User:Jessie5321

Provide a short biography of the artist. (Where do they come from? What is the race/gender? What are they best known for?) Janis Joplin, nicknamed “Pearl,” was born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1943. In high school, she was labeled an outcast and started playing blues and folk music by artists like Bessie Smith, Ma Rainey, and Lead Belly which influenced her start as a singer. She made her way to San Francisco during the Beat poetry movement and made her first LP doing blues cover songs with the future guitarist for Jefferson Airplane. Joplin was known for her heavy alcohol use throughout her career and repeatedly dealt with drug addiction which eventually led to her death in 1970. Before starting her solo career, she was a member of several bands including Big Brother & the Holding Company which produced one of her most memorable performances at the Monterey Pop Festival. After inter-band tensions, Janis Joplin created a new band called the Kozmic Blues Band in order to keep up her fleeting popularity. She maintained her bad girl image and soon became a staple in the Haight-Ashbury community, going on to play at Woodstock and Madison Square Garden.

What is the subject of the song? (What people, places, and/or events does it refer?) The song reads as if it is a girl and her guy Bobby McGee are hitch-hiking across the the country from Baton Rouge to New Orleans. The chorus says that freedom means having nothing to lose and that feeling good is good enough for her and her man. As the song continues, it references traveling from Kentucky coal mines to the California sun until the girl lets Bobby McGee go, assumedly to be free. However, the real story is Fred Foster, boss of Monument Records, called songwriter Kris Kristofferson one night and said he had the name of a song after meeting a beautiful female receptionist in his building named Bobby McKee. Thus “Me and Bobby McGee” was created and the biggest twist Joplin employed was that Bobby is actually a Barbara.

How does this song relate to the historical climate of the time it was written? (What events may have prompted the artist to write this piece? What was the cultural/social context of the period it was written?) This song has been called the quintessential roadie song because it encapsulates the free hippie spirit that was growing across the country at this time. While not all listeners of folk and acid rock were hitch-hiking across the country as depicted by Joplin, the nomad spirit was reflective of the communal ideals and anti-consumerism that was brewing among listeners of the genre. The song also mentions “being faded like my blue jeans” which references the large drug culture surrounding the Haight-Ashbury community during this time. As many people during the era, the singer describes playing and singing the blues on a portable harpoon, showing one of the most important elements of this type of music is its ability to travel and be played and shared with all.

What specific lyrics provide support for your responses in answers 2 and 3? Explain. The mention of drugs is one of the first lines in the song, saying “When I's feeling nearly faded as my jeans.” The song continues by referencing the growing popularity of playing a musical instrument; “I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandana, I's playing soft while Bobby sung the blues, n-yeah.” However, arguably the most important line that encompasses the spirit of roadie culture and Janis Joplin’s free spirit is in the chorus when it says, “You know feeling good was good enough for me.” Feeling good and pursuing life’s happiness was the mantra of hippie culture and a founding element of acid and psychedelic rock.

As you listen to this song are there any assumptions you can make about the audience to whom it is directed? (Think about things like race, gender, social class or a specific person for whom the song was created.) The song is clearly geared toward folk and blues audiences, and the song even seems reminiscent of early country artists. During the time, Beat poets from San Francisco and members of the Haight-Ashbury community were experimenting with drug culture and pushing consciousness beyond the normal bounds. While Janis Joplin’s style was not necessarily psychedelic in the way other bands like the Grateful Dead or the Beatles were, her style appealed to the masses of new hippies who were traveling to free concerts, living in communities, and sharing music with one another. Most of the listeners of this type of music were middle class white youths who were rebelling against the white collar, white picket fence image their parents generation were promoting.

How was the song received when it was released? (How successful was it with fans, on the billboard charts, etc.) While the song is most associated with Janis Joplin, Roger Miller recorded an earlier version of the song in 1969. His version of the song brought together a boxy drum beat with an almost mariachi like ending and became a hit country song because of grit and ability to unify folk and blues. Janis Joplin’s version of the song was released after her death in 1971 and topped the US charts, making it the second posthumously released number one single on the U.S. charts following “Sittin on the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding. The song was ranked number 11 on the Billboard’s list of Greatest Songs of 1971.

What is the song’s legacy? (What influence has the song had on other music, films, popular culture, etc. since it was originally released?) Recorded only days before her death, many people including Kristofferson did not know Joplin had added “Me and Bobby McGee” to her album Pearl. Her only number one hit, Janis Joplin’s version of the song was placed number 128 of the Rolling Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time in 2004. Her rock and roll legend has inspired artists such as Stevie Nicks, Jerry Garcia, and Florence and the Machine. Since its original recording, “Me and Bobby McGee” has been covered by over twenty different artists including Jerry Lee Lewis, the Grateful Dead, and Johnny Cash.

How might this song be useful to historians? This song, though not originally recorded by Janis Joplin, was really made popular by her wild rock and roll image and her untimely death in 1970. Her death sixteen days after the death of Jimi Hendrix shocked the music world and propelled her posthumous album “Pearl” to the top of the charts. Music historians have compared Joplin’s ability to captivate an audience to that of Elvis Presley and her pioneering in the industry helped pave the way for future female rock and roll singers. Her sound is so unique and representative of the era through her folks and blues inspired songs. “Me and Bobby McGee” tells a tale of free spirits on the road and how freedom was the ultimate goal for the audience of the genre, giving us a peek into the hippie youth culture.