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  • 2/21/2025
In 1965, Janis Ian, a 14-year-old singer-songwriter from New Jersey, wrote “Society’s Child” about an interracial | dG1fd1lPejJiX2lMeHc
Transcript
00:00And the winner is, at 17, Janis Ia.
00:04When I started out, I wanted to be really famous.
00:08So naive.
00:11What do you consider yourself, Janis?
00:13Just a singer.
00:14Of any particular notoriety?
00:17Infamously, yes.
00:18If you will please, Janis Ia.
00:20Janis standing there with just an acoustic guitar.
00:23It was just mesmerizing.
00:26This little woman wrote giant works of art.
00:30Very strong, emphatic, social commentary.
00:33This is perhaps one of the most censored, I think, of all records.
00:37What I was doing was right.
00:39It had the power to make people stand up.
00:41And that's why it scared them.
00:45You have this young girl taking on interracial relationships.
00:49The record company was afraid of it.
00:51Radio stations were afraid of playing it.
00:53All the odds were stacked against her.
00:55Bernstein said, let's have her on the show we're doing about pop music.
00:59Listen hard to society's child.
01:02That was an embrace of God.
01:04It just took off, and then she took off.
01:12How do you react to the music business?
01:14You have to sacrifice a certain part of yourself for a time.
01:20She was not able to cope with daily reality.
01:26I had no money. I had nowhere to live.
01:32In those years, it was not cool to be out of the closet.
01:39We were writing every day.
01:41And of course, we fell in love.
01:47I know what it is to feel powerless.
01:49I know what it is to feel trapped.
01:51And so I can use those feelings as part of being truthful.
01:54There's a creativity there. There's a power there.
01:57Her legacy is not just as a songwriter, but it's as an LGBTQ icon.
02:01I can't say the rest is history, but history was being made.
02:05Child prodigies have complications.
02:08I don't think that she intended to become a symbol of social change.
02:13She was writing about what she knew.
02:15She's true to her music and true to herself.
02:20Music is about telling stories. This is mine.
02:23Thank you. It's been a long time.

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