Idols And Heroes - Joan Baez

There are really two kinds of public figures

Or two, as I really see in terms of abstract gatherings of them

I mean, there, there are idols and there are heroes

And they, they serve two different functions

And are present in two very different kind of societies

Which is, an idol is something that really exists beyond the people

It does their living for them

An idol is something that teaches people what they can’t be

You know, I mean it exists in a sense

As a negation of the people who worship it

You know, Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe is worshiped, you know

By countless numbers of people who know

They’ll never be Marilyn Monroe

And because they know that they’ll never be Marilyn Monroe

They worship Marilyn Monroe

I mean the other one is hero

And a hero is something that teaches people

What they can be

I mean a hero is an available model

You know, that doesn’t exist as something

That’s impossible to reach

But really exists as the embodiment

Of what everybody could be

If I’m going to be a hero

Then I’m going to insist on making everybody a hero

I mean, that’s the only way I can relate to it

You know, because, I was in a place in my former life

That I was afraid to go out to dinner, you know, and eat

In my favorite Mexican restaurant

Because everybody stared when I came in, you know

I honestly don’t intend to have my life shoved around like that

Because it’s really a very destructive process

How were you intending to finish?

You didn’t say

We’re waiting for word from David’s lawyer’s office

And they said nothing came in the mail, so we’re…

I found out this morning that my appeals are over

And so, I’m not going to surrender myself

Because I figure if somebody’s going to take

Three years of your life, the least they can do

Is give you a ride

You know, it, it shouldn’t be too much

For someone to come up here and arrest me

I mean, I don’t like the idea of me walking

Into their jail that way

I mean, let 'em come up and bust me for what I do

I’d like to give them a chance to see what they’re doing

I mean I am leaving my nice scene behind

I am leaving my wife pregnant

I am leaving all those things

And I think that the least any man who comes to arrest me

Ought to do is see that

You know, I mean, let him know the reality

Of what he does

Let him see, let him step out from behind his padded gloves

You know, let him take his dark glasses off

And take a look