Editing Joan Baez (section)

===1970s and the end of Vanguard years===
[[File:Joan Baez Hamburg 1973 2811730005.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.8|Baez playing in Hamburg, 1973| alt=Joan Baez playing on stage in a Hamburg TV studio, 1973]]
After eleven years with Vanguard, Baez decided in 1971 to cut ties with the label that had released her albums since 1960. She delivered Vanguard one last success with the gold-selling album ''[[Blessed Are...]]'' (1971), which included a top-ten hit in "[[The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down]]", her cover of [[the Band]]'s signature song. With ''[[Come from the Shadows]]'' (1972), Baez switched to [[A&M Records]], where she remained for four years and six albums. Joan Baez wrote "The Story of Bangladesh" in 1971. This song was based on the Pakistani army crackdown on unarmed sleeping Bengali students at Dhaka University on March 25, 1971, which ignited the prolonged nine-month [[Bangladesh Liberation War]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/avijit/joan_baez260306.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407094644/http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/avijit/joan_baez260306.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=April 7, 2014|title=Joan Baez and our Liberation War Avijit Roy|date=April 7, 2014}}</ref> The song was later entitled "The Song of Bangladesh" and released in a 1972 album from Chandos Music.<ref>[http://www.joanbaez.com/Lyrics/bangladesh.html Words and Music by Joan Baez, Song of Bangladesh] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120210083940/http://www.joanbaez.com/Lyrics/bangladesh.html |date=February 10, 2012 }}, lyrics joanbaez.com.</ref>

During this period in late 1971, she reunited with composer [[Peter Schickele]] to record two tracks, "Rejoice in the Sun" and "Silent Running" for the [[science fiction|science-fiction]] film ''[[Silent Running]]''. The two songs were issued as a single on [[Decca Records|Decca]] (32890). In addition to this, another LP was released on Decca (DL 7-9188) and was later reissued by [[Varèse Sarabande]] on black (STV-81072) and green (VC-81072) vinyl. In 1998, a limited release on CD by the "Valley Forge Record Groupe" was released.

Baez's first album for A&M, ''[[Come from the Shadows]]'', was recorded in Nashville, and included a number of more personal compositions, including "Love Song to a Stranger" and "Myths", as well as work by Mimi Farina, John Lennon, and Anna Marly. ''[[Where Are You Now, My Son?]]'' (1973) featured a 23-minute title song which took up all of the [[A-side and B-side|B-side]] of the album. Half [[spoken word]] poem and half tape-recorded sounds, the song documented Baez's visit to [[Hanoi]], [[North Vietnam]], in December 1972 during which she and her traveling companions survived the 11-day-long [[Christmas Bombings]] campaign over Hanoi and [[Haiphong]].<ref>[http://www.democracynow.org/2002/12/26/joan_baez Democracy Now, December 26, 2002] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100509070826/http://www.democracynow.org/2002/12/26/joan_baez |date=May 9, 2010 }} (audio). Interview with Joan Baez by Amy Goodman. ''[[Democracy Now]]''. Retrieved June 17, 2010.</ref><!-- See Vietnam War in [[Joan Baez#Civil rights|Civil rights]] section below. -->

''[[Gracias a la Vida (album)|Gracias a la Vida]]'' (1974) (the title song written and first performed by Chilean folk singer [[Violeta Parra]]) followed and was a success in both the U.S. and Latin America. It included the song "[[Cucurrucucú paloma]]". Flirting with mainstream pop music as well as writing her own songs for ''[[Diamonds & Rust]]'' (1975), the album became the highest selling of Baez's career and included a second top-ten single in the form of the title track. After ''[[Gulf Winds]]'' (1976), an album of entirely self-composed songs and ''[[From Every Stage]]'' (1976), a live album that had Baez performing songs "from every stage" of her career, Baez again parted ways with a record label when she moved to [[Sony Music Entertainment|CBS Records]] for ''[[Blowin' Away]]'' (1977) and ''[[Honest Lullaby]]'' (1979).