Janis Ian’s “Society’s Child” is a ballad she wrote at age 13 about a forbidden love between a black boy and a white girl and her family’s disapproval. I was about 8 years old when it hit the airwaves in 1967. I loved it back then and I love it now.
“Society’s Child” was banned from many radio stations due to its controversial (for the time) subject matter of racism. It’s still somewhat controversial though hopefully much less so. I read that Janis got death threats for writing it.
You just don’t hear so much pure raw emotion in popular music anymore, or a song with as much artistry as this one. Janis gets so lost in this performance. I just love to watch her. She didn’t really become famous until her 1975 megahit “At Seventeen.” She was just 16 years old in this haunting performance on the The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour
I think the video production for its time is incredible. It’s hard to believe this video was made 48 years ago. I don’t understand why this hit from 1967 has been forgotten for so long. You just NEVER hear it.
I think it’s a classic.
Lucky Otters Haven
Ruminations, ramblings, and rants about narcissism and trauma, politics, human nature, religion, pop culture, writing, and almost everything else
Lucky Otters Haven 