Why does anyone write songs? 1) To make money. 2) To tell a story. 3) To express an emotion. 4) To make money.

Personally, only #2-3 apply to me. I think those two apply to most people who write songs. Janis was a rather sad and tortured woman so probably a lot of her feelings came out in her songs.

But what a song means... well, that's entirely up to the listener a lot of times. What do YOU think it means? It may not mean the same to you as it does to me.

I saw a documentary on John Lennon one time, and this vagrant had camped out on the lawn of his home. He told Lennon, "man, I know you wrote that song for me. I know you did."

And Lennon said, "man, I don't even know you. It's just a song. Are you hungry? Let's get something to eat." And he invited the man in.

I rarely write any "made-up" songs. Just about anything I write comes out of some true feeling about something. But maybe I'm the only one who knows what it's really about.

Cheers-- Kim