The first thing that struck one about Janis Ian was her youth and the precocity of her talent. (p. 205)

It was in 1966, after her dramatic first appearances at Green-wich Village's Village Gate, that Janis made her first album for Verve-Forecast [Janis Ian]. Immediately the record earned the admiration of the educated public, but also the disapproval of the Establishment. This was due to the most noticed song on the album, "Society's Child," which tackled the problem of racial discrimination in a new fashion and without mincing words: for a schoolgirl of fifteen, not a bad start.

Why so much hassle over a song? Making use of an episode in the life of one of society's children (one would like to think that it is Janis Ian herself, but she has definitely stated that it is not), she attacks, all at the same time, racial discrimination, familial authority, the...