Baez, Joan - The Lily Of The West Lyrics

One Bob's great story songs. Song here by one of the greatest female singer song writers of our time.

She brings all song to a higher level...

My dad played this so well miss u dad R.i.p. Dad love u xxx

Folk ballads sung by Joan were the best and i first heard at age 6 years old. I was fortunate enough to have a sister who had Joan's Records. I also had the honor to
meet Joan Baez in 1969 in Detroit,Michigan.

Gorgeous version, but hey, it's "Lex'-nun" and "Luh'-uh-vull" if you're from Ky.

que hermosa voz de joan baez

JOAN BAEZ ~ The Lily Of The West ~
564.534 visualizaciones

My name in real life is Flora

Beautiful! !!

What style of guitar is this called?

Love Joan , think I had a crush on her when I was only 14 , I am 70 now , still have a crush on her . her voice and finger picking is out of this world , my grand mothers name was Flora .. Thank you Joan !!!

Prijehavši u zagreb zadovoljstva svega rad

Original is azra- Usne vrele višnje :D

Azrina je zapravo bolja

The young Joan Baez with the pure crystalline soprano voice at her best! Her diction too was and still is exemplary, not to mention here guitar playing. A wonderful artist.

How was she so great at 18-20?
Talent and focus. Like Mozart.

Big crush. Later realized 10-25% of young mexican women are physically hotter. But what a body mind combo. Disillusioned she was les. Imagine how dylan felt.

such a weird comment

Does someone know where I can find a tab for this one?

Ce plaisir secret d'écouter les chansons de Joan Baez, dans la folie furieuse du Monde, pour s'en rappeler la beauté...

Divine!...

Magnifique chanteuse , sa voix superbe me transporte, comme j'aimerai encore avoir 20 ans!

I remember the first fime I heard this recording; actually it was the first time I ever heard this song. I was struck both by the tragic events narrated and by the intensity of Joan Baez's performance. Not to mention the beauty of the melody and the perfection of the arrangement. Every time I listen to that record I feel the same again. Thanks, Ms Joan Baez, for all you give me every time I listen to you.

Love this beautiful song☺

♥♥♥

Her first Vanguard album was the first LP album I ever bought.

You remind me of a blade of grass in the wind ...unmoving...thanks.

What a voice. Nonetheless, I prefer PPM's version of this song. I'm a sucker for harmony.

When first I came to Louisville
Some pleasure there to find
A damsel there from Lexington
Was pleasing to my mind
Her rosy cheeks, her ruby lips
Like arrows pierced my breast
And the name she bore was Flora
The Lily Of The West

I courted lovely Flora
Some pleasure there to find
She turned unto another man
Which sore distressed my mind
She robbed me of my liberty
Deprived me of my rest
Still I love my faithless Flora
The Lily Of The West

Down in yonder shady grove
A man of high degree
Conversing with my Flora there
It seemed so strange to me
And the answer that she gave to him
It sure did me oppress
I was betrayed by Flora
The Lily Of The West

I stepped up to my rival
My dagger in my hand
I seized him by the collar and
I boldly made him stand
Being mad to desperation I pierced him in the breast
All for my lovely Flora
The Lily Of The West

I had to stand my trial
I had to make my plea
They placed me in the criminal box
And then commenced on me
Although she swore my life away
Deprived me of my rest
And I still love my faithless Flora
The Lily Of The West

BEAUTYFUL SONG SUNG BY A BEAUTYFUL WOMAN... Saw her at The Academy of Music in Phila. in `1976 or 77, A truly memorable performance......
No one sings the first & last verse:
the 1st is done A-Capella ( Maybe that's why nobody does it) and goes like this:
" They say she was the Devil's daughter, She wore a gold chain five milkes long.
On every link a heart did dangle, For every man she'd loved and wronged."


The last verse goes like this:
"I climb up on the scaffle, A Bible in my hand.
And in the crowd stands Flora, She's with anothger man.
She's wicked and she'd evil, But still I lover her best;
I'll die here loving Flora, The Lilly of the WEST'......

My dear departed friend Myra introduced me to this wonderful lady. Myra's singing was inspired by Joan, a fantastic memory.

My favorite female singer/guitar artists are Joan Baez and Eva Cassidy. Joan Baez is so good to listen to anytime, taking you into the music and the story in the song with such a beautiful voice and with her wonderful accompanying guitar.

e moj Johny,pokrala te ova baezova,jbg kad nisi autorski zastitio,sad trpi.

Još da je njega pokrala ajd i nekako. S razlogom je Bob Dylan dobio Nobela.

The best of the folk genre... pure... classic... her voice rises, transcendent as it weaves the tale of woe.

THIS VERSION WITCH I WAS EXPOSED TO AT THE EARLY 60S CAUSED ME TO LISTEN AND ADMIRE HER FASCINATING VOICE AND HER DEVOTION TO FIGHT FOR JUSTICE .AND FREEDOM FOR ALL

존 바에즈가 다시 좋아진 이유^^

I am old now. Her music shaped life, and gave me joy for over half a century.

Death is ok I've lost my one true and am also not young but I can assure you death is not final just a stage on are journey of divinity goes round comes round I saw my dead wife on various occasions and dead people realy ain't there no more they just empty bags the energy or soul or wat the fuck you want to call it is gone but sometimes they play games every light bulb in my house about 14 bulbs all blew in the 12 hours after Jan died realy

lisa rosen i didnt think in 1964 that i would ever get old..Here i am..Where did the time go?.I know now though that death is not final..So i will carry on..

Donny brown -----You're not alone, the last thing I remember I was sixteen. 76 now, nearly time for the next step, I can't wait.

lisa rosen yes for me to ❣️🌹

The way she plays this guitar is just breathtaking. as if her voice was not enough to get you baffled.. one of the world most special voices if you ask me. ;)

I agree

Usne vrele višnje

Dzoni legenda!

prijehavši u Zagreb

bez milosti me kurva nasukala na sprud :)

@Miraak a Brega smrad

ma, joan > johnny, uvek :D

dommage que la voix restituée soit trop aigüe! elle m'a tellement apporté dans ma jeunesse!

Saw her in concert when I was about 17, I think Joan was about 23 at the time. I thought she was he most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

You must be about the same age as me - she was 77 in Jan & I'll be 71 in May. Like you, back when I was younger I thought she was beautiful (she still is!) & I "fancied her".

I saw her in concert, a tent of all things, and she brought out Bob Dylan. I almost passed out with joy.

SEGURO NO TE EQUIVOCASTE ES LO MAS BELLO Y SENSUAL

What a beautiful voice ,and what an inspiration !

It's pronounced "loo-vooll", Joan.

+Spectral Stranger2
That's how you pronounce it.

@profd65
Yes, that is how you pronounce it.

my favourite singer in the world

Always has been mine since the beginning of her career. Listen to her every day still

I quote you... No woman singer better than her...

Political crackpot but a beautiful voice.

+Stephen Green  Her points of view are moderate, just human rights oriented.

She is a pacifist.  Not exactly a political crackpot; she just believes in peace.  She was also a civil rights activist.  I know that very right wingers and segregationists thought of her as a crackpot. 
Al Capp created a cartoon character called Phony Jonie who was anti-segregation and anti-war.

Is this a solo guitar played by Joan, or is Fred Hellerman playing as well.

+PHJimY this is just her. I know for sure. dunno if its a 12 snare guitar but its just Joan ;)

+Donny Smeets Thanks Donny.  I'd always thought it was her, but I know she had some backup on her early records.  Love her playing and singing.

I prefer Pernell Roberts' version. But this is still a very good version.

Adam? 1st heard this on "Movin'" by P, P,& Mary.

I LISTNED TO THIS RENDITION 50 YEARS AGO AND STILL ADORE IT

marvelous finger-picking

She could well be playing Carter style, which is a form of finger picking, melody with thumb and strumming with fingers, but it can also be done with a flat pick.

First time hearing this song,..such a beautiful voice.

hippie feminist sounding

+strawberryseason "Theoretical cannon" makes you sound very smart. You must be proud of yourself.

+PHJimY No, it would not make "most rational people" feminists. It would make us all egalitarians. Feminism is wanting equal rights for women. Being egalitarian is wanting equal rights for both men and women.

Saying,"Feminism is wanting equal rights for women," implies that it means equal to men.  Isn't that the same thing or do you think it means equal to something else?
I still don't see what this song has to do with feminism or egalitarianism.

It has nothing to do with either. I was stating a fact. I didn't like to see the feminist comments just as much as you didn't on this video..

+PHJimY
Thanks for explaining people feminism and why it's still relevant, also in western countries. Thanks for calling yourself a feminist and being for equality between men and women.
<3

Joan i Love You.

this is amerika

Ya gotta problem with that boy?

what do ya mean

удивительная девушка , удивительный голос , на редкость чистая душа

This is one of the best renditions of this song. 

Amazing

the songs that i live with,great!

"Lily of the West" is really a song about a young man who is naive on several levels.  He goes to Louisville "some pleasure there to find."  He's trying to find pleasure and finds a woman named "Lily of the West" that evening and "courts" her.  In that same evening, He sees this Lily (Flora) with a man of "high degree", perhaps the mayor?  She has betrayed him.  No, he's just her next trick.  Ladies with names like "Lilly of the West" were undoubtedly whores.

Well, let's figure this one out.  This young man has met a lady of pleasure, a prostitute, whom he finds attractive and who spends some time with him.  It goes to his head.  So he stabs the man of high degree, kills him, and ends up being sentenced to death.  All for one evening's pleasure he, and he alone, has elevated to the status of love.

I strongly suspect that this is the intended meaning of the song, and in fact shows that it was about something - the foolishness of naive youth - that transcends the surface appearance.  I could be wrong now, but I don't think so.

+Nelson Johnson  It reminds me of a Tufts University professor named William Douglas, who killed a young beautiful call girl, Robin Benedict , in 1983, in Massachusetts.

provrs that most men fall for hot whores and need kgtow

@San Juan I had to look that up — _Men Going Their Own Way_ apparently... but not if my lady love has anything to do with it, no, they _certainly_ won't! (Oh, er... nothing, dear, it's all right, I'm just coming...)

CLASSIC RENDITION OF A CLASSIC DYLAN SONG BY A CLASSIC SINGER

lily love

Just a quick one, a couple of people have said enthusiastic things about Baez's guitar playing, I am not saying they are wrong. but for the record there are two guitars on this track, the second one may be Fred Hellerman of the Weavers, who played on her first album.

I don't pretend to know you may well be right but her first LP was an age away from this recording In any case without equal 

This is from the Album "Joan Baez Vol. 2" released in 1961 on Fontana/Vanguard. The sleeve notes say 'Joan Baez accompanying herself on the guitar, assisted by The Greenbriar Boys on "Banks of the Ohio" and "Pal of Mine." ' I don't hear a second guitar and I've seen her play it just like this in a televised concert.

A great song, a great singer. Thank you very much.
D. Fyssas, Athens, Greece

I still love her!

Always overshadowed by the most angelic yet powerful soprano of a generation is the fact this lady could play fire-breathin' fingerpickin' folk guitar...there were times she was rippin' it up like a female Leo Kottke!  This cut is a good example...

A unique singer

It's great to see new generations discover this wonderful singer and musician from the late 1950s and 1960s. She was one of the giants of folk music. Though she is in her 70s, she is still singing music and a great person. 

I totally agree with Phillippilib !!! 

@Sylvain Labbé So do I. I totally agree.

im 22 and Joan Baez has been my favorite female vocalist ever since i discovered her some years ago. i adore her. every song and every line she sings is just pure art.

absolutely. so so thankful to have stumbled upon her <3

What a classic American ballad.

Yes, everyone sees it, but Bob was blind. Sorry. I wish I had known her.

в ссср издали её песни пластинкой и я слушал её в детстве.

She also sang in Russian... https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=28&v=L4xG90XFNpU

Beautiful voice

hmhm joanbaez the legend beatyfull thanks joan

what an awesome song this is! :)

amazing song and her voice almost makes me cry like like a baby

If it was just 100 greatest singers, sure it was a mistake. But Joan does not rock, nor does she pretend to rock.
Their list was stupid anyway, of course.

This song, coming from the doorway of the room across the hall in my freshman dorm, was the first time I ever heard her voice.

what a bad memories i have with this song !

general_olde

A fantastic comment. I'd love to smoke a splif with ya some time with that kind of imagery!

I might be tripping like, allll the balls right now, but every time I've listened to this song, it's sounds completely different, but the same song...

one of mine too mauvetys
see my rendition!!!
Ermengarde11

usneee vrele viiiiisnjeeee

What a velvet violin voice she has.....

That's right! A wonderful voice! ~ Cornelius, :)

Să ne bucurăm de STELE ... atâta timp cât acestea (stelele) încă mai sunt pe Firmament!
To enjoy the STARS ... as long as they (the stars) are still in the firmament!
~
Cornelius, :)

I first heard this melody in '76 but it was called "The Lakes of Pontchartrain" by Paul Brady and Andy Irvine. I like their version better, but my god what a voice Joan Baez has. Even my father loved her pure voice back then. He actually bought her album! He is 88 now. Thx from Toronto.

Irish Red dead Redemption

thats cold man good for you though! :)

How did you get wounded? I'm from Croatia, so I'm curious how did you end up there in 1991.

I herd this song my first time because my ex-father liked Joan's music. I only really loved JB when I was in a Croatian hospital in 1991 recovering from wounds.

I often forget about Joan but I wish I didn't. Christ, she really is a gem.

god, so beautiful!

My cousin taught this to me around 1968. She used the Peter, Paul& Mary lyrics but used Joan Baez's guitar picking. I've always loved this and have never forgotten it.

This is the original studio recording of one of the albums. I have the vinyl record but can't remember the name of the album. Its up in a cupboard and I need to climb up to reach it. If you are interested, I can do that for you.

I can't thank you enough for sharing this here -- and in a true hi-fi bit-rate, too!
Ya done good...

she fine in that pitcher

I was introduced to Joan by my dad, who liked the old English folk tunes. I think I was in about the 4th grade or so, which would make it about 1964. He later rejected her and destroyed all his albums of her when he found she was protesting the Vietnam War. I, on the other hand, was hooked, and went out and purchased my own copies of her stuff. She remains one of my favorites and her voice makes me feel at peace.

in the new david guetta album! joan baez feat. lil wayne

What a great recording. Thank you mate.

@romcnulty1990 There's a live version on Ring Them Bells. =) x

is this version on an album?

Joan Baez Vol. 2 1961

Ah.... classic Joan. I love how her vocals just soar - gives me goosebumps every time!!