Under the covers №5:
Me and Bobby Mcgee
In this series, we use a simple premise.
First, we look at a cover of a well-known song.
Second, we lift the duvet and look at the original that lays under the covers.
Me and Bobby Mcgee
The song was recorded first not by Kristofferson himself, but by Roger Miller who took the song to №12 in the US country charts in 1969. It would go through several hands, or sets of lungs, including Kenny Rogers with the First Edition and Gordon Lightfoot, before Kristofferson himself recorded it for his self-titled debut LP.
Cover: Janis Joplin
Released: January 11 1971. US Chart peak №1.
Janis would record two albums as lead singer with The Big Brother Holding Company, the first in 1967 being their eponymous debut album. The second and last being Cheap Thrills which would make it to the top of the US Billboard album charts in 1968. Janis would leave the band the same year.
Her solo debut album, I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama! was a success in America and Canada but didn’t chart anywhere else.
But her final album Pearl, would be her sadly too-late global breakthrough. Janis died from a heroin overdose on October 4th 1970, Pearl was…
