Joan Baez – To Bobby

Know something about this song or lyrics? Add it to our wiki.
Send "To Bobby" Ringtone to Cell

(Words and Music by Joan Baez) I'll put flowers at your feet and I will sing to you so sweet And hope my words will carry home to your heart You left us marching on the road and said how heavy was the load The years were young, the struggle barely had its start Do you hear the voices in the night, Bobby? They're crying for you See the children in the morning light, Bobby They're dying No one could say it like you said it, we'd only try and just forget it You stood alone upon the mountain till it was sinking And in a frenzy we tried to reach you With looks and letters we would beseech you Never knowing what, where or how you were thinking Do you hear the voices in the night, Bobby? They're crying for you See the children in the morning light, Bobby They're dying Perhaps the pictures in the Times could no longer be put in rhymes When all the eyes of starving children are wide open You cast aside the cursed crown and put your magic into a sound That made me think your heart was aching or even broken But if God hears my complaint He will forgive you And so will I, with all respect, I'll just relive you And likewise, you must understand these things we give you Like these flowers at your door and scribbled notes about the war We're only saying the time is short and there is work to do And we're still marching in the streets with little victories and big defeats But there is joy and there is hope and there's a place for you And you have heard the voices in the night, Bobby They're crying for you See the children in the morning light, Bobby They're dying © 1972 Chandos Music (ASCAP)

Send "To Bobby" Ringtone to Cell


Lyrics submitted by leopanthera

Track duration: 04:01

"To Bobby" as written by Joan Baez

Lyrics © FOLKLORE PRODUCTIONS, INC.

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


To Bobby song meanings
Add your thoughts

6 Comments

sort form View by:
  • 0
    General Comment:i think bob was afraid toshow he cared because he knows like the rest of us that wars will never cease to exist and he would feel like a failure for rallying against it (and other human rights causes) because they would still be there.
    joan is such a beautiful person i read her biography and i have such a new appreciation for her music and her
    Flag jasssson October 13, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:Curiously, in late USSR (1970-1980) there was a Bob Dylan follower Boris Grebenschikov, who had been vaguely revolutionary in his songs, distributed unofficially - but then, under Gorbachev-Yeltsin-Putin, he became published, rich, still avant-gardist, but politically over-conformist dinosaur. When I hear this song, I think of "the Great BG", who used to mean so much and now is so little.
    Flag vphion September 14, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I bought a Joan Baez album in Cambridge MA the winter of 1973-4. I thought it was about Bobby Kennedy. It sounded like it could be about someone who had died.
    Flag kathybWACon September 06, 2009   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i think this song is about bob dylan but in a different way - joan baez has said how she tried to get dylan involved in her causes but he was more concentrated on his personal career. i understand this song as criticism to him - he made everyone believe that he cared but he didnt:
    "That made me think your heart was aching, or even broken
    But if God hears my complaint He will forgive you"

    Joan knows that the people want to hear dylan and they want to follow him. he was the best at that. but he didnt care as much as she did.
    Flag midnight_listeneron December 18, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:yeah, about bob. its about the times when the activists were walking the streets, protesting against the war. the reference to the mountain- bob standing as saviour/comforter/the one who sees in a light that he wants us to see and follow too? The 3rd verse gives me a picture of bob writing lyrics to the feelings that are deeply affecting him, of what he sees in the news about the ongoing war, and he realises no more can be said when you see the images of the results and effects of war on the wider community of the countries being blasted away, especially the children of war. And the songs written were so full of his heart, and everybody else could feel it to.
    Flag sand_duneson February 20, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i've never heard this song, but i'll bet you it's about bob dylan.
    Flag plaincl0thesmanon July 27, 2005   Link

Add your thoughts

Log in now to tell us what you think this song means.

Don’t have an account? Create an account with SongMeanings to post comments, submit lyrics, and more. It’s super easy, we promise!

Back to top
explain