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Joan Baez and Bob Dylan Perform in Forest Hills

Aug. 18, 1963 - Joan Baez performed last night for a capacity audience of 14,700 at the Forest Hills Music Festival at the Tennis Stadium in Queens, N.Y. The soprano folk singer devoted more than half her program to new songs by 22-year-old Bob Dylan, sung either by herself or by the young minstrel-poet himself in an unannounced appearance. “Bobby Dylan says what a lot of people my age feel but cannot say,” Miss Baez declared. Her enthusiasm was contagious. The audience was as reluctant to let Mr. Dylan leave as it was to let Miss Baez go. As for Mr. Dylan’s songs, Miss Baez first offered “With God on My Side,” a scorching antiwar statement. Mr. Dylan took the stage alone for “Only a Pawn in Their Game,” which directly refers to the recent assassination of civil rights leader Medgar Evers and explains how white Southerners are also hurt by segregation. His long, symbolic “A Hard Rain’s a’Gonna Fall,” which many regard as a masterpiece, won tumultuous applause. Together, the two singers, who have joined forces a half-dozen times since last month’s Newport Folk Festival, sang Mr. Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “Troubled and I Don’t Know Why,” and “Fare Thee Well.”

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