Janis Quotes & Sayings

They asked me, How did you learn to sing the blues like that? How did you learn to sing that heavy? I just opened my mouth and that's what I sounded like. You can't make up something that you don't feel. I didn't make it up. I just opened my mouth and it existed. — Janis Joplin

I see interracial couples all the time in Nashville. I'm a Jew in Nashville. I'm a gay person in Nashville. It's a non-issue in most of the time. That's a huge leap forward. — Janis Ian

Military intelligence interrogators, however, their goal is to get information, to save lives, to stop the war, to find Saddam - whatever the information is going to be used for, at whatever cost. — Janis Karpinski

But who can find the truth in Canaan? Janis doesn't tell it, the Learning Room doesn't teach it. My father has twisted it, Mother half forgotten it, and the Forgetting is the thief that steals it. — Sharon Cameron

I got treated very badly in Texas. They don't treat beatniks too good in Texas. Port Arthur people thought I was a beatnik, though they'd never seen one and neither had I. — Janis Joplin

I had a lot of hurts and confusions. You know, it's hard when you're a kid to be different. You're all full of things, and you don't know that it's about. — Janis Joplin

People, whether they know it or not, like their blues singers miserable. They like their blues singers to die afterwards. — Janis Joplin

The money when you're having a hit is great, but money can be taken from you. What can't be taken from you is the talent and the effect your work has. — Janis Ian

Libraries are a hallmark of a civilized culture, and librarians represent that culture to all facets of society. — Janis Ian

And shortly after that, when I try to get access to those soldiers, to ask them what in the world was going on, I was told that they did not work for me and I had no right to have access to any one of them. — Janis Karpinski

I'm just doing what I wanted to and what feels right and not settling for bullshit and it worked. How can they be mad at that? — Janis Joplin

In 1972, the psychologist Irving Janis defined groupthink as, "a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group, when the members' strivings for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action." Groupthink most commonly affects homogenous, close-knit communities that are overly insulated from internal and external criticism, and that perceive themselves as different from or under attack by outsiders. Its symptoms include censorship of dissent, rejection or rationalization of criticisms, the conviction of moral superiority, and the demonization of those who hold opposing beliefs. It typically leads to the incomplete or inaccurate assessment of information, the failure to seriously consider other possible options, a tendency to make rash decisions, and the refusal to reevaluate or alter those decisions once they've been made. — Kathryn Schulz

I've always loved the blues, John Lee Hooker, Janis Joplin, Hendrix. — Eddie Money

At the end of the day, if you don't have a record contract, a studio or a guitar, you can still write songs. You're still an artist. That's something no one can take away. — Janis Ian

I think that Stevie Nicks is one of the greats. Steve Nicks and Grace Slick and Janis Joplin have the real rock voices, to me. — Patti LuPone

When you hold somebody, you gotta hold them like it's the last minute of your life. — Janis Joplin

I had a vague idea of the song's impact in the '60s, but that was tempered by the hate mail and threats I was receiving. It was only about ten years ago, when I finally put it back in my show because so many people were asking for it, that I understood 'Society's Child' real impact. — Janis Ian

Life is too damn short and [screwed] up to go through it silently loving someone and never telling them how you feel. [Screw] the consequences, [screw] the implications of the actions, to hell with it all ... whatever happens as a result is better than the nothingness that is inevitable with silence. — Janis Joplin

You are what you settle for. — Janis Joplin

What I need you to tell me is, 'I'm not sure, but I turn down temptations every day. I eat salads when I crave hot fudge sundaes, I force myself to go to the health club when I'm feeling dead tired, I discipline myself in a hundred ways to keep myself healthy, and I can do the same for us.' If you're so unsure about controlling your impulses, why should I believe you won't cheat on me again? — Janis Abrahms Spring

Don't you know that you're nothing more than a one night stand? — Janis Joplin

All my life I just wanted to be a beatnik. Meet all the heavies, get stoned, get laid, have a good time. That's all I ever wanted. Except I knew I had a good voice and I could always get a couple of beers off of it. All of a sudden someone threw me in this rock 'n' roll band. They threw these musicians at me, man, and the sound was coming from behind. The bass was charging me. And I decided then and there that that was it. I never wanted to do anything else. It was better than it had been with any man, you know. Maybe that's the trouble. — Janis Joplin

I read a story about some old opera singer once, and when a guy asked her to marry him, she took him backstage after she had sung a real triumph, with all the people calling for her, asked, 'Do you think you could give me that?' That story hit me right, man. I know no guy ever made me feel as good as an audience. I'm really far into this now, really committed. Like, I don't think I'd go off the road for long now, for life with a guy no matter how good. Yeah, it's the truth. Scary thing to say though, isn't it? — Janis Joplin

After they killed Uday and Qusay, the focus centered on Saddam: Find him, kill him, capture him, whatever it takes. To me, it was a false sense of security: If we get Saddam, we're going to win this war. — Janis Karpinski

Janis Joplin didn't just sing a song, she took it over. She swallowed it whole, then sent it back through her gut and her heart. — Scott Simon

You're never going to see the fat Elvis in me. People I admired like Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix and John Belushi all died at 27. I've got jeans older than that. — Jon Bon Jovi

Janis Joplin has one of the most distinguished female voices of the decade. It is a voice that has been aged in Southern Comfort and cured with Kahlua and milk. It is a voice that cuts you like a razor, but you can still hear the innocence in it, a claim to purity that soars out of the garbage of her throat, carrying evil harmonies. — Al Aronowitz

Guess what, I might be the first hippie pinup girl. — Janis Joplin

Being an intellectual creates a lot of questions and no answers. — Janis Joplin

You're only as much as you settle for. If they settle for being somebody's dishwasher that's their own f***ing problem. If you don't settle for that and you keep fighting it, you know, you'll end up anything you want to be. — Janis Joplin

The late, great Janis Joplin could drink ten men under the table, then sing loud enough to shake the teeth out of their head. — Shawn Amos

I feel I was born with the music coming to me, and that's not something to be wasted. — Janis Ian

For the past thirty-nine years since I had graduated from college, I had called my parents on Sundays. They had expected and looked forward to the ritual. After Dad died, I still called Mom on Sundays. Most of the time I dreaded the call because she had become more and more insular and was full of complaints about the assisted living facility, the other residents, her health, everything. She had become narrow in her interests in life, more negative, more critical, and unhappier. I was reminded of something I had heard from a psychologist about what happens as we age. He said we become more of who we are, not less. Our energy to fight back the negative attributes we all possess is not as strong as we get older. So we can become more cantankerous, more irritable. I also remembered what my father had often said: "There but for the grace of God go I." That Sunday I placed the — Janis Heaphy Durham

It's hard to be happy when you are facing 120 to 140 degree temperatures and nothing seems to be moving in a direction that you think or they think or you've been told it's supposed to be moving in. — Janis Karpinski

What we've had to do is learn to control success, put it in perspective, and not lose the essence of what we're doing - the music. — Janis Joplin

I don't pretend to be an expert on intellectual property law, but I do know one thing. If a music industry executive claims I should agree with their agenda because it will make me more money, I put my hand on my walletand check it after they leave, just to make sure nothing's missing. — Janis Ian

Wait a minute, maybe I can do anything. — Janis Joplin

It's hard to be free but when it works, it's worth it! — Janis Joplin

The intensity with which Janis Joplin sings, you simply can't find a singer like that. It's almost scary the amount of emotion and energy and passion she puts into her performance. — Michael Wadleigh

I love seeing teachers outside of school. It's like seeing a dog walk on its hind legs. — Janis Ian

Never compromise yourself. You are all you've got. — Janis Joplin

I think no-one was surprised to hear that Janis Joplin was dead. She seemed to be living up all of her energy that she had to give in just a few years. Now you listen to covers of her songs by various women, and it's pale in comparison. — Michael Wadleigh

The cult of celebrity in the '60s and '70s was really more reserved for movie stars or high socialites. Paparazzi didn't care about Janis Joplin. — Patti Smith

You can feel all things at once, so why not wear all things at once? — Janis Joplin

To help others, will be rewarded — Janis Yingnan Ji

I love being a star more than life itself. — Janis Joplin

I don't know what happened. I just exploded. I'd never sung like that before. I used to stand still and sing simple, but you can't sing like that in front of a rock band. You have to sing loud and move wild with all that in back of you. Now, I don't know how to perform any other way. — Janis Joplin

Those of us with ravaged faces, lacking in the social graces, desperately remained at home, inventing lovers on the phone. — Janis Ian

Don't believe in ghosts but evidence points to the fact that the spirit of Janis Joplin puked all over your pad. — Kristen Ashley

There was a military police brigade with over 3,400 soldiers getting ready to go home because their mission - prisoner-of-war operations - was finished. — Janis Karpinski

So remember those who win the game
Lose the love they sought to gain
In debitures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you
In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen — Janis Ian

I love that Euro-pop dance music, but with girl power. I also listen to Janis Joplin and Bob Dylan. I have a Beatles song tattooed on my foot. I'm all over the place. — Hilary Duff

I thought that that mission and the mission of taking care of those soldiers were my priorities, and I stand by the same today. There wasn't a lot of support for those soldiers. — Janis Karpinski

I would love to play Janis Gaye in the Marvin Gaye story. If they ever do the Marvin Gaye story, I would love to play Janis - just throwing that out there. — Lauren London

I don't think I sound like Janis Joplin. I'm a woman with a raspy voice. — Brittany Howard

When you're young, the goal is to have a hit. You get a little older and the goal becomes to get to make another record. — Janis Ian

At the end of the day, all you can hope for is to go on. The older I get, the more I realize that just keeping on keeping on is what life's all about. — Janis Ian

It's what I do well - I write about things that make people uncomfortable. That's probably the only thing I do better than my peers. — Janis Ian

By the time my first solo record came out, I was making a handsome living as a record producer. I had worked with the Band, Janis Joplin and all of these other artists in the Albert Grossman organization. So as my so-called solo career evolved, I never felt pressure that I had to come back and top when I might've done before. — Todd Rundgren

Maybe my audiences can enjoy my music more if they think I'm destroying myself. — Janis Joplin

All any girl really wants is just love and a man. But what man can put up with a rock-n-roll star? — Janis Joplin

I can't talk about my singing; I'm inside it. How can you describe something you're inside of? — Janis Joplin

I know about Woodstock probably as much as your average person who is over 30, where I'd know Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Grateful Dead. — Demetri Martin

History has a way of coming back to you. In the case of Janis Joplin appearing at the festival in 1968, her performance affected the life of a Bostonian who is now a member of the Newport Festivals Foundation Board of Directors. Ward Mooney was so affected and emotionally involved in Janis' performance at Newport, that when he heard the festival was going nonprofit, he knew wanted to become a part. Janis was beautiful, gracious and respectful, and the power of her Newport performance continues to live on. — George Wein

I knew how many MPs I had assigned to the brigade, how many military prison operations I would be running, but we needed to evaluate how many criminal prison operations we could support. — Janis Karpinski

Audiences like their blues singers to be miserable. — Janis Joplin

To be true to myself, to be the person that was on the inside of me, and not play games. That's what I'm trying to do mostly in the whole world, is not bullshit myself and not bullshit anybody else. — Janis Joplin

The older the grapes, sweeter the wine. — Janis Joplin

I think I grew up, stopped worrying about what people thought of me, and whether things were going to turn out OK. I'm concentrating on doing the best work I can do and letting it go at that. — Janis Ian

People hear a powerful female singer in a rock and roll band, and they say, 'Janis Joplin.' I think people just make that comparison because it's easy. But I don't think I sound like her at all. — Brittany Howard

Take just one well-known event: The Beatles' 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. This has been depicted with astonishing regularity as a pivotal cultural moment; in fact an entire movie -- I Wanna Hold Your Hand -- was built around it. And that Sullivan episode was indeed a major event in popular culture. But did you know that in 1961, 26 million people watched a CBS live broadcast of the first performance of a new symphony by classical composer Aaron Copland? Moreover, with all the attention that sixties rock groups receive, it may come as a surprise to learn that My Fair Lady was Columbia Records' biggest-selling album before the 1970s, beating out those of sixties icons Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin and The Byrds. — Jonathan Leaf

The war was declared over - the end of major combat operations - in May 2003. Release procedures got under way immediately; reducing the population from 8,000 to just over 300, of course, requires fewer military police soldiers. — Janis Karpinski

If I was mad, it was in this, that I had believed such a possession would protect me from the assassin. — Janis Cooke Newman

Janis Joplin sings the blues as hard as any black person. — B.B. King

Coyote: A small canid (Canis latrans) native to western North America that is closely related to the American wolf and whose cry has often been compared to that of Sippie Wallace and Janis Joplin, amongst others. — Sherman Alexie

You better not compromise yourself, it's all you've got. — Janis Joplin

Nicky Egan has the finesse of Bonnie Raitt merged with the primal force of Janis Joplin. It is a rare combination. Her passion is a joy to behold - and her talent is undeniable. She belongs in any conversation about great contemporary female soul singers. If you're up for a revelatory evening, then put her high on your list. — Steve Morse

My parents both were doing the Civil Rights Movement, were very involved with the civil rights to Congress. And my friends' parents were as well. — Janis Ian

I played for anybody and everybody from the time I started playing guitar, when I was 10 or 11. — Janis Ian

It seems to be part of the human condition to need someone you can look down on. I still don't get that one. — Janis Ian

I gave guitar lessons. I tried to join bands. My mom always said it was obvious that nothing was going to stop me. — Janis Ian

Purity of action guided Janis's behavior. If she was going to be good, she was very, very good. If she was going to be bad, she let all the stops out. Anything less than full commitment to an idea of activity was 'hypocritical', the worst adjective anyone could hurl at another. — Laura Joplin

To be honest, I've made a game out of trying to live through my James Dean, Janis Joplin, Freddie Prinze, Jim Morrison period, those demons that we all have that we're either successful or not at making work for us rather than destroy us. — Patrick Swayze

You can safely assume you've remade God in your own image when it turns out God hates the same people you do. Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird — Janis Bragan Balda

We weren't very professional; she could have gone to almost any town and put together a smoother ensemble, but we were pioneers, and professional musicians probably wouldn't have come up with what we did ... professional musicians probably wouldn't have given Janis Joplin the space to be herself, which was probably our greatest gift to her — Sam Andrew

That policy was abandoned very quickly, and the military police were tagged with the responsibility of conducting training, which they did. We were not equipped or set up with personnel to recruit new Iraqi guards. — Janis Karpinski

It's neat to have finally reached a point where I can accept what I was and what I am. — Janis Ian

I really am a unicorn?' I asked again.

'You think Janis and I escaped from an asylum, don't you?' she teased.

'I hope you're not,' I said, horrified at the thought of being turned into a lunatic like them. — Deepika Kumaaraguru

Some people would rather stay ignorant and self-satisfied. — Janis Ian

If I hold back, I'm no good. I'm no good. I'd rather be good sometimes, than holding back all the time. — Janis Joplin

Nikki Lamborn has the best female rock voice since Janis Joplin and I know what I'm talking about, I knew Janis. — Roger Daltrey

When I sing, I feel like when you're first in love. It's more than sex. It's that point two people can get to they call love, when you really touch someone for the first time, but it's gigantic, multiplied by the whole audience. I feel chills. — Janis Joplin

One of the fundamental missions of a family business is to pass the business to subsequent generations. — Janis Raye

The advantages of having decisions made by groups are often lost because of powerful psychological pressures that arise when the members work closely together, share the same set of values and, above all, face a crisis situation that puts everyone under intense stress — Irving Janis

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz? — Janis Joplin

Once you're halfway home, you know that you can probably get the rest of the way there. — Janis Ian

I remember my mom dressed like Janis Joplin. — Bryan White

Her close friends have gathered.
Lord, ain't it a shame
Grieving together
Sharing the blame.
But when she was dying
Lord, we let her down.
There's no use cryin'
It can't help her now.

The party's all over
Drink up and go home.
It's too late to love her
And leave her alone.

Just say she was someone
Lord, so far from home
Whose life was so lonesome
She died all alone
Who dreamed pretty dreams
That never came true
Lord, why was she born
So black and blue?
Oh, why was she born
So black and blue?

Epitaph (Black And Blue)
Written by: Kris Kristofferson
Note: "Epitaph" is about Janis Joplin. — Kris Kristofferson

I didn't want to look like anyone else - like Janis Joplin or Grace Slick. That's why I never went to any of the big designers. — Stevie Nicks

The music began, and it was one of those life-changing moments. I saw an artist, Janis Joplin. She was exhilarating. She was vibrating. And she was like no other artist that I had ever seen before ... It struck me that hard. Maybe the word is epiphany, when you get that special sensation. — Clive Davis