I know just enough Japanese to get by if I get lost and greet an audience properly, just from having a lot of Japanese friends and being there over the years. Janis Ian More Quotes by Janis Ian More Quotes From Janis Ian I think all of us thought that by the '70s, at the latest the '80s, all the world's problems would be solved and everyone would be getting along fine. And instead we saw that Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated that year, Robert F. Kennedy died. We saw that it was going to be a lot more difficult than I think we had thought. Janis Ian kings years thinking Artists are taught to be humble about their impact, especially in folk music. It's so ingrained that I have a hard time even thinking I had any impact other than what a normal hit song would have. Janis Ian artist humble song Once you're halfway home, you know that you can probably get the rest of the way there. Janis Ian knows home way Did you have an awesome time? Did you drink awesome shooters, listen to awesome music, and then just sit around and soak up each others awesomeness? Janis Ian mean-girls awesomeness drink Some people would rather stay ignorant and self-satisfied. Janis Ian ignorant self people Wish I'd written Tikkun Olam – a Weavers or Peter Paul & Mary hit! Janis Ian weavers peter wish I learned the truth at seventeen, That love was meant for beauty queens, And high school girls with clear skinned smiles, Who married young and then retired. Janis Ian queens girl school I think these last 10 years have seen just a huge shift in the psyche of this country as regards gay people. I think AIDS had a lot to do with it. So many families who really believed they'd 'never met one' were suddenly confronted with their sons becoming ill, and friends of sons. I think that brought a lot of it into the open. Janis Ian gay country son I want to do some fiction writing, I've had some pretty good luck with short stories, I'd like to do a couple of larger things. Janis Ian good-luck couple writing 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 effects talent taken Dreams were all they gave for free to ugly duckling girls like me. Janis Ian ugly-duckling girl dream Going off the road just leaves me more time to be a writer. Janis Ian more-time leaving-me I've always been an avid reader. If I don't have a book in the car, I'll stop and pick one up just to have something to read. I don't even remember learning to read. Janis Ian avid car book I played for anybody and everybody from the time I started playing guitar, when I was 10 or 11. Janis Ian playing-guitar guitar 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 girl school thinking Of course, I have a different vested interest in the gay community, because I am gay, and I would certainly enjoy the tax advantages that straight people have, and the inheritance advantages, and things like Social Security, but I've always been a civil rights advocate across the board. That's how I was raised. Janis Ian gay rights people I'm a huge Peter Mayer fan, but only when I don't feel like killing him for being so good. I love Peter's work, though it irritates me that he plays so much better than I do. If I rocked half as hard as Peter does, I'd own the world by now. Janis Ian fans doe play Truth is not the enemy and whatever does not kill us, sets us free. Janis Ian doe philosophy enemy I was interviewed for a Grammy television show, and they asked me about Nashville, and I talked for three minutes and when I finished, I was teared up. The whole room was crying. Nashville has given me a home, where I never had a home before. Janis Ian nashville three home I see interracial couples all the time in Nashville. I'm a Jew in Nashville. I'm a gay person in Nashville. It's a non-issue in most of the time. That's a huge leap forward. Janis Ian nashville gay couple
