DIAMONDS AND RUST
(Words and Music by Joan Baez)

Legend: Em=022000, Em9=024000, C=X32010, D=X00232, Bm=224432, Am=002210, (Am7=002010), Fm7=X33210, B7=224242 or 221202

note: Ms. Baez sings this in Fm so to play at her pitch you would capo at the first fret.

COOL Em SOLO INTRO*

[Em]Well I'll be damned [Em9][Em]
Here comes your [C]ghost again [C]hammer-on with your middle finger on the D string
But that's not un- [G] -usual
It's just that the [D]moon is full
And you happened to [Em] call [Em9][Em]

And here I sit
Hand on the telephone
Hearing a voice I'd known
A couple of light years ago
Heading straight for a fall

As I remember your eyes
Were bluer than robin's eggs
My poetry was lousy you said
Where are you calling from?
A booth in the midwest

Ten years ago
I bought you some cufflinks
You brought me something
We both know what memories can bring
They bring diamonds and rust

COOL Em INTRO SOLO AGAIN

Well you burst on the scene
Already a legend
The unwashed phenomenon
The original vagabond
You strayed into my arms

And there you stayed
Temporarily lost at sea
The Madonna was yours for free
Yes the girl on the half-shell
Would keep you unharmed

BRIDGE:
Now I [Bm] see you standing
With brown leaves falling around
And snow in your [Am(7)] hair Now you're [Bm] smiling out the window
Of that crummy hotel
Over Washington [Am(7)] Square
Our [C] breath comes out white clouds
Mingles and hangs in the [G]air
Speaking [Fm7}strictly for me
We both could have died then and [G] there [B7]

COOL INTRO AGAIN

Now you're telling me
You're not nostalgic
Then give me another word for it
You who are so good with words
And at keeping things vague

Because I need some of that vagueness now
It's all come back too clearly
Yes I loved you dearly
And if you're offering me diamonds and rust
I've already paid

© 1975 Chandos Music (ASCAP)

I'm going to try to describe the intro. Sorry I'm too dense to figger a better way.

Start in Em. Play a simple arpeggio that will continue throughout the solo (you're going to have to figure some of it by ear—where changes fall). It should be a simple Th, Index, Middle finger roll.

As you alternate thumb to fingers in the roll, each time the thumb comes 'round sound the next successive string from the E string to the D string with your thumb. When you've sounded the D string, the next roll will start with the thumb plucking the 9th of the Em9. That might give you an idea of the movement. I fear if I haven't confused things too much already going further in that manner certainly will.

The "chords" of the solo will then progress----Em, Em9 (as mentioned), XXX200, XXX000, XXX200, XXX403, XXX505, XXX403, XXX202, XXX002, 221202, 022000.

There are tons of ways you'll find to embellish the arrangement...sliding into notes, sliding the 9th of the Em9 up one fret and back. I also do a sort of quick double arpeggio throughout in my fingerstyle. I just hope the chords will help you find the song in them!

JH