All the new songs [on Joan Armatrading's "Me Myself I"] were written in less than an hour, and she completed "When You Kisses Me" in only 10 minutes.

"This was just a very easy album to write," she explained. "When I was ill, I had a lot of time to think about what I'd write, when I could again … I don't remember just how long. So I was able to really think about it and to jot down quite a few words. Once I started to write the songs, it just came really easy because I'd sort of prepared it, you know."

So many of her songs seemed to reflect the attitudes of "the new woman" that I felt compelled to tell her that her song "You Rope You Tie Me" might anger unliberated men. "Oh, that's not just a woman's song, you know," she countered. "It could be...