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Bob Dylan & Joan Baez – The Water Is Wide

Inside Bob Dylan and Joan Baez's Relationship

About the Song

Let’s drift back to 1976, when Bob Dylan and Joan Baez joined voices for a haunting rendition of “The Water Is Wide”, a traditional folk ballad that feels like a shared sigh across centuries. For those of us who’ve weathered the tides of time, this performance—captured live during the Rolling Thunder Revue tour and later released on the Live 1975 Bootleg Series—carries the weight of history and the beauty of two icons in harmony. Rooted in a 17th-century Scottish melody, with lyrics adapted over generations, this isn’t a Dylan original but a timeless piece he and Joan made their own. Their duet is a snapshot of a fleeting reunion, steeped in their storied past, and it resonates with anyone who’s ever loved, lost, or simply stood by the shore of life’s vast waters.

There’s a fragile grace in “The Water Is Wide” that pulls you under from the first note. Joan Baez, with her crystalline soprano, opens the song—“The water is wide, I cannot get o’er”—and it’s as if she’s singing from some ancient well of longing. Then Bob Dylan, his voice rougher, weathered by the road, weaves in, adding a raw counterpoint that feels like a hand reaching across the waves. Together, they tell of a love too big to bridge, a boat that won’t carry two, and a heart that fades like grass in winter. For those of us who’ve watched relationships ebb and flow, it’s a quiet ache we recognize—a meditation on distance, both physical and emotional, delivered by two souls who once meant the world to each other. Their interplay is tender yet tinged with the bittersweet, a nod to their ’60s romance now softened by time.

Musically, this version is pure Rolling Thunder—loose, organic, and alive. Backed by the revue’s sprawling ensemble—think Scarlet Rivera’s mournful violin and a gentle acoustic strum—it’s folk at its most elemental, unpolished and true. Dylan’s harmonica drifts in like a lonesome wind, while Baez’s clarity anchors the melody, creating a sound that’s both intimate and expansive. For those of us who remember the ’70s folk revival or caught a scratchy broadcast of the tour, it’s a time capsule—less about studio sheen and more about the moment, the breath between singers on a cold New England night. The arrangement honors the song’s ancient bones, letting its simplicity speak over the chaos of the era.

What makes “The Water Is Wide” endure in this rendition is its humanity. In ’76, Dylan was a restless poet mid-reinvention, Baez a steadfast activist still carrying the torch of protest—yet here, they pause to sing something older than either of them, something eternal. For those of us with a few more lines etched in our faces, it’s a reminder of life’s vastness—the rivers we can’t cross, the loves we can’t hold, and the voices that still call us back. So, find a quiet corner and let Bob and Joan take you there. Close your eyes, feel the water rise, and let their duet wash over you like a memory you didn’t know you had. It’s not just a song—it’s a crossing, and they’re rowing it together, one last time.Joan Baez and Bob Dylan: A Love Story That Defined the '60s | Woman's World

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Lyrics: The Water Is Wide

The water is wide, I cannot get oer
Neither have I wings to fly
Give me a boat that can carry two
And both shall row, my love and I

A ship there is and she sails the sea
She’s loaded deep as deep can be
But not so deep as the love I’m in
I know not if I sink or swim

I leaned my back against an oak
Thinking it was a trusty tree
But first it bent and then it broke
So did my love prove false to me

I reached my finger into some soft bush
Thinking the fairest flower to find
I pricked my finger to the bone
And left the fairest flower behind

Oh love be handsome and love be kind
Gay as a jewel when first it is new
But love grows old and waxes cold
And fades away like the morning dew

Must I go bound while you go free
Must I love a man who doesn’t love me
Must I be born with so little art
As to love a man who’ll break my heart

When cockle shells turn silver bells
Then will my love come back to me
When roses bloom in winter’s gloom
Then will my love return to me

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