Table of Contents
Musical genius, lover of lifes bounties, survivor of its spectacular bummers, big, big artist in a beautiful tiny packagemy friend Janis Ian.
RONNIE GILBERT, singer, actor, playwright, of the Weavers
This is a wonderful book. Janis has made something amazing here, as amazing as any of her songs. Its not just her storyits our story, the story of a generation. She is articulate, emotional without being self-indulgent, handles tragedy with grace, tells of amazing involvement with other icons of our time without being in the least pretentious, and her words resonate with our own experiences so that as you read, you will constantly find yourself saying, Hey, I remember that! and I was doing this then. It was a kaleidoscopic time, the decades of innocence lost and regained and lost again, and Janis tells it all with the conviction of one who has truly lived it and come out on the other side to hand us our hope again, wrapped in another song.
MERCEDES LACKEY, author of the Heralds of Valdemar series, The Fairy God-mother, and the Obsidian Mountain Trilogy
Janis Ians songs cut close to the bone. So does her autobiography. Harrowing and inspiring by turns, Societys Child is as relentlessly honest as her lyrics, and engrossing from first page to last. A fascinating look at the music business as it was then and it is now, and the life of a singer and songwriter whose music helped to shape our dreams and define our times, even while she herself was battling racists, rejection, abuse, and the Internal Revenue Service, this book is sure to touch anyone who ever yearned for more.
GEORGE R. R. MARTIN, author of the bestselling series A Song of Ice & Fire
Societys Child is an extraordinary book: brave, wise, and honestjust like the treasured songwriter whose story it is.
CHARLES DE LINT, author of Dingo and Promises to Keep
Societys Child proves that Janis Ians prose is as searing as her song lyrics. To live through all that she has, personally and professionally, and to come through it with her sanity, sense of humor, health, and talent intact is both astonishing and inspiring. For anyone who thinks they know Janis Ian, this book will not only surprise themit may in turn horrify, sadden, but ultimately enlighten them.
CHRISTINE LAVIN, singer-songwriter
Societys Child is a truly remarkable story, told by a truly remarkable talent. Janis Ian is a wordsmith who could make anything interesting; with a subject as fascinating as her life, the result is a classic of its kind.
MIKE RESNICK, award-winning science fiction author
One of the finest self-written books about the songwriting life in recent years... Its nice that Janis Ian conducts the tour in person and allows us to see the undressed side of the stone.
JIMMY WEBB, songwriter and author of Tunesmith: Inside the Art of Songwriting
Good autobiographies are rare. Its too tempting to excuse, justify, or conceal ones own mistakes, or absolve them through confession, or, worse, to attack other people in the guise of telling the truth. Janis Ian understands that nobody knows the truth, and all she can tell is how things seemed to her as they were happening and how they seem to her now. The result is a book that has all the inside knowledge of memoir, yet all the candor, compassion, and toughness of a book written by a wise observer. Add to this Janis Ians extraordinary talent as a writer, and you have a book of surpassing clarity and truth.
ORSON SCOTT CARD, award-winning author of Enders Game
Janis is at once larger-than-life, and excruciatingly human. I opened it, intending to skim the first page, and looked up thirty minutes later to find myself still standing at my kitchen counter, weeping like a baby. After finishing Societys Child, I feel like Ive had a front-row seat to the sound track of my life. The telling of the tale would have been enough, but the insights into her personal ups and downs through it all are the real gift of this book. In the end, she teaches us that stewarding our gifts and living life from the inside out are the true tasks at hand for each of us, messy though they may be. Her extraordinary strength of spirit shines through every page.
KATHY MATTEA, Grammy-winning singer and musician
For Stella Adler & Gerry Weiss
Gone, but never forgotten
SPECIAL THANKS TO
My benign readers group, who read and commented from the first draft on: DLesli Davis, Adrienne Dominguez, Sandra Eikelenboom, Jeff Evans, Mary Faulkner, Mike Resnick, Cathy Sullivan, and especially Ineke Kokernoot and Don Schlitz, whose comments were invaluable.
The fan research group: Kathleen Brogan, Dar Vendegna, Marilyn Manzione, Jim Perota, Karen Redick, and in particular Amy Hoffman and Barb Roady Winters, who saved me countless hours by assembling old tour schedules and press.
The Green Hills Public Library, which provided hundreds of research volumes without a whimper.
My first editor, Judy Wieder, who forced me to write prose and whipped me into shape; my second editor, Lydia Hutchinson, who gave me free rein and made me learn to edit myself. Mike Resnick, friend and collaborator, who insisted I begin writing fiction; Mercedes Lackey, who maintained I could do it, then walked me through my first effort. Orson Scott Card, who gave me my first laptop. Kitty Kelley, who was adamant that I not go for the high dollars and write this book too soonwho also unwittingly gave me structure when she said, Write it like you write your music. Make every chapter a song. The end result will be a symphony.
My business manager, Charles Sussman, and my agents, Tim Drake and Paul Fenn, who helped make it possible for me to stay home a full year to write this book. Jennie Adams, who helped me stay sane through the process. Kat Graham, who kept the house going, and John Leonardini, who kept the website and computers running.
Lula McMillan and Willie Mae Duncan, who cared for my mother like their own until the day of her death.
My partner of two decades, Pat Snyder, who keeps my ego firmly in check, and whose unwavering support makes all the difference.
Last but not least, to the writers whove sustained me, from Rimbaud to Madeleine LEngle, who opened new worlds to me when I most needed them. And to Anne McCaffrey, whose wit and wisdom remind me daily that life is for the living.
INTRODUCTION
I was born into the crack that split America.
On one side of the chasm was the America my parents lived in. There, the country was still congratulating itself on winning the war after the War to End All Wars. Men wore suits and ties to work, or laborers uniforms. Women wore stiletto heels, and kept themselves pure for marriage. Females did the housework, males did the heavy lifting. Blacks knew their place, whites knew theirs, and there wasnt much room between.
On the other side of the crack was the America I grew up in, bounded by anarchy and a passion for truth. In that America, all wars were meaningless, born out of governmental greed and disregard. Vietnam was just the latest in a series of events to help the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. People on my side of the crack wore colorful clothing and water buffalo sandals, made love not war, and believed in the family of man, unbounded by race, religion, or nationality. We lived through an adolescence tinged by the assassinations of those we held dear. We didnt know our place.