Between the Lines

by

Janis Ian

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This has been one of my favorites since its original release. I've purchased it on vinyl, cassette and CD. Ms. Ian's lyrics are timeless and introspective, sometimes painfully so. It doesn't matter whether you were a "rich relationed hometown queen" or one of "those whose name was never called when choosing sides for basketball", the words to "Seventeen" will mean something to you. Many of the songs have the poignancy of someone who has too often experienced the underside of human relationships. Her lyrics could stand alone as poetry, but since the music is enjoyable and takes some unexpected turns, this is the complete package.

I never - EVER - was a "folk music" fan. Too whiny, too wimpy...and then, 1975, I finally had a Lady Friend, my own age, instead of the "one-step-past-jailbait" girlfriends I'd so lovingly...well, "loved " in the past. "Between The Lines" was released in, I think, March that year, and, naturally, when I heard its "hit single," "At Seventeen," it almost literally curdled the skin on the back of my arm. "Between The Lines, NAH," I told my Lady Friend, "'scuse me, I believe I'll jus' hurry on back to 'Between The Buttons' by the Stones." "You just dislike love songs," Dearest told me, and I replied, "Well, YEAH, but 'Buttons' has "Let's Spend the Night Together.' Ain't THAT 'love'?" To make a long story short(er), Dearest had me..."get right," sit down, and listen to "Between The Lines" with her. It STILL made me shake with a rock and roller's apathy - ah, but that beautiful, that SUBLIME inital track, "When The Party's Over" - WOW. A simple, sincere "love song," infintely preferable to, say, "Mandy," "Sister Golden Hair," "Love Will Keep Us Together," or any of the rest of the tripe that passed for "music" that year (believe me, the stage was WELL SET set for the advent of the dreaded "disco" and its "naughty cousin," "punk.") It's now some thirty-six years later, and "folk" still makes me want to heave - but forget that. Back to "reality," after consuming some "brownies" and then driving to NYC, the Beacon Theater, to see Ms. Ian on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving that year - and then seeing/hearing her open her set with "Party" - the brownies kicked in, and...well, use your imagination. OK, fellow Rock and Rollers, this may be tantamount to sacrelige, sure: but "When The Party's Over" now rests in that special place in my heart along with "Gimme Shelter," "A Whiter Shade Of Pale," "Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay," "In My Life," and (yup) "Once Bitten Twice Shy." Oh yeah, ALSO "Party" has been sung at (memory fails me here) at least two of my "weddings..." 3/31/12 Update: should I have remained "married" to the, uh, "latest one," our anniversary would've been 6/30. But I've just this week received a request to come play for a friend's wedding reception on 7/1. YEAH! The close proximity of those 2 dates will DEFINITELY "exorcise some of the residual demons" from THAT last little "mistake." And the reason I'm babbling that is I FULLY intend to perform "When The Party's Over" for my Buddy & his Bride!