As young girls, both Janis and
Taylor found themselves socially on the outside looking in, but that’s probably
what pushed them both to songwriting. They didn’t really fit into their high-school
crowd. They weren’t really
followers. They were free-spirits. They were dreamers.
Janis grew up in an affluent family in Port Arthur, Texas, but she ran
away at age 17 because she felt like such an outcast. While her high-school classmates were
listening to Top 40 coming out of the AM radio, Janis was crazy for black blues
legends like Bessie Smith, Big Mama Thorton, and Leadbelly. In 1963, she landed in the psychedelic,
drug-energized San Francisco music scene where she established her own unique
sound as white blues queen and rock ‘n’roll mama. Janis once
said, "Aretha Franklin, Billie Holiday....They are so subtle, they can
milk you with two notes. They can go no farther than from A to B, and they can
make you feel like they told you the whole universe.”
While Janis sought inspiration
from the blues, Taylor’s songs often come straight out of her personal
experience. She writes about her her
feelings, her dreams, and her heartbreaks.
Beginning in middle school and
continuing through high-school, Taylor didn’t have many friends or people to
talk to. She felt like an outsider
looking in. But all that misery and
rejection pushed her towards songwriting.
She spilled her guts on paper.
Writing songs was like keeping a diary.
According to Taylor, she tries to write songs that people her age could
relate to. When she writes, Taylor says she writes in real time. She strives to be personal and honest.. In her songs, she shares the sadness and
letdowns of her own relationships because she wants to let her fans know they
are not alone: “Nobody ever lets me in/ I can still see you, this ain’t the
best view/ On the outside looking in.”
(from a song she wrote when she was twelve: “The Outside.”)
I read that both Janis and Taylor were often teased and bullied in high school. It’s like whatever makes you different at that age makes you somehow uncool. At a certain point, they must have thought there was no chance to be part of the crowd. I can only imagine their insecurities.
Fortunately for them, music became their own form of therapy. They may have not had anyone to talk to, but they were only a guitar away from saying something special. Their music tells us it’s okay to stand apart.
I read that both Janis and Taylor were often teased and bullied in high school. It’s like whatever makes you different at that age makes you somehow uncool. At a certain point, they must have thought there was no chance to be part of the crowd. I can only imagine their insecurities.
Fortunately for them, music became their own form of therapy. They may have not had anyone to talk to, but they were only a guitar away from saying something special. Their music tells us it’s okay to stand apart.
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