Those who knew Dylan and Baez well will never forget them.

As for Joan's role in life, she always said that she was basically by instinct some sort of politician for certain causes that moved her...one who just happened to get her message across mainly by singing. And she made no apologies for so being. She was not confused about her role. Other people were confused about it, because they had their expectations (based on something she'd down before), and they bloody well wanted them fulfilled! I can well recall being quite frustrated when she released some almost exclusively political stuff in the late 60's, early 70's, because I wanted to hear her do more modern ballads like she was doing in '65 (when she recorded some great Dylan tunes). Well, I had my expectations! ;-)

People were confused about Bob all the time for much the same reason. They had their expectations (based on something he'd done before), and their expectations weren't being met! Boo hoo!

A fan whose expectations have been frustrated by an artist's change in direction is a lot like a jilted lover...but in this case it's a jilted lover who never actually knew the beloved. It's a one-way obsession. Jilted lovers can be real pests. In rare cases they can even be quite dangerous.