• I learned the truth at seventeen,
  That love was meant for beauty queens
• There's never much to say between
  The moments of our games and repartee
• Put your ear to the ground,
  there's a buzz
  about a new type of song
• And I'm leaving the light on the stairs
  No I'm not scared - I wait for you
  Hey Jesse, I'm lonely, come home
• Nothing's sadder than the man who thinks he's free
  when he is chained to the prison of his hatred,
  and a dream gone up in flames
• I would tell her how I've yearned
  to be worthy of the grail.
  All these years and all I've learned
  is just how brilliantly I fail
• There are voices on the wind.
  Stolen whispers, sacred moans.
  You can hear them through your skin,
  and the singing of the bones
• Here we all are, waiting for God,
  or someone who looks just like Him
• We live beyond our means
  on other peoples' dreams,
  and that's succeeding
• We were speaking of values and violence.
  Breaking silence
• And if I never reach Orion,
  and if I never fly that far -
  still there's no harm in trying
  to go walking on a star
• And if Jesus was a black man,
  or as white as Sambo's grin,
  it's his words that we'd remember,
  not the color of his skin
• Old lace and picture frames
  rattle their ancient chains.
  Midnight will surprise moonlight at the door
• I want to make you love me,
  and I want to make you smile,
  and I want to be your family,
  for just a little while
• I believe in tomorrow,
  but I remember yesterday
• How could I have loved you for so long?
  I know I enjoyed you,
  but how could I have liked you?
• Old cliches, they grow like vines,
  to clutch the heart of the one you leave behind
• It's the road that makes the rhythm.
  It's the chalk marks on her soul.
• She was younger than forever.
  She was older than goodbye.
• It's not who you love,
  but whether you can.
• Vocatus atque non vocatus, deus aderit.
  Sursum, Domini, sursum Domini.
  Ora pro nobis, in ora pro nobis pacem, Kyrie.
  In ora Kyrie eleison. Kyrie.
• She can taste it on your breath,
  cutting through the cigarette.
  She can smell it on your sweat
• The city casts no shadow now.
  At midnight,
  all the whores come out and dance with darkness,
  and the night rains pour.
• How does it feel to pull out the nails,
  and find you still can walk?
• Yesterday's preacher,
  today's bikini beacher
• Now all over this big wide world,
  I play like a girl -
  from the California lights to the Serengetti nights,
  I play like a girl
• Close the light. Still the flames.
  Candles light the empty frames.
  A photograph can never be
  the song you are to me.
• Some overdose, and some wrap like a rose
  'round the slick perfumed nose of high noon.
  Burning their lips as they stoop low
  to kiss some rich man's excuse for the moon.
• First time I saw Paris in your eyes,
  you told me how you loved me,
  under blue Picasso skies.
• No one sends roses to crazy old ladies
  who lie in dark dusty rooms,
  the size of a small foreign car.
  Sometimes I wonder
  where all the good people are.
• Some sell their bodies for dimes,
  while others marry for the houses,
  and the jewelry.
  It's a real thin line,
  what you charge for your time.
• Hide me in the wisdom of your thighs.
  Ride me like a wave.
• And is she beautiful?
  She must be pretty, or worse,
  to ride the high seas.
• The gates of the city are closed until dawn,
  when the ghosts of midnight have come and gone,
  and the hearts of the weary carry on
• Why can't my wings soar like yours?
  Why can't my span spread as wide?
  Maybe I've got too much left to hide
• I am waiting for my life to be
  one long unbroken symphony.
  Will it come too late to shelter me?
  I long to be eternity.
  Come on, come on, eternity!
• I lay the baby out each dawn,
  inbetween the tender corn,
  with sunrise for her bonnet,
  and flies her only blanket.
• Somewhere out there are millions just like me -
  homesick for Eden,
  heartsick at the memory.
• You mistake the moment for the song.
  The drama for the play.
  The actor for the role.
  The neon light for day.
• The old ones like to claw and clutch.
  Be careful not to offer much.
  They understand the fist and crutch.
• Here I am dancing at last.
  Holding my own,
  even when the band plays fast -
  tonight's the night!
• How we used to like the old-time movies.
  The silent picture show,
  where you make up your life
  at the end of the night,
  as your reel to reels unfold
• Her new name was tattooed to her wrist.
  It was longer than the old one... tattoo.
• God said I wish you'd known me,
  when I still believed you'd be true.
  Now for the rest of your days,
  when you call our my name,
  I'll be "Mr. God" to you.
• Every man's an island in the desert of his soul.
  Take to the sky,
  there's nowhere else to go.
• I went to drink some water,
  but the faucet heads were gone.
  They weren't sterling silver,
  but I loved to turn them on.
• Enough about me - let's talk about you.
  What do you think of me?

• Personalized cards on sale!

  Personalized Cards sale has been extended! Remember, everything you purchase at the Janis Ian Store benefits the Pearl Foundation. 

  [more]

• New story from Janis!

  My heart was broken long before we met, so when love came sneaking up, it was completely unexpected.
  I'd grown up in the shadow of The Wall, but never given it much thought. I was grateful to be living on this side, where the Rio Grande provided water for the agricultural station my father ran...

  [more]

• New Download of "Perfect Little Girl"

  The new song "Perfect Little Girl" is now available as a download! You can purchase it in the Store. Enjoy!

  [more]

more hot news

click on any date for full information
click again to close that date

All tour dates updated on June 10, 2018

• Friday, June 22
  Evans Ampitheatre, Cain Park
  Cleveland Heights, OH, N/A

  Evans Ampitheatre, Cain Park

  Cleveland Heights, OH, N/A

  Phone: (216) 371-3000

  Visit the venue's website

  Janis will appear with old friend Susan Werner - expect some good times!

• Sunday June 24
  Martin Theatre, Ravinia Festival
  Highland Park, Illinois,

  Martin Theatre, Ravinia Festival

  Highland Park, Illinois,

  Phone: (847) 266-5000

  Visit the venue's website

  Janis will be making a rare appearance as part of the 2018 Ravinia Festival, in the historic Martin Theatre. This theatre is the only building that still remains from the original Ravinia Park, which opened in 1904. Lovingly restored, it's long been on Janis' "wish list" of venues, and finally, that wish has come true!! 

• Thursday July 12
  Britt Festival with Arlo Guthrie
  Jacksonville, Oregon

  Britt Festival with Arlo Guthrie

  Jacksonville, Oregon

  Phone: 800-882-7488

  Visit the venue's website

  Longtime friends Arlo and Janis finally team up for a show together! They first met in 1967, when they co-presented the Grammy Award for Best Folk Album. "Shows like this are the reason I keep performing," says Janis. "For the chance to work with someone like Arlo, and have a good time in Oregon!"

• Sunday, August 5th, 2018
  Cambridge Folk Festival
  Cambridge, United Kingdom

  Cambridge Folk Festival

  Cambridge, United Kingdom

  Phone: 01223 357851

  Visit the venue's website
• Wednesday August 8 SOLD OUT
  Tivolo Vredenburg
  Utrecht, Holland

  Tivolo Vredenburg

  Utrecht, Holland

  Phone: +3130 – 2314544

  Visit the venue's website

  Solo Concert - first Utrecht show since 2004, first appearance in Holland since 2011!!

• Saturday, Sept 15
  City Folk Festival-Master Class
  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

  City Folk Festival-Master Class

  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

  Visit the venue's website

  Janis will be spending two days at City Folk, her first Canadian appearance in well over a decade. Day one, the 15th, will feature a Master Class in Artistry and a personal interview with audience Q&A. Day two, September 16, will feature a full "Evening With Janis Ian" show. Please check venue website for more information - tickets on sale now!

• Sunday, Sept 16
  City Folk Festival
  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

  City Folk Festival

  Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

  Visit the venue's website

  Janis will be spending two days at City Folk, her first Canadian appearance in well over a decade. Day one, the 15th, will feature a Master Class in Artistry and a personal interview with audience Q&A. Day two, September 16, will feature a full "Evening With Janis Ian" show. Please check venue website for more information - tickets on sale now! TIMES TBA

more tour dates

• A Thousand Years
• Society's Child (live)
• Welcome Home (The Nebulas Song)
• Architect Of All Creation

more free downloads