Belated HAPPY BIRTHDAY, Janis!
January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970
GOOD MORNIN’ SUNSHINE!
“I guess—depending on who sang it—the meaning or sentiment changes a bit.”
Howdy y’all! It is a very wonderful day as always. And I would wish to share with you my little Remembrance of the Late Great Janis Joplin. Whom I, sadly, forgot to greet on her birthday which was last January 19. Sorry, honey.
This wonderful Country Classic was originally written by Kris Kristofferson with Fred Foster and originally performed by Roger Miller.
I guess—depending on who sang it—the meaning or sentiment changes a bit.
For instance, if it were the Roger Miller version, it would be heard as a song by a very good chum to another whom he misses rollin’ them good ol’ times with. But if it were done by one of my favorite artists’, none other than THE Janis Joplin, then it would sound like a song by a lover to a lost love.
“Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose… Nothin’, that’s all that Bobby left me, yeah.”
With Janis’ take on Me and Bobby McGee, it not only sounds like her missing a lover. She shore does, but for both of them good times but also for them not-too-great times. With a tinge of sadness most especially on the part that goes, “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose… Nothin’, that’s all that Bobby left me, yeah.”
Accentuating all this are them piano parts and slide guitar. Along with her rich vocal textures and genuinely-Texan twang.
I don’t know… Hearing Janis singin’ every now and then gives me this happy-sad kind of feeling. It gives me great joy watching her video footages and hearing her “saaang”. But at some point, it makes me really blue for like (another) Late Great, Amy Winehouse, she was such a huge loss to the whole scene. Not to mention, the whole Music Industry.
This is Our Kind of Country,
May y’all be Safe and Well and…
“MAY THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY BLESS US ALL AND SET US FREE!”
Tags
Janis joplin, me and bobby mcgee