Miss Mary Jane Miss Mary Jane is a song about Alanis, one of my musical idols. I have always looked up to her and it really bothered me to hear the press taint her name with epithets like ...angry female and feminist... like it's a negative thing to talk straight up about the things that make you angry and hurt! Alanis is one of our hometown girls and I felt as if I could see her for what she truly is....a remarkable songwriter and singer and thinker. People said that I sounded like her and that I even looked like her..but the most important things that we have in common is that we're from the same town and we're singer/songwriters. I respect her profoundly for not being afraid to write about the hurt she's been through, and for being blunt about her reality, and the things that have happened to her. AND, Alanis wrote her material before it was hip and cool for female artists to lay it out on the line like that...she created the road for me to walk down. What I've seen in Alanis is what has helped me develop into the kind of artist I am. Music is an emotion... and I'm not sure that the Press was/is qualified to judge her. I think that the 80 million units that she sold worldwide is all of the judging that Alanis needs! Miss Mary Jane is about my feelings and her story. I realise that people will always talk and they will always criticise and it doesn't bother me to put it out there. You gotta take the good with the bad and I strive to do it the way she has done it. If you have enjoyed listening to this song, please return to the sound sample page and listen to more! |
