Janis Ian was forced to retire from singing in 2022 after her vocal cords were scarred from a virus, but the legendary singer/songwriter recently shared a new single nonetheless.
Titled “When He Was Here,” the song dates back to the 1990s and is a hauntingly beautiful (and melancholy) song about divorce. A co-write between Ian and Lance Cowan, it was debuted earlier this month and has a video set to rare family photos:
“This song is still one of my favorites,” said Ian of the song. “It says a lot of what I felt when my folks divorced, and I’d imagine what a lot of other people feel under the same circumstance.”
Added Ian of the song’s backstory, in a statement:
“I invited Lance to write one night after I saw him playing third string at a local writer’s night. He had an incredible song about the Holocaust that inspired me to go home and begin working on ‘Tattoo.’ [from 1993’s Breaking Silence] It’s funny, I don’t remember much about writing the song. I rarely do when it comes to the writing part. But I am blown away by the reactions to the song and how it seems to hit as universally as ‘At Seventeen’ did. It’s great to connect with my fans again on such a meaningful song.”
Janis Ian has dipped into the vaults for a few other noteworthy archival releases lately — in 2023, she released Live at Calderone Theater 1975 and Worktapes & Demos Vol. 1.
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“Once I lost the ability to perform as a vocalist,” said Ian in a statement, “my co-producer Jeff Evans and I began talking about long-delayed projects we still wanted to do. My archives contain hundreds of worktapes, live shows, demos, unreleased material, so we began putting together a series of potential projects. High on the list is a project featuring original versions of songs that later made it to albums, like a worktape of ‘Jesse’ or a very early rough mix of ‘At Seventeen’.”
Keep track of everything else Janis Ian has going on by visiting her official website.
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