My parents both were doing the Civil Rights Movement, were very involved with the civil rights to Congress. And my friends’ parents were as well. Janis Ian Read Quote
There will always be those people who are just backward and ignorant. There will always be those people. They need somebody to feel superior to. Janis Ian Read Quote
At the end of the day, if you don’t have a record contract, a studio or a guitar, you can still write songs. You’re still an artist. That’s something no one can take away. Janis Ian Read Quote
I think one of the reasons musicians keep doing what they do and writers keep doing what they do, is that we’re totally unsuited for anything else. And I for one am much too lazy. Janis Ian Read Quote
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. Janis Ian Read Quote
I was one of I think three white girls in my school. So, I was very much an outsider. And plus I was Jewish and all of my friends were black and Baptist because they listen to the coolest music. We were all listening to Ray Charles and what was then called race music. Janis Ian Read Quote
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. Janis Ian Read Quote
I played for anybody and everybody from the time I started playing guitar, when I was 10 or 11. Janis Ian Read Quote
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. Janis Ian Read Quote
