Me and Bobby McGee
| Me and Bobby McGee | |
|---|---|
| Roger Miller | |
| publication | 1969 |
| length | 3:57 |
| Genre (s) | Country , blues rock |
| Author (s) | Kris Kristofferson , Fred Foster |
| album | Roger Miller 1970 |
| Cover versions | |
| 1970 | Gordon Lightfoot |
| 1971 | Janis Joplin |
Me and Bobby McGee is a 1969 country song written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster that became a number one hit thanks to Janis Joplin's version . The song reflects the hedonistic happiness of the moment when a couple hitchhiked through the country and sang the blues playing the harmonica .
History of origin
Co-author Fred Foster was the owner of Monument Records and the associated recording studio Monument Recording in Nashville . Here on October 20, 1969, the still unknown Kris Kristofferson appeared to record his own composition Help Me Make It Through the Night . Foster suggested that Kristofferson write a song about wandering people. Foster had business to do with Barbara "Bobby" McKee, the secretary of the successful country composer Boudleaux Bryant , whose name he had initially misunderstood as "McGee". This idea should also play a role in the new composition. Over the months Kris reluctantly developed the story of a couple who moved across the country , similar to Federico Fellini's film La Strada , a popular motif in country music . Unexpectedly in the song the protagonist lets his partner Bobby pull away, somewhere near Salinas ("Somewhere near Salinas, I let her slip away"), because she is obviously looking for something other than life on the street ("looking for the home I hope she'll find "). In retrospect, he reflects on the fact that freedom means nothing more than that there is nothing left to lose ("Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose").
Original and famous cover version
The original recording was not made by the composer, but by country singer Roger Miller , who had it produced by Jerry Kennedy at Monument Recording Studios on May 16 and 21, 1969 . Miller knew about the subject because he had a big hit with King of the Road in 1965 , which was also about vagrancy. The song had to be completed during the recording session because the second verse was still missing. Session musician Charlie McCoy played the harmonica to match the lyrics ("I took my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna and was blowin 'sad while Bobby sang the blues"). After its release in June 1969, the title reached number 12 on the country charts . Kristofferson himself recorded the song between October 1969 and June 1970 under producer Foster at Monument for his album Kristofferson , which was re-released in August 1971 under the title Me and Bobby McGee and has now received a gold record .
Kristofferson's former girlfriend Janis Joplin stood in front of the microphone under producer Paul Rothchild for the album Pearl at Sunset Sound Studios in Los Angeles between September 5 and early October 1970 . Among the tracks was Me and Bobby McGee , which was recorded on September 25, 1970. Originally, the song was about a woman named Bobby, so Joplin had to rewrite it for himself. She plays the acoustic guitar on her version. Their bluesy version of Me and Bobby McGee was released as a single from the LP on January 12, 1971 and took first place in the pop charts for two weeks . Since Joplin had already died on October 4th, this recording was the second song after (Sittin 'On) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding , which managed to reach number one on the US pop charts as a posthumous release.
More cover versions
In total, at least 47 covers of Me and Bobby McGee appeared . One of the first is by Kenny Rogers , who included the song on his Ruby LP , Don't Take Your Love to Town (1969). This was followed by John Buck "Bucky" Wilkin on his LP In Search of Food, Clothing, Shelter and Sex (1970). Gordon Lightfoot (May 1970; No. 13 on the US pop charts and No. 1 on the country charts in Canada), Statler Brothers (December 1970), Bill Anderson (December 1970) or Bobby Bare (July 1971) were some of the early country -Stars who added the song to their repertoire. Jerry Lee Lewis carried his country version to number one on the country charts in October 1971.
In the music show Beat-Club radio station Radio Bremen also played Johnny Cash 's version of the classic Country (1972)
Other well-known interpretations come from Bill Haley & His Comets (1971), Grateful Dead (September 1971), LeAnn Rimes (October 1999) or Dolly Parton (October 2005). Gianna Nannini recorded an Italian version for the album California under the title Io e Bobby McGee (May 1979), Renate Kern in August 1971 with another girl . He recorded a German version. The song received a BMI award. In the published 2004 list 500 best songs of all time American music magazine Rolling Stone has Joplin's version Place 148th
Web links
- SWR3: Joplin, Janis: Me and Bobby McGee, German-language approximation to the original text ( Memento from August 8, 2017 in the Internet Archive )
- Me and Bobby McGee on YouTube
Individual evidence
- ^ Mojo Magazine, March 2008 issue
- ^ Al Bianculli: Liner Notes . In: Kristofferson. Remastered version . Columbia Records , 2001.
- ↑ Michael Kosser, How Nashville Became Music City USA , 2006, p. 69 f.
- ^ Beat Club: Johnny Cash - Me And Bobby McGee (1972). In: YouTube. NDR, September 11, 2020, accessed on September 11, 2020 .