70's Music Revisited

Janis Joplin was one of the many performers at Woodstock. She didn’t perform Me and Bobby McGee at the show, it may not have even been written yet. It was one of the songs that she recorded for her 1970 album Pearl as well as being part of her set during the summer of 1970. She was working on the album when she died at the age of 27 from a drug overdose on October 4, 1970.

“Me and Bobby McGee” was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster and originally Bobby is a woman. Janis Joplin changed a few of the lyrics to change the sex of Bobby McGee.

The song reached Number 1 in March of 1971 becoming her only Number 1 song and only the second posthumous number one single in rock & roll history (the first was “(Sittin’ on) the Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding).

Since it was composed in 1969 the song has been recorded by many artists including Roger Miller (first version released), Gordon Lightfoot (reached Canadian Country Number 1) and more recently by the Pop Artist P!nk (during a live recording).

As an added extra I am including the last vocal track that she recorded before her untimely death.

Also included in Box of Pearls: The Janis Joplin Collection