- Hey, everybody.
My name's Aoife O'Donovan, and I'm here
in Winter Park, Florida
and so excited to submit this little video
to the digital hub for the Kennedy Center Honors.
I am thrilled to be honoring one
of my absolute heroes, Joan Baez.
I think she is so deserving of this honor.
She is a real, just a real icon of the folk movement,
the activism movement, the singer-songwriter movement.
She is just kinda unparalleled
and a real incredible human.
I got to meet her once, a couple of times actually.
I got to meet her backstage at a concert
that she did when I was a little girl
at the Somerville Theatre in Boston,
and then I got to meet her as a professional musician
over at Lincoln Center in New York City
when she was a special guest
of Mary Chapin Carpenter and her orchestra show.
I was a special guest.
It was a real pinch-me moment of my life
that I'll never forget is just getting
to be in the same room and sing with Joan Baez.
So here's a version of her song,
"Love Song to a Stranger," that really,
in 2020 and 2021, has taken on a new meaning for sure.
As I've been learning this song
and working up this little version of it,
it's really ringing true
and I think it will for you too, so enjoy.
♪ How long since I've spent a whole night ♪
♪ In a twin bed with a stranger ♪
♪ His warm arms all around me ♪
♪ How long since I've gazed into dark eyes ♪
♪ That melted my soul down ♪
♪ To a place where it longs to be ♪
♪ All of your history ♪
♪ Has little to do with your face ♪
♪ You're mainly a mystery ♪
♪ With violins filling in space ♪
♪ You stood in the nude by the mirror ♪
♪ And you picked out a rose ♪
♪ From the bouquet in the hotel ♪
♪ And laid down beside me again ♪
♪ And I watched the rose ♪
♪ On the pillow where it fell ♪
♪ I sank and I slept in a twilight with only one care ♪
♪ To know that when day broke ♪
♪ And I woke, you'd still be there ♪
♪ The hours for once they passed slowly, unendingly by ♪
♪ Like a sweet breeze on a field ♪
♪ Your gentleness came down upon me ♪
♪ I guess I thanked you ♪
♪ When you caused me to yield ♪
♪ We spoke not a sentence ♪
♪ And took not a footstep beyond ♪
♪ Our two days together ♪
♪ Which seemingly soon will be gone ♪
♪ Don't tell me of love everlasting ♪
♪ And other sad dreams ♪
♪ You know, I don't wanna hear it ♪
♪ Just tell me of passionate strangers ♪
♪ Who rescue each other ♪
♪ From a lifetime of cares ♪
♪ 'Cause if love means forever expecting nothing in return ♪
♪ Then I hope I'll be given ♪
♪ Another whole lifetime to learn ♪
♪ 'Cause you gave to me oh so many things ♪
♪ It makes me wonder ♪
♪ How they could belong to me ♪
♪ And I gave you only my dark eyes ♪
♪ That melted your soul down ♪
♪ To a place where it longs to be ♪