INSIDE STORYCREDITS LYRICS

INSIDE STORY

From Janis: To be honest, the mid seventies were pretty much a blur for me. I was touring ten months a year and trying to write an album, arrange and record it, do press appearances, and live my life all at once. So unless the concert was really awful – either because of my own lack of preparedness, or because the audience or promoter were a problem – I don’t remember specific dates. I do, however, remember that this theater was absolutely gorgeous!

CREDITS

*Recorded on November 29, 1975. Due to the age of the source material, there are occasional imperfections in this recording. It’s impossible to completely clean those up without sacrifcing the integrity of the performance. Glad you understand!

Produced by Jeff Evans and Janis Ian

Photography by Peter Cunningham
Cover design by Jeff Evans

Janis Ian: Guitars, piano
Barry Lazarowitz: Drums, percussion
Stu Woods: Electric bass
Jeff Layton: Guitars
Claire Bay: Second vocals, percussion

Master ℗ Rude Girl Records, Inc. All rights reserved; used by permission.

Much gratitude to Esther Friedman, Eriko Nitta and Elizabeth Gonser for their assistance with this project.

LYRICS

1. WHEN THE PARTY’S OVER

Would you like to learn to sing?
Would you like to sing my song?
Would you like to learn
to love me best of all
Anyone can learn the words
and the melody’s so plain
This is my song
to bring you back again

I’ll teach you how to sing and dance
with a song and dance routine,
and when the party’s over,
you can fall in love with me

Would you like to learn to tango?
Do you dance the light fandango?
I’ll teach you how
before we’re done
Anyone can make it two
Any two can turn to one
and the melody’s lost
before the song’s begun

We sound so good together
and so poorly sung alone
Your harmony’s an open breeze
into my sheltered home

I can teach you how to sing and dance
with a song and dance routine,
and when the party’s over,
you can fall in love with me

2. FROM ME TO YOU

I’m leaving by night, I’m leaving alone
Leaving it lie, when you waken I’ll be gone
I would not beg for me as I would not beg for you
though I’d like to be the one to see you through

Every step you have taken disappears with the tide
You’re torn up and shaken with changing your mind
You haven’t got the grace to say you’ll finally decide
and you haven’t got the strength to stay to fight

Those people who surround you
only want to see you weak enough to crawl
They’ll lie for you, decide for you
and buy up all your rights and all your wrongs
And they’ll try to stop your singing in the middle of your song
for they do not want you free, and they will not make you strong
but only drag you down in the hole they’re coming from

They say you are foolish for wanting the sun
They call you selfish for learning to run
They’ll tell you that the darkness is a blessing in disguise
You never have to notice if you’re sighted or you’re blind
and they’ll do their best to keep you from the light

You’re more than beginning, you’re learning to fly
Feels like you’re falling, but it passes in time
and I hate to see a friend go down in flames without a song
so I’m waiting by the doorway – I will not linger long

I’m leaving by night, I’m leaving alone
Leaving you lie. When you waken I’ll be gone
I would not beg for me as I will not beg for you
but I’d like to be the one to see you through

3. THE MAN YOU ARE IN ME

I love the light
I love the changing season
I love without much thought to reason
I’d give it all if I could make you see
I love the man that you were meant to be
I love the man you are in me

I love the man who waits beside you
I love the man who hides behind you
I love the shadow
though it disappears
I love its afterglow
reflected through the tears
I love the shadow in my tears

Mmm, I love the dreams you can’t remember
Mmm, lost in the early waking hours
I love the season of forever

I’ll live without the light of laughter
I’ll live without an ever after
I’d give it all if I could make you see
I love the man that you were meant to be
I love the man you are in me

5. BOY, I REALLY TIED ONE ON

Boy, I really tied one on
I spent the night away from home
I know you’re not to blame
if I can’t recall your name
and I’m sorry if it causes you pain

Boy, I really lost my head
I woke up in a double bed
Allow me the pleasure of taking your measure
though I’m sure you ain’t nobody’s treasure
(And I know it isn’t ladylike
to do what I’ve done tonight)

Wake up, I’ve got news for you
Nobody’s knocking at your door
Nobody’s gonna pull you through
Nobody needs you any more
Nobody’s knocking at your door

Boy, I went around the bend
Thought I’d made a life-long friend
Imagine my surprise when i looked into your eyes
and I saw the kind of friends you meant

I think I’m gonna take the cure
I’m going on the wagon for sure
I may feel a fool for a Sunday or two
but it’s better than a Sunday with you
(And I know it isn’t ladylike
to do what I’ve done tonight)

Wake up, I’ve got news for you
Nobody’s knocking at your door
Nobody’s gonna pull you through
Nobody needs you any more, nyah nyah
Nobody’s knocking at your door
Wake up, I’ve got news for you
Nobody’s knocking at your door

6. TEA & SYMPATHY

I don’t want to ride the milk train any more
I’ll go to bed at nine, and waken with the dawn
and lunch at half past noon
Dinner prompt at five
The comfort of a few old friends long past their prime

Pass the tea & sympathy
for the good old days long gone
Let’s drink a toast to those who most
believe in what they’ve won
It’s a long long time ‘til morning
plays wasted on the dawn
I’ll not write another line,
for my true love is gone

And when the guests have done
I’ll tidy up the room
I’ll turn the covers down
and gazing at the moon
will pray to go quite mad
and live in long ago
when you and I were one, so very long ago

Pass the tea & sympathy
for the good old days long gone
Let’s drink a toast to those who most
believe in what they’ve won
It’s a long long time ‘til morning
plays wasted on the dawn
I’ll not write another line,
for my true love is gone

And when I have no dreams
to give you any more,
I’ll light a blazing fire
and wait within the door,
and throw my life away
“I wonder why?” they all will say
And now I lay me down to sleep,
forever and a day

Pass the tea & sympathy
for the good old days are dead
Let’s drink a toast to those who best
survived the life they’ve led
It’s a long long time ‘til morning,
so build your fires high
Now I lay me down to sleep,
forever by your side

7. WATERCOLORS

I remember photographs
Watercolors of the past
He turned and said – You ask much of me
Then, when we’d made our peace,
we lay between the sheets
He turned and said – I set you free

Go on, be a hero, be a photograph
Make your own myths
Christ, I hope they last
longer than mine
Wider than the sky we measure time by
Go on, be a hero, I set you free
Your stagehand lovers have conquered me
They’ll send you carnations,
while smiling faces look on and applaud
Go on, go on, go ‘way from me

I said – Do you wish me dead?
Lip service to books you’ve read
Articles on how to bed a bird in flight
You called it love – I called it greed
You say – You take what you want
I say – You get what you need

Go on, be a hero, be a man
Make your own destiny if you can
Go find a fence, locate a shell
and hide yourself
Go on, go to hell, go away from me
I need no charity

He said – Come unto me
I am beauty
I am the light
Come unto me
Hold the darkness and stay the night
for I am wonder, I am the heart’s delight
Tomorrow we’ll fight

Come on come on, come near to me
Come be my fantasy
We’ll talk it over again sometime
I’ll send you some flowers
to change your mind,
but for tonight, turn out the light
Hold me –
Come on, come on and set me free
Lend me your charity

8. IN THE WINTER

The days are okay
I watch the TV in the afternoons
If I get lonely,
the sound of other voices,
other rooms are near to me
I’m not afraid

The operator,
She tells the time,
It’s good for a laugh
There’s always radio,
and for a dime I can
talk to God – Dial-a-Prayer
Are you there?
Do you care?
Are you there?

And in the winter,
extra blankets for the cold
Fix the heater, getting old
I am wiser now, you know
and still as big a fool concerning you

I met your friend
She’s very nice, what can I say?
It was an accident
I never dreamed we’d meet again this way
You’re looking well
I’m not afraid

You have a lovely home
Just like a picture.
No, I live alone
I found it easier
You must remember how
I never liked the party life
Up all night
Lovely wife
You have a lovely wife

And in the winter
Extra blankets for the cold
Fix the heater, getting old
You are with her now, I know
I’ll live alone forever
Not together now

9. APPLAUSE, APPLAUSE

Applause, applause
Give the singer a chance
Treat her right, be polite
Maybe she will dance
Applause, applause
Give the singer a break
How much can you give?
How much can you take?

Give the singer a chance
Give the singer a chance
Anything to buy your soul
and maybe she will dance

Applause, applause
She’ll stand upon her head
Applause, applause
She’ll take you to her bed
and share with you the memories
of dreams she can’t forget
Applause, applause – let’s give the prize
to the little lady with the stars in her eyes

I’ll sell my soul for a song
Pay the price and carry on
and share with you the memories
of dreams I can’t forget
Of lovers I have met
Applause, applause – let’s give the prize
to the little lady with the stars in her eyes

Applause, applause
Give the singer a chance
Treat her right, be polite
Maybe she will dance
Applause, applause
Give that singer a break
How much can you give?
How much can you take?

Give the singer a chance
I wanna give the singer a chance
Anything to buy your soul
and maybe she will dance
Maybe she will dance
Maybe she will…

11. DANCE WITH ME

And when the war was over, I went dancing in the streets
with the corpse of my dead brother, to the sacrificial beat
and the Boy Scouts and the Legionnaires came home from overseas
singing “glory hallelujah” to the swank Gestapo beat

Hallelujah, hallelujah
I’ve never seen, in the whole of my life
an intelligent sacrifice
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Give me a reason to go on believing
and I’m ready to pay the price

I heard of a plan in the president’s mansion
high up in the sky
and it called for a sacrifice. And my brother paid the price
Sent him home in a bag. The American flag
was draped around the box
and the coffin lid was locked. And the note said “thanks a lot”

Come and dance with me, come and dance with me
I’m home from overseas
I’m a corpse up to my knees. Celebrate the victory
Would you like to dance and hold me tight
I’m feeling most diseased
and I need your company
Come and dance, come and dance

Come and dance, come and dance
I’m home from overseas
And I need your company
Come and dance, come and dance
Would you like to dance, and hold me tight
I’m feeling most diseased
And I need your company
Come and dance, come and dance

12. THIS MUST BE WRONG

I gave a party. I said you could come
You showed up at my door with all your leathers on
I said – This must be wrong
It can’t be right
How can you make love to me dressed up for a fight
Pick me up off the floor
No more, ‘cause you surely can’t be mine

Religion came almost overnight
You were the high priest, I was the sacrifice
I said – This must be wrong
This can’t be right
Take off that stupid robe and put down that knife
These ropes are getting tight
All right, you surely can’t be mine

I come home half dead, late on a Saturday night
You stand on the bed and you tell me you’re learning to fly
I said – Take off those boots
Take off that cape
Throw away those long johns, I ain’t no Lois Lane
Before I get my kryptonite
All right, ‘cause you surely can’t be mine

I was ready for love. Big brass bed and all
I was ready for love. You said – Let’s talk about the war
I said – What war?
What war?
Take off your clothes and don’t you worry me no more
I ain’t no fly by night
All right, ‘cause you surely can’t be mine

13. BETWEEN THE LINES

There’s never much to say between
the moments of our games and repartée
There’s never much to read between
the lines of what we need and what we’ll take
There’s never much to talk about or say aloud
but say it anyway
Of holidays and yesterdays
and broken dreams that somehow slipped away

In books and magazines of how to be
and what to see while you are being
Before and after photographs
teach how to pass from reaching to believing
We live beyond our means on other peoples’ dreams
and that’s succeeding
Between the lines of photographs, I’ve seen the past
It isn’t pleasing

So strike another match
We’ll have another cup of wine
and dance until the evening’s dead
of too much song and time
There’s never much to talk about,
or read between the lines
of what we dream about when we’re apart
snd no one’s looking on to say “You’re mine”

It was a good year then. It was a good year then
We all remember
the time you threw the looking glass and seemed a fool,
or very clever
Don’t spoil it all. I can’t recall
a time when you were stuck without an answer
We’ll live a quiet peaceful time between the lines
and go together

And I’m striking up the band
to play our last hurrah
We’ll dance until we’ve killed another evening off
Don’t think of anyone but me
I’ll have no lovers on the side
Tonight is all we ever dreamed about
For once, let’s get it right
We’ll go down flying in the end
Throw another bottle in between the lines
We’ll go down like a ship of state
Let’s be gracious now, between the lines

14. YOU’VE GOT ME ON A STRING

You’ve got me on a string
I don’t mean a thing to you
I’m holding on to no one
I’m a long time lover,
and my long time love is gone

If my man beats me, robs me blind
Long as he don’t leave me, I don’t mind
I would beg and I would crawl,
though it does no good at all
My man’s been gone so long,
and I keep holding on

And if he needed me, I’d be there
No matter how he mistreated me
I don’t care
I would get down on my knees,
though it does no good to please
My man’s been gone for so long,
and I keep holding on

Empty pockets, boarded doorways
Choose your prison
When I’m with him
I’m a fool for loving you,
and well I know
how the head says – No
And the heart says –
Go down on your knees, woman,
and keep on holding on

15. AT SEVENTEEN

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
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth
were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth

And those of us with ravaged faces
lacking in the social graces
desperately remained at home
inventing lovers on the phone
who called to say – come dance with me
and murmured vague obscenities
It isn’t all it seems at seventeen

A brown eyed girl in hand me downs
whose name I never could pronounce
said – Pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve
The rich relationed hometown queen
marries into what she needs
with a guarantee of company
and haven for the elderly

Remember those who win the game
lose the love they sought to gain
in debentures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
in dull surprise when payment due
exceeds accounts received at seventeen

To those of us who knew the pain
of valentines that never came
and those whose names were never called
when choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today
when dreams were all they gave for free
to ugly duckling girls like me

We all play the game, and when we dare
we cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone
Repenting other lives unknown
that call and say – Come dance with me
and murmur vague obscenities
at ugly girls like me, at seventeen

17. STARS

* As recorded by Mel Torme



I was never one for singing
what I really feel
except tonight, I’m bringing
everything I know that’s real

Stars, they come and go
They come fast or slow
They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze
And all you see is glory
Hey, but it gets lonely there,
when there’s no one here to share
We can shake it away, if you’ll hear a story

People lust for fame.
Like athletes in a game,
we break our collarbones and come up swinging
Some of us are downed.
Some of us are crowned
and some are lost and never found
But most have seen it all
They live their lives in sad cafes and music halls
They always have a story

Some make it when they’re young,
before the world has done its dirty job
And later on, someone will say –
“You’ve had your day. “You must make way”
But they’ll never know the pain
in living with a name you never owned,
or the many years forgetting
what you know too well

That the ones who gave the crown
have been let down
You try to make amends,
without defending

Perhaps pretending you never saw the eyes
of grown men of twenty-five,
that followed as you walked, and asked for autographs
or kissed you on the cheek –
and you never could believe they really loved you

Some make it when they’re old.
Perhaps they have a soul they’re not afraid to bare
or perhaps there’s nothing there

Stars, they come and go
They come fast or slow
They go like the last light of the sun, all in a blaze
And all you see is glory
Hey, but it gets lonely there,
when there’s no one here to share
We can shake it away, if you’ll hear a story

Some women have a body men will want to see
so they put it on display
Some people play a fine guitar.
I could listen to them play all day
Some ladies really move across a stage
and gee, they sure can dance
I guess I could learn how, if I gave it half a chance

But I always feel so funny when my body tries to soar
And I always seem to worry about missing the next chord
I guess there isn’t anything to put out on display
except the tunes, and whatever else i say

And anyway, that isn’t really what I meant to say…
I meant to tell a story I live from day to day

Stars, they come and go
They come fast or slow
They go like the last light of the sun,
all in a blaze,
and all you see is glory
But those who’ve seen it all
live out their lives in sad cafes and music halls
We always have a story

So if you don’t lose patience
with my fumbling around
I’ll come up singing for you
even when I’m down

19. BAYONNE BLUES

I must have been around 14 when I started this, just after my family moved to New York City…everything in it actually happened to me one weekend shortly after, and I remained in a state of culture shock for a good six months! By the time I finished the song I was in my late teens, a seasoned New Yorker, & I truly felt I’d been “raised in New York City”, even though I’d grown up in New Jersey. We never lived in Bayonne, but my dad worked there for a while, and “Farmingdale” and “East Orange” just didn’t scan.

I was raised in New York City, where the money grows on trees
and the flowers all look gritty and the people look diseased
Come up from New Jersey where I sung the Bayonne Blues
I watched the roller derby on the seven-thirty news

I thought I’d be a folksinger
I went down to Macdougal Street
and Bleeker where the stars got stoned
But the union hall was closed
and the stars out on the road
making money singing anti-money songs

I went back up to Broadway. I took the IRT
An old man in a raincoat parked his body next to me
“Do you want to make some money fast?”
and then he grabbed me by the ass
I got derailed on Forty-Second street

I asked somebody for the time
She asked me to her room
She said “I’ve got a water bed”
I said “I’ve got the flu
“You look just like a friend of mine
“I never liked too well
“She sold picture postcards
“of the crack in the Liberty Bell”

I went into the Taco Bell to get myself some lunch
They rushed me to the hospital to have my stomach pumped
Run over on the corner by a wheelchair with no horn
I fell into a manhole and was baptized and re-born

I moved out to Long Island
Bought a color TV
I watch the doctor shows
I’m a soap opera queen
I think I got pneumonia
I’m sure I’ve got TB
It may not be a hell of a life
but it’s life enough for me

All songs by Janis Ian

Stars, The Man You Are in Me © Taosongs Two. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission. All other songs © Mine Music Ltd. administered by Sony Publishing. All rights reserved. International copyright secured. Used by permission.