Frank Sinatra's Learnin' The Blues, to an admiring circle of my parents' friends in our living room, while my mother played piano for me. I even remember being cool and snapping my fingers to the beat. (I was pretty young.)

Oh, you mean the first public performance? That would be something or other from Judy Collins, in a Boston/Cambridge coffeehouse. I'd sung privately to my guitar all through high school but was too shy to step out into any limelight until college (with some kind encouragement by friends). My mum had always been very encouraging too - but, at that age, when does what your mother say ever convince you?