THE BASICS PERSONNEL INSIDE SCOOP LYRICS

THE BASICS

Original release date: 1969; recorded at Olmstead Studios, New York; produced by Charlie Calello; arranged by Charlie Calello & Janis Ian; engineer: Gene Radice; design & photography: Robert Golden.

PERSONNEL

Musicians: Ray Alonge, Bob Bushnell, Ralph Casale, Harold Coletta, Joe Farrell, Bernie Glow, Manny Green, Dick Hyman, Janis Ian, Joseph Malin, Hugh McCracken, Gene Orloff, Romeo Penque, George Ricci, Al Rogers, Aaron Rosand, Julius Schachter, Stuart Scharf, Brad Spinney, Marvin Stamm, Tony Studd. Vocalists: Janis Ian.

INSIDE SCOOP

Recorded at the end of her troubled teenage tenure with MGM, Janis Ian’s Who Really Cares limped out of the gate in 1969 to immediate obscurity. It’s actually the strongest of her childhood efforts. Charlie Calello (responsible for Laura Nyro’s Eli and the Thirteenth Confession) provides characteristically lush, ornamental production, while avoiding the gimmicks (police sirens, etc.) that Shadow Morton foisted on Ian’s previous sets. But it is Ian’s growth as a performer and songwriter that elevates Who Really Careshead and shoulders above the rest of her Verve recordings. The tracks might not have the political clout of her earliest work, but they more than compensate by way of gorgeous, sophisticated, fully realized music and dreamy, wistful lyrics. Ian displays remarkable musical scope; gone is the earnest folk, and in its place a stately jazz-pop-funk fusion, colored by crafty, energetic string, woodwind and horn arrangements. In particular, “Love You More Than Yesterday,” “Sea and Sand,” and “Do You Remember” stand up to repeated listens, while “Calling Your Name” — an unexpected stab at French chanson — really gets under the skin. Also conspicuous is Ian’s vocal growth as the shrill, reedy, adolescent qualities of her voice give way to a warmer adult sound. – Charles Donovan

Special Note: “Song of the Snowbird” was left off the 2-disc Verve compilation CD Society’s Child: The Verve Recordings because of room constraints. However, it’s finally available on this European re-issue. We tried to buy a bunch to sell in our store, but we can’t get the company that puts them out to respond. Sorry!

LYRICS

Time On My Hands

Janis Ian

Time on my hands
Time on my side
Got nothing but time to relieve me
Weight of your stone
hangs on my brow,
and there’s nothing but time to relieve me

Every time I hear a raindrop fall,
it reminds me of you
Every time my conscience calls,
it makes me feel blue,
but what else can I do
when there’s nobody here to look up to

I swear it’s making me cry
It’s making me sigh
You’re driving me blind

Time on my hands
Nothing but time on my side
Got nothing but time to relieve me
Weight of your stones
hangs on my brow,
and there’s nothing but time to deceive me

Every time I hear a newborn baby cry,
it reminds me of you
Every time my conscience lies,
it makes me feel blue,
but what else can I do?
when you leave me with nobody here to look up to

I swear you’re making me cry
You’re making me sigh
You’re driving me blind

Song Of The Snowbird

Janis Ian

Highway’s made of silver
and the night is made of gold
The watchman at the tower
won’t do what he’s been told

Better hide your latent purity
It’ll get you nowhere slow
Hold tight to your security
The robber’s getting slow

I ride on a freighter
I ride on a freighter
I ride on a freighter, mama
So let the breeze blow
past the shadow
of my window

Tell my mama I forgive her
for all she thought she’d done
’cause it was me, and I would rather
say you’re the last of the ones
to be staying here past winter
when all the people came to see
the snowbird by my window

It was love
It was…
My ride on a snowbird
My ride on a snowbird, mama
My ride on a snowbird
So let the breeze blow
past the window

by my highways made of silver
and the band is made of gold
The watchman at the tower
He’ll do what he is told

Love You More Than Yesterday

Janis Ian

Love you more than yesterday
So much less than tomorrow
Love you more in every way
No time for pain or sorrow
Dee dee dee dee dee dee dee dee
La dee da dee da da dee da dee d dee i
La dee da deeeee…

Got your letter yesterday in a place not far from home
Guess you know I mean what I say when I say – don’t leave me alone
Well, I cheated and I lied
Broke the promises made to you
In the best of faith
You don’t know how I cried
I’ve been such a foolish child
Didn’t know I could feel this way
but baby, I haven’t changed, ’cause I

Love you more than yesterday
So much less than tomorrow
Love you more in every way
No time for pain or sorrow
Di di da di da di di
La di da di di da di da di di
La di da deeeee…

Used to be I’d give my word to anything that breathed
Now I know what it is to be hurt. It’s an emotional strip tease
I guess I should have tried
but opportunity passed my way
and I grabbed for whatever she gave
You know I’m nothing more
than the cheapest kind of whore
I gave it for free today
so take me back again, ’cause I

Love you more than yesterday
So much less than tomorrow
Love you more in every way
No time for pain or sorrow
Di di da di da di di
La di da di di da di da di di
La di da deeeee…

Papa, please come home
Don’t leave me alone, I need you so
Papa, please come home
Don’t leave me alone, I need you so

Orphan Of The Wind

Janis Ian

Lonely wind,
cry for the mother of the child of sin
There is no other way
to bridge the gap
that’s made in the life of an orphan

I’m holding back the tears
They stumble from the brow
I’m holding back the tears
They stumble, here and now

Child of sin
Ride with your mother
on a wave of wind
There is no other way
to let you in
All the palace doors are closing

I swear it wasn’t her
I thought she was a bird
I swear it wasn’t her
I thought it was a bird

Dada remain, explain
Dada, the shell of pain
remains and holds completely

I swear it wasn’t him
The shepherd’s child of sin
I swear it wasn’t him
The lonely child of sin

So lonely wind,
cry for the mothers of the children of sin
There are no other ways
to let them in
All the palace doors are closing

I swear it wasn’t him
The shepherd’s child of sin
I swear it wasn’t him
The orphan of the wind
The orphan of the wind

Sea And Sand

Janis Ian

Goodbye to the sea and sand
and my only man, goodbye
And why should I take your hand
when you’ve left me here to die
I don’t know why

Buy me a silver lion’s tail
to wrap around my eyes
Why am I standing here
watching you fail
when I’ve spent all my life
all my dreams
So goodbye

From my window grows a tree
All the people come to stare at me
Don’t you see?
I’ve got to leave today,
or I never will be gone
To leave today
or I never will come
to the sea and the sun again

Goodbye to the sea and sand
and my only man, goodbye
And why should I take your hand
when you’ve left me here to die
I don’t know why

Buy me a silver lion’s tail
to wrap around my eyes
And why am I standing here
watching you fail
when I’ve spent all my life,
all my dreams
So goodbye

Galveston

Janis Ian

Galveston,
I’m so afraid to die
when the people all around me
can’t remember where they found me
and I’m telling you
I know it’s a lie

All of the people smile at me
All of the people
Sing you a song
guaranteed to bring tears to your eyes

Never been one for hanging around
with the same old crowd
I’ll sing you my songs
Kid, they’re all I can do
They’re all that’s allowed

Galveston,
I’m so ashamed to die
when the people who surround me
keep on thinking that they’ve found me
and I’m telling you
I think I know why

All of the people cheer for me
All of the people
Ring in the New Year
Ring out the old year misery

Never been one for hanging around
with the same old crowd
I’ll sing you my songs
Kid, they’re all I can do
They’re all that’s allowed

Do You Remember?

Janis Ian

I know who I’ll run to
shout it out aloud
when the evening sun goes down
Angels in the morning
guard my bitter shroud
when the evening sun goes down

All of the days I lay sleeping, dreaming
All of the long, lonely days of September
still I remember you

And the sun doesn’t shine any more
in my back yard
Sing it again
No, the sun doesn’t shine any more
in my backyard
Whoa, sing it again

Trees in the spring
seem to call your name
Do you remember?

I know who I’ll run to
standing in the crowd
when the evening sun goes down
Angel of the morning
teach me to be proud
when the evening sun goes down

All of the days I lay in surrender
All of the long, lonely days I remember
Still I surrender you

And the sun doesn’t shine any more
in my back yard
Sing it again
No, the sun doesn’t shine any more
in my backyard
Whoa, sing it again

Trees in the spring
seem to call your name
Do you remember?

Month Of May

Janis Ian

Hotel rooms on the road
sometimes get lonely, when you turn out the light
Hotel rooms on the road
You’re the only one sleeping in your bed tonight

Oh, I’d like to see you knocking at my window
in the month of May
Yes, I’d like to see you waiting by my window
in the month of May

All the concert’s out
There’s no one to take you up to the door
Your ballad’s over
You won’t see your tears in the mirror any more
Not any more

Anyway, I’d like to see you waiting by my window
in the month of May
How I’d like to see you knocking at my window
in the month of May
And I’d like to see you by my window
In the month of May
How I’d like to see you
when everything is

Lazy with the sun – crazy with love
In the month of May,
there’s nothing more to say than I want you
Everybody’s crazy with the sun – feeling lazy from love
There’s nothing to say except I want you

By the riverside, the fires burn to keep it bright.
All the forest creatures in the time of night
huddle closely together
in a cave or a den, without a bed
Hold their hands, clutch their heads
in the month of May
Lazy days, crazy days
My hazy days
Everybody’s crazy with the sun
Lazy with love

So won’t you stand by my window
in the month of May
Won’t you stand by my window
in the month of May

Calling Your Name

Janis Ian

Let me go on
Never know your name
How can you be strong
Everyone can see
she’s insane

All my life I’ve waited
for someone to take the pain
All my life, I’ve waited
for someone to take the blame
And now you’re gone
Even the sun’s calling your name

See, in the city,
the lights they shine pretty
in afterglow scented by rain
Little old ladies
asleep in the cradling womb,
surrounded by pain
God, the pain

Let me go on
Never know your name
How can you be strong?
Even I can see
you’re in pain

All my life I’ve waited
for someone to fill my head
All my life I’ve waited
for someone who’ll fill my bed
And now you’re gone
Even the sun’s calling your name