• 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?

• Pearl Foundation eBay site opens at 8pm EST!

  Bid on a doctor's coat from "Getting On" and a great thermal jacket...

  [more]

• Resist now available as a free download!

  Visit here to watch a video of “Resist” and download a free mp3 and lyric! Janis is encouraging fans and friends to sing along with this song when she presents it at live shows, so get ready!! There are many, many other free items available for download here as well.

  [more]

• New Message From Janis in the Website Newsroom

  It was another good year for the Pearl Foundation, so thanks to everyone who bought merchandise, attended shows, held a Living Room Concert, visited our re-opened eBay Store, or just plain donated a buck or two in thanks for the free downloads! I’ll be publishing a final report on my Facebook page and the forum, but as of this moment we are adding $75,000 to our scholarship endowments, bringing the grand total up to $1,191,250.00

  [more]

more hot news

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All tour dates updated on February 7, 2020

• Wednesday February 26th
  Memorial Hall
  Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

  Memorial Hall

  Cincinnati, Ohio, USA

  Phone: (513) 977-8838

  Visit the venue's website

  An evening with Janis, some new songs, some old songs, some funny stories and some heart-wrenching moments! Expect a shout out to the science fiction community of Cincinnati, and of course, Janis plans to stay after the show to greet people and sign whatever they may buy or bring!!

• Friday February 28
  E. J. Thomas Hall
  Akron, Ohio

  E. J. Thomas Hall

  Akron, Ohio

  Phone: 330-972-7570

  Visit the venue's website

  With Livingston Taylor.

• Sunday, March 1
  Buskirk-Chumley Theater
  Bloomington, IN

  Buskirk-Chumley Theater

  Bloomington, IN

  Phone: 812.323.3020

  Visit the venue's website

  With Livingston Taylor.
  Tickets available via OvationTix. 

• Monday, March 2nd
  Monroe County Public Library
  Bloomington, IN

  Monroe County Public Library

  Bloomington, IN

  Phone: 812-323-3020

  Visit the venue's website

  Note!!! This class is free but because of limited space you must get tickets. 7:00PM start.
  Janis Ian has given master classes in conventional and unconventional settings; she's studied with such luminaries as Stella Adler, Chao Shao Lin of the Peking Opera Company, Dora Krannig of the Royal Ballet, and Bart the Garage Mechanic from down the street. Illustrated with live song performances, you'll hear her take on the history of music ("from the cavemen to syphilis and its effect on the arts"), personal anecdotes based on her five decades of experience as a writer, performer, and business person. There'll also be a free-wheeling Q&A, no holds barred. This class is for anyone interested in the arts, musical or otherwise. In fact, it's for anyone interested in humans. As Janis says, "What have I got to lose at this point in life?"
  Our gratitude to the sponsors of this event, The Stone Age Institute, through a grant from the Kaman Foundation!!!

• Monday June 29 to Friday July 3
  Swannanoa Gathering, Warren Wilson College
  Swannanoa, North Carolina, USA

  Swannanoa Gathering, Warren Wilson College

  Swannanoa, North Carolina, USA

  Phone: N/A

  Visit the venue's website

  For the first time, Janis will be giving her 5-day series "A Master Class In Artistry" during each of the Swannanoa Gathering weeks. Time of her classes is TBA; please check the  website for more information. The 5 day class covers everything from the origins of artists to physicalization, songwriting for profit and not so much, performance, the need to be brave, how to survive as an artist in the modern world, and why bother. Points are illustrated with songs and playing as she takes us on a journey that begins with the first caveman to tell a story and continues through the myth of the artist as "crazy", the need for silence, and why she believes "art saves". Drawing on her 55 years of experience in the entertainment industry and her ten years with Stella Adler, presented with humor and grace, brutally honest, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for her students. 

more tour dates

• Resist
• The Great Divide
• Welcome Home (The Nebulas Song)
• Architect Of All Creation

more free downloads