lifeblood: songs: backgrounds: a junkie's lament

2010-03-18: after two decades, indigo girls still going strong, the santa rosa press democrat:

q: can you take me back to the first time the two of you harmonized together?

a: emily was a year older than me and already writing a lot of songs. we were in the school choir together and we decided we were going to learn a song for a talent show. we learned a song called "junkie's lament" by james taylor.

q: at the age of what?

a: 16 (laughter) - i know, we were dark children. we liked the obscure. i think i was caught up in how good emily was and i was always playing catch-up. but i think for us it was just really exciting to discover somebody that you just click with musically. it just feels so exciting, you want to do it all the time. she went off to school before i did and i would go and visit. she was in new orleans and we would busk in jackson square. we would play in bars with special permission from our parents. it was just really fun. we weren't about our jobs or career moves.

----------

2010-03-18: the power of two, the albany democrat herald:

they entered a school talent show with james taylor's "a junkie's lament," an inspired if daring choice to present in an academic setting. "emily ended up not being able to do it, so i did it alone," ray said, laughing. "who knows what they thought?

----------

2013-08-05: amy.1981, official indigo girls "a year a month blog" on tumblr

it was the sheltered suburban south, we were coming out of the civil rights movement and things were still bad. i was barely aware of what was going on around me, but it seeped into my bones as i lay listening to my sister's woodstock records- janis joplin and jefferson airplane. by 1981 i was peeling the reagan bumper sticker off my car, hanging out with the high school chorus and learning a james taylor song with emily called a junkie's lament.

----------

2020-03-20: the indigo girls, facebook live review - lightening the blues, the arts desk:

what was the first song they sang live together? "'the junkie's lament' by james taylor. i don't think we even understood what it was about," said amy. "we didn't but we loved it," added emily.

----------

2021-03-30: amy ray, the indigo girls, and the soundtrack of our gay lives, the advocate:

from the very first moment they started singing together, amy ray felt like her head was going to explode. they were in her parent's basement learning cover songs - she's pretty sure their first was "a junkie's lament" by james taylor - and she remembers thinking, "'this is amazing.' not, we sound amazing. but this feels amazing. it was always about, 'this feels amazing.' it was like, 'this is the most fun i've ever had. so, i want to keep doing this.'"