• 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?

• Next to last Pearl Foundation auction begins 7pm EDT Oct. 12!

  Just two more auctions for the Pearl Foundation; after that it's all going to archives. Read about Elton John, buy beadwork by Mercedes Lackey, have a big time!

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All tour dates updated on October 9, 2021.

2022 Tour Dates

• Thursday, February 24th
  Jean Cocteau Theatre - *Break-in show*
  Santa Fe, NM

  Jean Cocteau Theatre - *Break-in show*

  Santa Fe, NM

  Visit the venue's website

  BOX OFFICE NOT OPEN. Ticket on sale date TBA.

• Friday, February 25th
  Jean Cocteau Theatre - *Break-in show*
  Santa Fe, NM

  Jean Cocteau Theatre - *Break-in show*

  Santa Fe, NM

  Visit the venue's website

  BOX OFFICE NOT OPEN. Ticket on sale date TBA.

• Saturday, February 26th
  Jean Cocteau Theatre - *Break-in show*
  Santa Fe, NM

  Jean Cocteau Theatre - *Break-in show*

  Santa Fe, NM

  Visit the venue's website

  BOX OFFICE NOT OPEN. Ticket on sale date TBA.

• Sunday, February 27th
  Jean Cocteau Theatre - Master Class
  Santa Fe, NM

  Jean Cocteau Theatre - Master Class

  Santa Fe, NM

  Visit the venue's website

  Master Class. BOX OFFICE NOT OPEN. Ticket on sale date TBA. Read more about Janis' Master Classes.

• Thursday, March 3rd
  Rialto Theater
  Tucson, AZ

  Rialto Theater

  Tucson, AZ

  Phone: 520-740-0071

  Visit the venue's website

  Solo show. 8:00PM. Tickets available via Ticketmaster.

• Friday, March 4th
  TBA
  Phoenix, AZ, USA

  TBA

  Phoenix, AZ, USA

  Phone: N/A

  Visit the venue's website
• Sunday, March 6th
  The Magnolia
  El Cajon, CA

  The Magnolia

  El Cajon, CA

  Phone: 619-651-2004

  Visit the venue's website

  Solo show. Tickets will go on sale Thursday, April 15th, 2021.

• Friday, March 11th
  McCabes Guitar Shop
  Los Angeles, CA

  McCabes Guitar Shop

  Los Angeles, CA

  Phone: 310-828-4497

  Visit the venue's website

  Solo show. Tickets on sale now at the venue's website.

• Saturday, March 12th
  McCabes Guitar Shop
  Los Angeles, CA

  McCabes Guitar Shop

  Los Angeles, CA

  Phone: 310-828-4497

  Visit the venue's website

  Solo show. Tickets on sale now at the venue's website.

• Sunday, March 13th
  McCabes Guitar Shop - Master Class
  Los Angeles, CA

  McCabes Guitar Shop - Master Class

  Los Angeles, CA

  Phone: 310-828-4497

  Visit the venue's website

  Master Class. More information coming soon. Read more about Janis' Master Classes.

• Wednesday, March 16th
  The Painted Table Events Center
  Fresno, CA

  The Painted Table Events Center

  Fresno, CA

  Phone: 559-443-7199

  Visit the venue's website

  Solo show. Tickets will go on sale Thursday, April 15th, 2021.

• Friday, March 18th
  Montalvo Arts Center
  Saratoga, CA

  Montalvo Arts Center

  Saratoga, CA

  Phone: (408) 961-5800

  Visit the venue's website

  Tickets will be available at a date TBA.

  Janis has never played Montalvo Arts Center - at least, not that she remembers! - but reading about the history of this amazing space, she became determined to visit. A short West Coast run to finish out the year gives her the opportunity.

  Catch this rare opportunity to hear old favorites and new, listen to a few stories, and have a wonderful time with this incredible solo performer.

  As per usual, there will be an after-show signing. We hope you'll bring your old vinyl, CD's, songbooks, and stop by to say "Hello"!

  If you want to hear what she's up to now, we encourage you to stop by her own website at https://janisian.com and check out "Resist" in the "Listening Room" area - download it and the lyrics<

more tour dates

• "Jenny (Iowa Sunrise)" by Janis Ian & Chick Corea
• "Forever Yours" by Janis Ian
• "I'm Still Standing" by Janis Ian
• "On The Other Side" by Janis Ian

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