A radio station in Atlanta, Georgia, that did play the record was firebombed. Ian received hate mail and was spat on in the streets. Ian retired from the music business in her late teens — tired of the pressure to churn out product and perform, tired of being shunned or patronized because of her age and her success, and tired of fighting to make the music she wanted to make.
Ian has developed an entrepreneurial and multi-faceted career as record company owner, performer, songwriter, workshop facilitator, audiobook narrator, and author; she won the Grammy for Best Spoken Word Album in for narrating the audiobook of her autobiography.
It transcends borders, gender, race, nationality. You are commenting using your WordPress. You are commenting using your Google account. You are commenting using your Twitter account. You are commenting using your Facebook account.
Notify me of new comments via email. Notify me of new posts via email. This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Honest and sincere. Jun 09, Susan Moss rated it it was ok. I remember when Society's Child first came out I lived At Seventeen I've seen her in concert multiple times as long-ago as college days In fact, I bought this book at FRFF when she was performing and stood in line to have her sign it.
She told stories during her set about her mom's passing a few years before and, since I was care-taking for my own mom the summer before missing the festival , it all hit home. She was gracious during my few minutes with her, holding my hand when I started crying, and then commenting on my Todd Snider Peace Love Anarchy baseball cap "I love Todd.
He and I are e-mail buddies. I understand that she was thrust into the spotlight at a young age, and she had to develop coping skills to manage the influx of fame, money, fans. Janis' therapist continues to tell her that she doesn't trust anyone, but there's also a part of her that trusts everyone There's a guardedness to this autobiography, even though it mostly feels that she's airing all the dirty laundry. Only toward the end, with her mom's passing, her marriage to girlfriend Pat and new life venture of fiction-writing does she begin to seem authentic and warm, but by then it's almost too late.
I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet Janis a few times to counterbalance the "sour grapes" account of her life which comes across on the page. Sep 06, Bethany rated it it was amazing Shelves: crushes , memoir-bio , wuhluhwuh , all-lgbtqia. I joined a new library system the other week, and was finally able to get my hands on a copy of this book.
I should've have just gone ahead and bought it since I've been wanting to read it for so long, but oh well. Read: I have been a massive fangirl of hers and have spent hours alone listening to or singing her music. This book just increased my surety that Janis Ian is a matchless a I joined a new library system the other week, and was finally able to get my hands on a copy of this book.
This book just increased my surety that Janis Ian is a matchless and amazing woman. I was astounded by the amount of devastating things in her life; I kept thinking it couldn't get worse, but most every chapter brought new heartbreak.
But, but, but! Janis is still alive to tell her tale, and that is incredible and makes me so happy. Dec 31, Karen Ireland-Phillips added it. Ian said she wanted to write her autobiography as if it'd been written by John Grisham.
She suceeded. It's fast-moving, covers a lot of years and deep emotional territory without ever dipping very far into the underlying emotional state of the author.
Far more moving, and immediate, was the talk about the book I had the fortune to hear her give about the book in Cl Ms. Far more moving, and immediate, was the talk about the book I had the fortune to hear her give about the book in Cleveland just after its release.
When Ms. Ian spoke about her mother's decline and death, it was as if the listeners were with her. Sep 19, Elizabeth rated it it was amazing. The best way to enjoy this book is to listen to the audio version, narrated by Janis. You'll get some wonderful, musical chapter openers from Janis that really set the mood. Janis appears to be a very courageous, positive person, someone to be admired. The only thing that puzzled me is that Janis did not express her feelings concerning the death of her friend, Janis Joplin.
She mentioned JJ, but did not mention her feelings after JJ had passed away. I found this odd. But I guess she had her reas The best way to enjoy this book is to listen to the audio version, narrated by Janis. But I guess she had her reasons for not wanting to go into that in this book. Again, give yourself a treat, and listen to the audio version. It's a joy to listen to Janis's soothing, upbeat voice telling her own story.
Sep 28, Gerry rated it really liked it. Another librarian posted an article about Janis Ian's talk at a library conference. It was very moving and so I put her autobiography on hold at the library. It's taken me quite a while to get through it. There was a lot of sadness and sometimes, I just had to put it aside.
I have 3 children who are artists of one kind or another. Reading this book about this artist makes me hope for them that they have enough joy and enough success to have a good life without the awfulness of big success. It seems Another librarian posted an article about Janis Ian's talk at a library conference.
It seems that Janis has found peace and joy in her life. I'm glad I read her autobiography. Sep 12, Lorna rated it really liked it. I tend to like memoirs and this one was no exception. I leaned a lot about the music industry some of which I had vaguely known because of a neighbor in the business who had some similar experiences. I love learning about people and how they became who they are. Janis was very candid and I learned a lot about her vulnerability and humanity.
Mar 28, Ashley rated it it was amazing. I found this an incredibly compelling read. For those who say that it is ego-centric or self indulgent Autobiographies are, by their very nature, self-indulgent. Ian actually wrote a song making fun of this fact. Apr 23, Linda Ann Rentschler rated it it was amazing.
From her early stardom to her present circumstances, Janis has written from her heart--even when it was broken. This was the most honest autobiography I've ever read. This book is for anyone who has heard the soulful sounds in her music and wondered where it all came from. Well done! Jan 07, Daniela Botterbusch rated it liked it. If you're considering this book, I highly recommend the audiobook Audible version. Janice Ian narrates, and she performs snippets of her own work throughout.
Sep 22, Tom Mueller rated it it was amazing Shelves: non-fiction , hardcover , music , bio , photography-art , 1stedition. MOST excellent. This read has prompted me to immerse myself in Janis Ian's work. She is playing in Chicago and Ft. Laud in and I hope to make her concerts. Have written to her webpage. I'm a big Janis Ian fan and hearing herself telling the fantastic story of her rather difficult life, was an uplifting experience!
Singer-songwriter Janis Ian does a wonderful job reading her autobiography--even singing parts of her songs. She's had a remarkable life, starting with her controversial hit song about a doomed interracial romance "Society's Child" , which she wrote and recorded at It catapulted her into fame, garnering both tremendous praise as well as hate and abuse.
By the time I first heard her music in , she had released several albums and I lay on my bed in the dark, listening and crying over an Singer-songwriter Janis Ian does a wonderful job reading her autobiography--even singing parts of her songs.
By the time I first heard her music in , she had released several albums and I lay on my bed in the dark, listening and crying over and over to her beautifully painful song "At Seventeen". Yes, of course I was 17 at the time. Now I've caught up to her again and found her art and life incredibly inspiring. Through health crises, fortunes won and lost mostly through theft and deceit , abusive romances with both men and women, she has persevered--landing with grace in a relationship and marriage to Patricia Snyder for now more than thirty years.
A great reading experience. Dec 01, Jami rated it really liked it Shelves: audible-books , life-stories. I enjoyed this autobiography. I knew of Janis Ian's songs, and I remember "At 17" being one of the songs I learned to play on the piano. However, I knew nothing of her life, so this was an interesting story for me. She had quite a lot of unique experiences, both positive and negative, and her book also gave glimpses into the recording industry.
I loved the format of having her singing part of one of her songs, and then you would get the part of her life that inspired that particular song. It was I enjoyed this autobiography. It was definitely a unique way of telling the story.
I'm glad that she narrated the book, as her narration and singing added to the listening experience. Jun 13, Terri Floccare rated it liked it. Good memoirs are hard to write. Janis Ian's life is interesting and certainly worthy of learning about, but I wish someone else had written about it.
She is insecure in her life and is insecure in her writing. She practically begs the reader to trust her. It got old after she entered adulthood. Interesting life, wonderful songwriter, mediocre story writer. I bet if she told her life though song, it would be a different story. Its lyrics concern an interracial romance — a still- taboo subject in mids America.
Ian was 13 years of age when she was motivated to write and compose the song, and she completed it when she was Released as "Society's Child Baby I've Been Thinking ", the single charted high in many cities in the autumn of but did not hit big nationally until the summer of The lyrics of the song center on 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. Her neighborhood was predominantly populated by African Americans and she was one of very few whites in her school. I saw it from both ends. I was seeing it from the end of all the civil rights stuff on the television and radio , of white parents being incensed when their daughters would date black men, and I saw it around me when black parents were worried about their sons or daughters dating white girls or boys.
I don't think I knew where I was going when I started it, but when I hit the second line, "face is clean and shining black as night", it was obvious where the song was going. I don't think I made a conscious decision to have the girl cop out in the end, it just seemed like that would be the logical thing at my age, because how can you buck school and society and your parents, and make yourself an outcast forever?
Songwriter and producer Shadow Morton signed Janis to a record contract and made the decision to issue "Society's Child" as her first release.
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