This dying waltz is a bitter sweet memory of short while in which Joan's husband came from prison, burned another calling-up paper and came under arrest again.
Being a star singer married to anti-war activist makes life awfully public, and so this song hosts some leading actors ("lovers") escaping secretly after the show to steal a moment of time for their privacy.
A dusty curtain is a hateful image of any dead-line.
I think if Elena Bonner (the wife of the famous Soviet dissident Andrey Sakharov) knew this song back in 1978 she would welcome Joan Baez more warmly in their Moscow flat. Time had been really hard on both sides of the Cold War front line.
This dying waltz is a bitter sweet memory of short while in which Joan's husband came from prison, burned another calling-up paper and came under arrest again. Being a star singer married to anti-war activist makes life awfully public, and so this song hosts some leading actors ("lovers") escaping secretly after the show to steal a moment of time for their privacy. A dusty curtain is a hateful image of any dead-line. I think if Elena Bonner (the wife of the famous Soviet dissident Andrey Sakharov) knew this song back in 1978 she would welcome Joan Baez more warmly in their Moscow flat. Time had been really hard on both sides of the Cold War front line.