The Great Divide - Interesting blog

[David from London]

This blog may be of interest:

http://thecommonills.blogspot.com/2006/06/kats-korner-janis-ian-blows-in-on.html

[janisian]

Thanks, David - we didn't even know it had been played!

[dutchcloggie]

Wow. That is quite a nice piece there.

Simply being played on the radio has so much impact. WHen Mike Harding played Janis and had that interview, one guy on the BBC messageboard wrote: I had never heard of Janis Ian but I am hooked now, she is fabulous. And another person wrote he never had much time for Janis Ian but that this album has blown him away (Paraphrasing now but you get the point)

It really really works. If only the stations would play a new track instead of At 17 all the time. Say, for every 10 times they play At 17, they have to play a new track........that would ensure royalties keep coming in and the new stuff gets airplay.

If only.........:rolleyes:

[GodSistah]

I sent in quite a few emails to the different DJs on KPFA a few weeks back and posted some of their positive responses. A couple said they were playing some of the songs from the cd. This is too cool!

KPFA is my favorite Bay Area station because it is the only one that feeds my diverse musical tastes.

:)

~Andrea~

[Marcia Drummergal]

That was one of the better write-ups I have seen in a long time. Thanks for sharing it!

Marcia :)

[david uk]

David thanks for posting this- what an eloquently written blog is all I can say.

"Looking at photos of her today, you see that the curly hair still curls, now it's a silver halo and that's fitting for one of the most comfortable voices in music. Janis could always caress a lyric and the only thing that's changed is she does so with an even softer touch today."

[Dar]

Wow, great blog! Thanks so much for posting it!

[Charlie]

"All Those Promises" is the best example of that. "Every sweet caress was just your second best," she sings from a soft place that will break your heart.
Quoted my favourite line from the CD as well :)

[Dee]

Thanks, David.

... some men weren't checking for their Johnsons in alarm over the fact that they could relate to the song [At Seventeen]. Some knew that relating wasn't confined to gender. But, and if you lived through it, this will be familiar, it was The Age of Sexual Panic. Walls had been torn down and now it was be who you are -- kind of too much for some.

That's something I've been pointing out for years: relating to the lyric wasn't confined to gender, a key factor in the song's popularity I'm sure. Certainly true for me at least.

[DaveM]

Quite agree, Dee. The song certainly reached me, to the point where I tried to write a "male" version of the lyrics before realizing that I was missing a major point. Have thought about resurrecting what I can recall of it as a parody....

[Dee]

Janis has often spoken about universality in her songs – aiming for the universal. I think that one is a perfect example of the concept. Perhaps without the line “and those whose names were never called when choosing sides for basketball” I would have identified less with the rest of the lyrics, but I doubt it.

There were other non gender specific lines in there, like the powerful “we all play the game and when we dare to cheat ourselves at solitaire.” It’s subtle perhaps, but it kicks in the gut of loneliness and fantasies around that. At least at age 15 it did for me.