Janis Ian Still Standing

At the age of 13, janis wrote and sang her first hit single, Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking), about an interracial romance forbidden by a girl's mother and frowned upon by her peers and teachers.  Produced by George "Shadow" Morton and released three times from 1965 to 1967, finally became a national hit upon its third release after Leonard Bernstein featured it in a CBS TV special titled Inside Pop: The Rock Revolution.  The song's lyrical content was taboo for some radio stations, and they withdrew or banned it from their playlists accordingly; in her 2008 autobiography Society's Child, Janis recalls receiving hate mail and death threats as a response to the song, and mentions that a radio station in Atlanta that played it was burned down.  In the summer of 1967, Society's Child reached #14 on the Billboard Hot 100, the single having sold 600,000 copies, and the album 350,000. The lyrics of the song center around the feelings of a young girl who witnesses the humiliation that her African American boyfriend receives from the girl's mother and the taunts that she herself endures from classmates and teachers.  It closes with her decision to end her relationship with the boyfriend because of her inability to deal with the social pressure.

At Seventeen, a bittersweet commentary on adolescent cruelty, the illusion of popularity, and teenage angst, as reflected upon from the perspective of a 24-year-old, was released in 1975.  At Seventeen was a major hit, receiving tremendous acclaim from critics and record buyers alike—it charted at #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.  It won the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Performance - Female beating out Linda Ronstadt, who was nominated for her Heart Like a Wheel album. The song's album, Between the Lines, was also a smash and hit #1 on Billboard's Album chart.  It was quickly certified Gold and later earned a 'Platinum' certification for sales of over one million copies sold in the US.  Another measure of her success is anecdotal: on Valentine's Day 1977, Jan received 461 Valentine cards, having indicated in the lyrics to At Seventeen that she never received any as a teenager.

Fly Too High (1979), produced by disco producer Giorgio Moroder, was her contribution to the soundtrack of the Jodie Foster film Foxes, also featured on Ian's 1979 album Night Rains.  It earned her a Grammy nomination and became a hit single in many countries, including South Africa, Belgium. Australia, Israel, and the Netherlands. Another country where Ian has achieved a high level of popularity is Japan.  She had two top 10 singles on the Japanese Oricon charts, Love Is Blind in 1976, and You Are Love in 1980; and her album Aftertones topped Oricon's album chart in October 1976.  You Are Love (Toujours Gai Mon Cher) is the theme song of Kinji Fukasaku's 1980 movie Virus.

In addition to being an award-winning singer-songwriter, she writes science fiction.  A long-time reader of the genre, she got into science fiction fandom in 2001, attending the Millennium Philcon.  Her short stories have been published in anthologies, and she co-edited, with Mike Resnick, the anthology Stars: Original Stories Based on the Songs of Janis Ian, published in 2003.  She also occasionally attends science fiction conventions.

The Other Side of the Sun I'm leaving on a boat for beyond the other side of the ocean I bet you in the morning, you won't even know I'm gone 'Cause I'm tired of living here in the middle of a mixed emotion I might as well be living on the other side of the sun Leaving with the feeling I don't know how I'm dealing with loving you Though once I knew the special way and what to do To make you stay forever and ever Even as I'm leaving, I'll never stop believing you are the one Who can make me laugh and can bring me back From beyond the other side of the sun I'm rolling down the river I hope I can deliver the morning I'm wishing on a star for the sun to come out and play Ain't it funny, when it's over you really don't remember the warning You might as well be living out beyond the milky way

Wanderin' Spirit
March, 2014
"Janis Ian Still Standing"

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