Joan Baez - Diamonds and Rust (Live - 1975] “Diamonds & Rust” is a song written, composed, and performed by Joan Baez. It was written in November 1974 and released in 1975. In the song, Baez recounts an out-of-the-blue phone call from an old lover, which sends her a decade back in time, to a “crummy” hotel in Greenwich Village in about 1964 or 1965. She recalls giving him a pair of cufflinks, and surmises that memories bring “diamonds and rust”. Baez has said the lyrics refer to her relationship