THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.
341-Janis Joplin-Me and Bobby McGee.
1970-It has never charted in the UK.
Best Bit-At 3.21. Think about it, what a clever thing to do. Use a name (Bobby) that can refer to either sex, and double the amount of artists who can record it.
It was the music producer, and one time owner of ‘Monument Records,’ Fred Foster (1931-2019) (see also best songs 657) who gave Kris Kristofferson (1936-2024) the task of creating this song. Kristofferson was a struggling singer/songwriter recently signed to Monument Records when Foster suggested he come up with a fantasy song about someone called Barbara Bobbie McKee, which Kristofferson misheard as ‘McGee.’ Barbara Bobby McKee was actually the name of the 29 year old studio secretary working at Monument Records at that time. For this reason, and with Kristofferson’s blessing, Foster is credited as the songs co-writer. Kris Kristofferson has said that the inspiration for the song didn’t happen overnight, but in fact took several months to piece together. When asked where he was when he came up with the famous line ‘Freedom is just another word for nothing to lose,’ he said,’ I was working the Gulf of Mexico on oil rigs, flying helicopters, I’d lost my family to my years of failing as a songwriter. All I had was bills, child support, and grief, and I was just about to get fired for not letting 24 hours go between the throttle and the bottle. It looked like I’d trashed my act, but there was something liberating about it. By not having to live up to people’s expectations, I was somehow free.’
Kristoffer Kristofferson was born on June 22nd, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas, United States, he died on September 28th, 2024, at the age 88. He had requested for the first three lines of Leonard Cohen’s (1934-2016) (see also best songs 196) 1968 song ‘Bird on the Wire’ to be engraved on his tombstone, ‘Like a bird on the wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free.’ Kris Kristofferson had a wide and varied career, finding success in several fields, including being a singer/songwriter, film and television actor, and a helicopter pilot. He was a famous film star, appearing in 89 films between 1971-2018, including ‘A Star is Born,’ (1976) and the vampire film trilogy ‘Blade’ (1998-2002 and 2004.) Kris Kristofferson was married three times, including his second marriage to the American Country singer Rita Coolidge between 1973-1980, with whom he recorded three collaborative Albums. He was a pioneering figure in the ‘Outlaw Country’ movement of the 1970’s, being a member of the American ‘Country Music’ ‘supergroup,’ ‘The Highwaymen,’ with Johnny Cash, (1932-2003) (see also best songs 857-428 and 199) Willie Nelson, (see also best songs 337) and Waylon Jennings, (1937-2002) whose sound moved away from the polished ‘Nashville’ sound, and toward a more raw, introspective style. The discography of Kris Kristofferson includes 18 studio Albums released between 1970-2016, and 31 singles released between 1967-2009, there are also six collaboration Albums, five official compilation Albums, and four live Albums available. In America on the Billboard Hot 100, two of his singles have made the top 40, with ‘Why Me,’ peaking the highest at Number 16 in 1973, while in the UK, he has never charted on the singles chart.
‘Me and Bobby McGee’ was co-written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, with the production on the Kristofferson recording being by Paul A. Rothchild (1935-1995) (see also best songs 235.) The Kris Kristofferson version first appeared on his debut studio Album ‘Kristofferson,’ from June 1970. The first recording of ‘Me and Bobby McGee’ was in May 1969 by the American singer Roger Miller, (1935-1992) whose version made Number 12 on the ‘Billboard Country Music’ chart. A posthumously released version by Janis Joplin (1943-1970) topped the Billboard Hot 100 in 1971, making the song the second posthumously released Number 1 single in American Billboard chart history, after (‘Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay’ by Otis Redding (see also best songs 712.) It was the Janis Joplin recording of this song which finally brought Kris Kristofferson the success in the the music business he had been chasing.
Janis Joplin was born Janis Lyn Joplin, on January 19th, 1943, in Port Arthur, Texas, United States, she died on October 4th, 1970, at the age of 27 from an accidental drugs overdose. With Jimi Hendrix (1942-1970) (see also best songs 983 and 492) dying just 16 days earlier, also at the same age, this would lead to the ‘celebrated’ ’27 club’ (see also best songs 806.) Janis Joplin released two studio Albums as lead singer with ‘Big Brother & the Holding Company’ in 1967, and 1968, and two studio Albums as a solo artist. The second Album ‘Pearl,’ which like the ‘Kristofferson’ Album, was produced by Paul A. Rothchild, was released after her death in January 1971, and features her version of ‘Me and Bobby McGee,’ recorded only a short time before here death, with Kris Kristofferson saying, he only first heard her rendition after she had died, and didn’t even know she had recorded it. Kris Kristofferson and Janis Joplin had been lovers for a short time, in 2015 he told the ‘Performing Songwriter’ magazine, ‘Every time I sing it, I still think of Janis.’
‘Me and Bobby McGee’ is the story of two drifters, who eventually become lovers. The pair hitch-hike through the American South, and after they have visited California they split up, with the songs narrator expressing sadness at their parting.
‘One day up near Salinas, Lord, I let him slip away. He’s lookin’ for that home, and I hope he finds it. Well, I’d trade all my tomorrows for one single yesterday, to be holdin’ Bobby’s body next to mine.’