single by folk rock act the Turtles and country artist Johnny Cash. Jan & Dean also covered the track on their Folk 'n Roll LP in 1965.

<i>From Every Stage</i> 1976 live album by Joan Baez

From Every Stage is a double live album recorded by Joan Baez on tour in the summer of 1975. The first half of the album was acoustic, with Baez accompanying herself on her guitar, while the second half features electric backup. Baez' recording of "Blowin' in the Wind" from this album was later included in the Forrest Gump soundtrack album. The song "Natalya" was dedicated to Russian poet and human rights activist Natalya Gorbanevskaya.

<i>Any Day Now</i> (Joan Baez album) 1968 studio album by Joan Baez

Any Day Now is the ninth studio album by Joan Baez, released as double LP in 1968 and made up exclusively of Bob Dylan songs. It peaked at number 30 on the Billboard Pop Albums chart.

<i>Hits: Greatest and Others</i> 1973 greatest hits album by Joan Baez

Hits: Greatest and Others was a 1973 compilation Vanguard put together at the end of Joan Baez' association with their label. In addition to her hit cover of The Band's "The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down", songs by the Beatles and Kris Kristofferson were also included. Unlike previous compilations, this one skipped over most of Baez' earlier traditional material almost entirely, in favor of her more recent singer-songwriter material and covers.

<i>No Direction Home</i> 2005 documentary film by Martin Scorsese

No Direction Home: Bob Dylan is a 2005 documentary film by Martin Scorsese that traces the life of Bob Dylan, and his impact on 20th-century American popular music and culture. The film focuses on the period between Dylan's arrival in New York in January 1961 and his "retirement" from touring following his motorcycle accident in July 1966. This period encapsulates Dylan's rise to fame as a folk singer and songwriter where he became the center of a cultural and musical upheaval, and continues through the electric controversy surrounding his move to a rock style of music.

Sara Dylan is an American former actress and model who was the first wife of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. In 1959, Noznisky married magazine photographer Hans Lownds; during their marriage, she was known as Sara Lownds.

<i>The First Ten Years</i> (Joan Baez album) 1970 greatest hits album by Joan Baez

The First Ten Years is the second compilation album by Joan Baez, released in October 1970. It rounds up highlights of her first decade with the Vanguard label.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Jane Approximately</span> 1965 song by Bob Dylan

"Queen Jane Approximately" is a song from Bob Dylan's 1965 album Highway 61 Revisited. It was released as a single as the B-side to "One of Us Must Know " in January 1966. It has also been covered by several artists, including the Grateful Dead and The Four Seasons.

"It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan and featured on his Bringing It All Back Home album, released on March 22, 1965, by Columbia Records. The song was recorded on January 15, 1965, with Dylan's acoustic guitar and harmonica and William E. Lee's bass guitar the only instrumentation. The lyrics were heavily influenced by Symbolist poetry and bid farewell to the titular "Baby Blue". There has been much speculation about the real life identity of "Baby Blue", with possibilities including Joan Baez, David Blue, Paul Clayton, Dylan's folk music audience, and even Dylan himself.

"Diamonds & Rust" is a song written, composed, and performed by Joan Baez. It was written in November 1974 and released in 1975.

"She Belongs to Me" is a song by Bob Dylan, and was first released as the second track on his 1965 album Bringing It All Back Home. The song may be about a former girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, or fellow folk singer Joan Baez, contemporary siren Nico, or Sara Lownds, the woman that Dylan would wed in November 1965.

"Love Minus Zero/No Limit" is a song written by Bob Dylan for his fifth studio album Bringing It All Back Home, released in 1965. Its main musical hook is a series of three descending chords, while its lyrics articulate Dylan's feelings for his lover, and have been interpreted as describing how she brings a needed zen-like calm to his chaotic world. The song uses surreal imagery, which some authors and critics have suggested recalls Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven" and the biblical Book of Daniel. Critics have also remarked that the style of the lyrics is reminiscent of William Blake's poem "The Sick Rose".

"One Too Many Mornings" is a song by Bob Dylan, released on his third studio album The Times They Are a-Changin' in 1964. The chords and vocal melody are in some places very similar to the song "The Times They Are A-Changin'". "One Too Many Mornings" is in the key of C Major and is fingerpicked.

The Other Side of the Mirror: Bob Dylan at the Newport Folk Festival is a 2007 documentary film about Bob Dylan's appearances at the Newport Folk Festival in three successive years: 1963, 1964, and 1965, directed by Murray Lerner.

"Birmingham Sunday" is a song written by Richard Fariña and performed by both Fariña and also by his sister-in-law Joan Baez. The subject matter is the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church on September 15, 1963, by members of the Ku Klux Klan that killed four girls and injured 22 others. The girls were Addie Mae Collins (14), Denise McNair (11), Carole Robertson (14), and Cynthia Wesley (14). The melody of the song comes from a traditional Scottish ballad named I Once Loved a Lass.

"I Pity the Poor Immigrant" is a song by American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. It was recorded on November 6, 1967, at Columbia Recording Studios in Nashville, Tennessee, produced by Bob Johnston. The song was released on Dylan's eighth studio album John Wesley Harding on December 27, 1967.

References

  1. 1 2 "Love Is Just A Four-Letter Word | The Official Bob Dylan Site". www.bobdylan.com. Retrieved 2018-06-18.
  2. "Joan Baez - Love Is Just a Four-Letter Word". pastemagazine.com. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  3. 1 2 Pennebaker, D. A., director. Dont Look Back . Docurama, 1967.
  4. "John Peel Archive: Joan Baez - Any Day Now 2". John Peel Archive. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  5. "Any Day Now - Joan Baez | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic". AllMusic. Retrieved 2018-06-19.
  6. Baez, Joan. "Discography". www.joanbaez.com. Retrieved 2018-06-19.