Janis Ian
Janis Ian
Janis Ianis an American singer-songwriter who was mostly active in the 1960s and 1970s; her most successful song, At Seventeen, was released as a single from her 1975 album Between the Lines which reached number 1 on the Billboard chart...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFolk Singer
Date of Birth7 April 1951
CityBronx, NY
CountryUnited States of America
country son gay
I think these last 10 years have seen just a huge shift in the psyche of this country as regards gay people. I think AIDS had a lot to do with it. So many families who really believed they'd 'never met one' were suddenly confronted with their sons becoming ill, and friends of sons. I think that brought a lot of it into the open.
song children hate
I had a vague idea of the song's impact in the '60s, but that was tempered by the hate mail and threats I was receiving. It was only about ten years ago, when I finally put it back in my show because so many people were asking for it, that I understood 'Society's Child' real impact.
play half world
I'm a huge Peter Mayer fan, but only when I don't feel like killing him for being so good. I love Peter's work, though it irritates me that he plays so much better than I do. If I rocked half as hard as Peter does, I'd own the world by now.
philosophy enemy doe
Truth is not the enemy and whatever does not kill us, sets us free.
wish weavers mary
Wish I'd written Tikkun Olam – a Weavers or Peter Paul & Mary hit!
more-time leaving-me
Going off the road just leaves me more time to be a writer.
book avid car
I've always been an avid reader. If I don't have a book in the car, I'll stop and pick one up just to have something to read. I don't even remember learning to read.
guitar playing-guitar
I played for anybody and everybody from the time I started playing guitar, when I was 10 or 11.
heart men wind
The heart of a city Is the soul of a man It winds like a river Through the heart of the land They can tear down a building They can tear down a park They can strike at a symbol But they can't strike the heart.
people political confusing
When people used to call me a political writer, it was kind of confusing because I was always much more interested in the social end of things which hinges on the political, but it isn't really part of it.
kings thinking years
I think all of us thought that by the '70s, at the latest the '80s, all the world's problems would be solved and everyone would be getting along fine. And instead we saw that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated that year, Robert F. Kennedy died. We saw that it was going to be a lot more difficult than I think we had thought.
taken talent effects
The money when you're having a hit is great, but money can be taken from you. What can't be taken from you is the talent and the effect your work has.
home phones grace
Those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces, desperately remained at home, inventing lovers on the phone.
girl dream ugly-duckling
Dreams were all they gave for free to ugly duckling girls like me.