Janis Joplin, Me And Bobby McGee - A Classical Musician’s First Listen and Reaction

#janisjoplin
This is a sweet, “folksy” story, tenderly portrayed by Janis Joplin. While I only realized it after the recording was completed, it reminds me a bit of Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘The Boxer’, and is a lovely contrast to Janis’s ‘Summertime’ and ‘Kosmic Blues’.

Here’s the link to the original song by Janis Joplin:

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Special thanks to those who are keeping my ko-fi cup supplied:
I’ve formed the habit of publishing all the names of my supporters simply because I appreciate your appreciation of my work, and I want to recognize each one of you personally. But, unfortunately, YouTube allows a limited number of characters for the description, and I cannot fit all names anymore. So, this is my message to each one of my supporters personally:
THANK YOU!
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Amy Shafer, LRSM, FRSM, RYC, is a classical harpist, pianist, and music teacher, Director of Piano Studies and Assistant Director of Harp Studies for The Harp School, Inc., holds multiple degrees in harp and piano performance and teaching, and is active as a solo and collaborative performer. With nearly two decades of teaching experience, she teaches privately, presents masterclasses and coaching sessions, and has performed and taught in Europe and USA.

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Credits: Music written and performed by Janis Joplin

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[johnjohn]

Kristofferson is an amazing guy. He was a Rhodes scholar with a masters from Oxford in english literature. He was also a Golden Gloves boxer and was on the fast tract in the military as a helicopter pilot. He turned down a job as a professor at West Point, as he felt a calling to music and abandoned his life to move to Nashville. He took a janitor's job at Columbia and got his first real break when Johnny Cash read a letter Kristofferson's mother had written to him disowning him. Cash took Kris under his wing, and it all started from there. He is a poet as a lyricist and just a fascinating individual.

[redpine]

I always loved the line "I'd trade all my tomorrows for single yesterday" Haven't we all felt exactly that way a time or two? Not in a literal way - but I totally get it. And Janis...thankfully there was no pitch correction or autotune back then.

[reneenelson]

Ball and Chain live at Monterey video is a must. Watch her pour her heart out to her audience. Amazing.

[incamoran]

I was 12 when this was released and it changed my life. I'd never heard anyone - and especially not a woman - sing with such reckless abandon and give themselves totally to the music. Janis remains my spirit animal to this day.

[nellgwenn]

Amy, you are only experiencing a part of the impact of Janis without seeing any live performances. You will see her vulnerability as well as her total command of the stage and her force reaching everyone in the audience.
If you don't do a video of her at Monterey Pop singing Ball and Chain, at least watch it for your own benefit. Just so you can see for yourself that people's descriptions of her are not hyperbole. You will see evidence of that, not coming from yourself, but coming from a very important member of the audience.
You will wonder why the camera does focus on one specific audience member for as long as it does. It's because that audience member is Cass Elliot. Who was in The Mama's and the Papa's. The band responsible for the whole festival.
When you watch Cass watching Janis your musician comradery with her will come out.
You will know Cass is watching and reacting to her as a musician as well as a fan. You will know when you see it.
Also after you do see Janis live compare and contrast it with other female singers at the time in Janis's sphere. There is a stark contrast.
As for this song Janis finally got with musicians that were on her level and knew what they were doing. As well as a producer that knew how to make Janis shine in her best light.

[Buzzdog]

Kristofferson was a Rhodes Scholar. The truest lyrics every written, " Freedoms just another word for nothing left to lose, nothing is worth nothing but it's free ".

[stylerod]

Janis will forever remind me of my mom. Once a week her and her best friend would have cocktails, talk and listen to records. This was the early 70's and I was 5-6 years old. I would fall asleep hearing the music they played and Janis is the artist I remember the most. Even then I knew it was something special.

[johnvender]

Pearl is an incredible album. Full Tilt Boogie were masterful musicians capable of moving easily between rock, blues, soul, funk and country styles, perfectly complimenting Janis' vocal performances. I can only imagine the song Buried Alive In The Blues with her singing, unfortunately she died before recording the vocal for it.

[edwardrutledge]

She had overwhelming stage presence, incredible song expression and of course an unmanageable death wish. What a tragic shame to lose her at the deadly 27 years Rock age curse.

[idraven]

The raw power of her voice, and her freedom of movement, and her willingness "to go there" and use it (free spirit), to me makes her unique, for her time. She talkes this beloved song, and makes it her own, a completely diff. arrangement and tone from the original. She is a Legend, a goddess in her hometown has her own museum in Beaumont Texas. From what I gather untrained, she was born with it.

[rickwalker]

Many people, including members of her former band Big brother thought her voice was totally blown out on this album. In truth if you listen to her live in 1970 her voice was clear and powerful. The producer of Pearl convinced her to try a different technique which allowed her to sing with power but not constant full throttle. He called it her "church voice" ... I don't know about that but her voice was in fine, subtle flavor on this song and really the entire pearl album

[michaeltelson]

There was a real Bobbi McGee. Kris Kristofferson’s co-writer ran a music publishing company and Roberta “Bobbi” McGee was his secretary. Kris’s own version is very good as well.
You should explore other songs by Kristofferson.

[scottbrown]

I think it would be worthwhile for you to read the book "Buried Alive: The Biography of Janis Joplin" by Myra Friedman, Janis' publicist near the end of Janis' life. Janis was a tortured soul in many ways, and her demise was inevitable according to Friedman. Janis was singing with about 1/4 of her voice left by the time she became famous; The biography goes into detail on that, and many other aspects of her life. All of that glorious emotion you hear in Janis' work comes from her very captivating history... Not for the faint of heart...

[Jivansings]

Yet another delight dear Amy!! Your way of pronouncing Kristofferson was so charming. It made my day. 😊

[geobol]

Outstanding song- and the lyrics- Kristorferson’s masterful - a true poet- economy of words to paint a picture - show me don’t tell me

[construct]

Thanks for telling us that Roger Miller was the first to record this song. The earliest recording I knew of was Kris Kris-TOF-fer-son's own version, but there were several before his. That prompted me to go back and listen to Roger Miller's version. It's an old-fashioned style of Nashville country music but with some brass instruments added at the second verse and some ad libs in the coda that I don't generally associate with country. It's worth a listen and possibly a "first listen and reaction" video. The very simple chord progressions and the key change after the first verse would provide an opportunity for some elementary discussion of functional harmony and the one-step-up key change frequently used in popular music.

[KM]

Every of these 3 songs were played with different band: Summertime - Big Brother & Holding Company (1968), Kozmic Blues - Kozmic Blues Band (1969), Me and Bobby McGee - Full Tilt Boogie (1970).

[czechappy]

I remember when we first heard Janis Joplin, She was all everybody in my group could talk about, We wanted more of her voice and soul, I love all of Janis Joplin songs, You could just feel her passion in her song, Try the song Piece of My Heart. You'll flip.

[bob___]

"Piece of My Heart" is perhaps the most typically Janis Joplin of her songs.

[t.e.]

So happy you like Janis. She was always my favorite female rock singer.