Society’s Child by Janis Ian, Teen Memories from the ’60′s

Janis Ian is currently promoting her autobiography, Society’s Child: My Autobiography, I vividly remember the song Society’s Child from way back when,  the beginning of my teen years. What I did not realize, she was 14 when she wrote the song. At the time, I had no idea she was that young, and I don’t know if I would have really cared. The song, from the late ’60′s, according to her was a time when “we could be anything, we had the right to be anything and freedom was in the air”.  I don’t think that is so different from what our teens today are thinking? The teen brain is the teen brain and the teen culture really has not changed.

Society’s Child is about interracial dating was written around 1967  after an experience she had on a bus where a young couple holding hands sitting near her, a black man and a white woman, she noticed how everyone on the bus was staring at them but they were oblivious. The song is about her encounter and the  relationshp between these two people,  her perception that society would not allow them to have a successful  relationship. The end of the song the girl breaks it off because she cannot handle the pressure.

I started thinking about how hard that was going to be, and wondering whether their parents even knew that they were dating,” she says. “And if their parents didn’t know, whether anyone on the bus was going to tell on them. And it sort of started evolving in this song where I wondered whether the girl would be able to the take the pressure. And in the end I thought she probably wouldn’t. It probably wouldn’t last. And it was too bad, but it made for a great song.

During the interview she looks back at  what a volatile time it was and all the hate mail she received from this song.

This is the NPR interview and an Excerpt from Society’s Child: My Autobiography by Janis Ian Excerpt from Society’s Child: My Autobiography by Janis Ian . The pictures are priceless of her in the ’60′s, the signature hat, included are audio links to her songs.  Echoes of 1968 is the audio version of the interview.

This takes me back to my “not so calm” teen years and it is good to be reminded. Now, as a parent of teens, I won’t call it pay back, I just need to make it through it. Teens will be teens and they do have the right to express their individuality.

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Tagged as: Books, identity, interracial, Janis Ian