Janis Ian’s New Single, “When He Was Here,” Touches The Souls of Her Fans
Published
Janis Ian’s New Single, “When He Was Here,”
Touches the Souls of Her Fans
“So beautiful. So poignant.
Many people will be touched to their core,”
writes one fan.
The Janis Ian Archives at Berea College
Kick Off with a “Breaking Silence” Celebration
October 17-20
NEW YORK — They say the best art comes from pain. That is certainly the case with Janis Ian’s hauntingly beautiful new release, “When He Was Here,” an aching ballad about divorce available everywhere you can stream and download music. The song kicks off with the heartfelt verse, “He got a new car, she got the kids/They sold the house and lived apart/and I kept the memories of how it had been/Kept every picture in my heart.”
The song’s relatable lyrics have her fans praising. “This song was written for me. I suspect there are many thousands that also think this song was written for them,” writes LoriAnne on Ian’s Facebook page. Another fan, Pamela, calls the song an “exquisite work of art” and a “heartbreakingly, hearthealingly beautiful song.” The outpouring of emotional reactions also includes: “Utterly beautiful. Tears,” “Very beautiful, sad & real,” “Bittersweet beauty in those lyrics combined with your voice,” “Beautiful. There’s just something about your music that touches one’s soul,” “Just wow,” and “That’s beautiful. Beauty can come from not-so-great things.”
The equally relatable chorus goes on to say…
When he was here, she would smile
They would laugh for a while
She would ask “Am I still your only one?”
They would dance cheek-to-cheek
by the light of the TV, and we
never needed memories when he was here
While “When He Was Here” is newly released, it’s not a new song. Co-written with Lance Cowan, it was written in the ‘90s. “This song is still one of my favorites,” says Ian. “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.”
Fans can now listen to, or download, “When He Was Here” on Ian’s own site, Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, and enjoy the new video of the song featuring rare family photos on YouTube.
Since Ian was forced to retire from singing in 2022 due to vocal cord scarring caused by a virus, she’s been diggingthrough her archives to unearth hidden treasures like “When He Was Here.” Of its origins, Ian says, “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.”
“When He Was Here” isn’t the first previously unreleased song to come from Ian’s archival dig. Last year, she released two new collections — Live at Calderone Theater 1975 and Worktapes & Demos Vol. 1. The live album was recorded on November 29, 1975, at the Calderone Theater in Hempstead, New York, and the Worktapes compilation is a mix of early versions, outtakes, and unreleased songs from over the years. Both releases are available for sale on her website atwww.janisian.com as high-quality MP3 digital download ($11.95) or CD-quality digital download ($12.95).
“Once I lost the ability to perform as a vocalist,” explains Ian, “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’.”
Meanwhile, the Janis Ian Archives at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky will open with a four-day celebration on October 17-20. The festivities, titled “Breaking Silence” after her 1993 album, include a tribute concert on Oct. 19 featuring Amythyst Kiah, S.G. Goodman, Melissa Carper, Aoife Scott, and Senora May performing songs from Ian’s vast catalog of music. Honored award-winning guest artists will include poet Jane Hirshfield, photographer Peter Cunningham, and director Varda Bar-Kar, whose documentary of Ian’s work and life premieres this fall.
For more information on the “Breaking Silence” celebration, including a schedule events, concert tickets, and VIP tickets, please visit www.Berea.edu/janisian.
For more information on Janis Ian, please visit www.janisian.com.
About Janis IanJanis Ian is a 10-time GRAMMY nominee (two-time winner) whose songs and performances have resonated with a diverse group of fans for more than five decades. She is one of just a handful of artists who have received nominations in eight completely different categories. Raised by activist Jewish parents on a New Jersey farm, she currently lives in Florida with her partner and wife of 34 years.
Ian received her first GRAMMY nomination in 1967 for “Best Folk Album” with Janis Ian, featuring “Society’s Child.” She took home her first GRAMMY in 1975 for “Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female – At Seventeen,” and her second for “Best Spoken Word Album – Society’s Child: My Autobiography” in 2013. Her 2023 GRAMMY nomination for “Best Folk Album,” The Light at the End of the Line, brought her full circle.
Two of her most powerful songs, “Society’s Child” and “At Seventeen,” were inducted into the GRAMMY Hall of Fame in 2002 and 2008, respectively. She received the International Folk Music Awards Lifetime Achievement Award in 2023 and was honored by Ireland’s Tradfest and Ireland’s Minister of Culture in 2024 for Outstanding Achievements In the Arts.
Ian has been mining her treasure trove of music and memorabilia for a massive archival project, the Janis Ian Archives, that will open in October of 2024 at Berea College in Berea, Kentucky, as well as preparing collections of rare and previously unreleased recordings. The first two releases, Live at the Calderone Theater 1975 and Worktapes & Demos Vol. 1, dropped last fall with more to come. She is also gearing up for the June 2025 broadcast on PBS’ famed American Masters of a documentary about her life and work. Janis Ian: Breaking Silence is helmed by award-winning director/producer Varda Bar-Kar, best known for Big Voice (Netflix, PBS) and Fandango at the Wall (Max). Along with Ian, the film features interviews with friends including Joan Baez, Arlo Guthrie, Lily Tomlin, Jean Smart, Laurie Metcalf, and others.
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