Joan Baez, "We Shall Overcome" 1960's

As this recording begins, Baez is telling a story of one man's resistance to the draft and the war. She makes an instant connection with her audience and you can hear the audience singing along with her. With her instructions and prompting, Baez truly inspires her listeners.

Using only her voice and her acoustic guitar, the song is very simple. The lyrics follow the same pattern with slight alterations to pitch and different lyrics. Verse one begins, "We shall overcome," then "We shall be alright," followed by "We shall live in peace," then "We are not afraid today ha ha" concluding with the first verse, "We shall overcome" to wrap the song up. In the fourth and final verse, Baez hits a very high pitched note and holds it a couple beats, then rejoins her audience to conclude each verse. As the song progressed and the audiences voice grew stronger, Baez would lower the volume of her voice and let their voice carry the song for a few beats. Then she would lead her audience with her strong projecting alto voice, and calming guitar chords.

Tempo: the tempo is moderate. The repetition slows the song down and does not seem to demand much from the artist or the audience.

Texture: The song has two distinct actions happening during this performance. As a listener it is clear that Baez's voice and guitar accompaniment form a thin homophonic texture, with a single melody. Yet when the audiences voices grow stronger, the texture becomes much thicker and polyphonic due to the thousands of other voices accompanying.

Lyrics/ Message/ and Influence: The song expresses a wish for peace and power of the people. Each verse, in a calming tone and rhythm, encourages the listeners to find peace in their lives despite the Vietnam war and other political problems of the time. The massive eruption of applause at the end illustrates how well this message resonated with the audience. It also shows a support for a female performer to sing a powerful song of instruction.