Other Voices, Other Rooms
I’d just arrived at my sister’s this evening when my handphone rang. The ZenX was playing so I pressed the “pause” button so as not to intrude on the call I was about to answer. As it turned out, the caller had music playing in the background!
It was deesee, calling to tell me Light&Easy was playing Janis Ian, which made him think of me, that was why he was calling. I asked what Janis Ian song was the station playing.
“At Seventeen” .
What else? It seems that’s the only Janis Ian song they have or know about.
“I was also playing Janis Ian when your call came through,” I told him, “but of course, I have a bigger selection of her songs.”
Yes, it seems after all these years, “At Seventeen” remains the only Janis Ian song most people know about.
For me, I knew one other Janis Ian song besides “At Seventeen” for close to 17 years before rediscovering her again last year.
In fact, “In the Winter” , this other song of hers, meant more to me than “At Seventeen” did. Why?
I’d been introduced to her album Between the Lines in 1987 or 1988. I was studying in Norwich, England at the time, living on campus in a dormitory room on a corridor with other similar rooms. These words from the song became especially meaningful to me:
“If I get lonely
the sound of other voices
other rooms are near to me
I’m not afraid”
And no, the voices were not in my head, but were real and coming from the other rooms near mine. The loneliness was especially bad during the winter. I still remember walking home in the dark at 3 in the afternoon! Coming from a country near the Equator where day and night are equal ALL year round, this really shook me up. Listening to “In the Winter” didn’t really help, as the lyrics didn’t soothe me, but listening to the song, I found myself thinking, “Yes, that’s how I was feeling, too.”
It’s a dreary song, but it’s my Janis Ian song. Have a listen to it, but be warned – you might get depressed.
Listen to the song here.
Read the lyrics here.
