Judy Collins Dishes on Her Debut Poetry Collection and the Magic of the ’60s Folk Scene (EXCLUSIVE)
The legendary singer opens up about grief, activism, inspiration and more
Over six decades after she first hit the scene, Judy Collins remains one of the most iconic artists of the ’60s folk movement. The musician, who had hits with her takes on “Both Sides Now,” “Amazing Grace” and “Send in the Clowns,” has long been known for her angelic voice and captivating stage presence, and she’s still going strong at 86.
At a stage when many artists would be stepping away from the spotlight or sticking to what they know best, the singer-songwriter is continuing to experiment creatively, and recently released her debut poetry collection, Sometimes It’s Heaven: Poems of Love, Loss, and Redemption.
Collins sat down with Woman’s World to discuss her artistic process, navigating grief, the magic of her ’60s musical milieu and much more.
Woman’s World: This is your debut poetry collection. How did it come to be?
Judy Collins: My husband, Louis, died in December. In 2017, he challenged me to write 365 poems in a year—one every day. I took on his challenge, and I did it. I haven’t done it since, but I did write a poem every day that year. From that batch of poems, I harvested not only the songs for Spellbound, my album that came out in 2022, but also my book of 100 poems. You have to twist your words from a poem to a lyric, because they’re different. Most traditional poetry doesn’t quite work when set to music, but I twisted the poems and worked them up and figured out how to make songs out of them.
I had just written my poems, and there they were. I was surprised, but it worked. I know how to practice, and I know how to write when I have to, so I did it. From there, my agent decided that the world should see a book of poetry from Judy Collins, and I agreed.
WW: Where do you find artistic inspiration?
JC: Life is where I get my inspiration. Life and death. That covers the whole territory. I always wrote. I wrote all the time in high school. I wrote and wrote, and then when I got into therapy, I started writing all my dreams down and doing journals, which I kept for years and years. Out of that sprang the fact that I had to be writing. I started writing my first memoir in 1984 and it was published in 1987, and then I wrote a number of other books.
I always get up at a certain hour, turn on the coffee pot and hopefully get to work. I try to work on my writing for an hour in the morning and I always have to practice. You must practice the piano because you won’t be able to play it otherwise. I have a friend who’s a writer who says that the creative process is like laying pipe. It’s a job, and if you have the energy to do it, and if you have to make a living doing it, then you have a challenge every day.
WW: There’s so much nostalgia for the music of the ’60s. As someone who came up during that era, was there a sense at the time that it was special?
JC: It was always incredibly appealing and attractive and wonderful and different and mysterious and full of literature and stories and fabulous people. In the folk world, you talk about Bob Dylan and Tom Rush and Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez and Woody Guthrie and Pete Seeger—good heavens! You couldn’t ever get enough of them. It was a deliciously different, intellectually perfect and musically and poetically appealing time.
The whole time was a bundle of joy, but it was hard. It’s always been hard. Anybody who has a big career in anything knows that it’s hard to pursue those things, which I still do with a ferocious spirit. I’m 86 now, and it still feels like the first thing in the morning I have to do is figure out how to be creative.
WW: The political movements of the era are still so relevant. What’s your take on activism and how it has evolved over the years?
JC: We’re never finished. We think we are, but we’re not. If we read history, which I do, you’ll find out that there’s repetition in making things better. They always get worse, and then you make them better. Thank God, human beings can revive their interest and their concern, because their brains can work—most of them, not all of them!
I was anchored to activism in my family, because my father was always all about politics. He talked about the war in Vietnam and McCarthy and MacArthur, but he also read poetry on the air and told Mae West stories. I think political savvy and how you get your point across is an essential piece of your character. It doesn’t matter if you’re famous or nobody knows you. If it’s your feeling to go and march, you should do it.
WW: How do you practice self-care as an artist?
JC: I eat right. I have a very active social life. I’m always making dates and getting involved with people. That’s a big part of my life, and it always has been, and my friendships with people have to be attended to. The other side is looking, looking, looking for creativity in my area. When I go out and do a show, I think carefully about what I’m going to sing—I don’t want to do the same show twice, and I create an environment which has comedy and tragedy, just like the theater.
WW: If you could give your younger self advice, what would you say to her?
JC: “Stand up and take a bow. You had a sense to stay alive.” I’m a person who tried to kill myself at 14 because I was a depressed teenager. I was angry at my parents, like every teenager is, it seems. Those of us who get out of that situation can actually look back on it with horror. If I had succeeded, it would have destroyed my parents. Thank God I didn’t do that. I turned around and got therapy and came out of it.
WW: What do you feel is your biggest achievement?
JC: I had the privilege of finding the man that I adored and loved and was involved with and married to. I spent 46 years with him. That’s pretty good for an old folkie. I’m lucky, because four days before I got sober, I met my husband. That’s the thing that made my life everything that it could possibly be. He was a genius. He designed the Korean War Memorial in Washington, DC. He was an amazing industrial designer and an amazing human being. He loved what he did and he loved the creative process. We were perfectly matched.
I was introduced to him by a friend I’ve known for years, and she was the one who helped me get my apartment together 55 years ago, and I still live there. That piece of luck where I intersected with the man that would help me work and live and create and be a positive and fulfilled human being was like hitting the jackpot.
It’s been about six months since he died, and his death has been a terrible loss. I’m going through it like everybody has to, and of course it’s a learning process. How can you get over it? I don’t know, but you do your best. It was an amazing life. I know he’s here with me, and I’m lucky to have that.
WW: Do you have any upcoming projects on the horizon?
JC: I have a Broadway play that I’m in the midst of writing, and I have another project with a filmmaking crew doing a documentary on me. There are all kinds of things going on that I’m juggling.
WW: You’ve had such impressive longevity. Where do you think that quality comes from?
JC: I have a lot of relatives, particularly on my mother’s side, who lived to be over 100. Another part of it is that when you’re an artist, you never stop working. You never stop entering the creative zone and looking at things from the perspective of what your discipline is. I have the discipline of music, lyrics, words, prose and reading. I think reading is so important, and I’ve got all those elements in my DNA. My father was the same way. He wanted to read everything and learn everything. I have an appetite for creativity, and it was definitely born in my genes. I feel it. When it starts to sparkle up, you say, “Oh, that’s why I’m here.”
Conversation
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