Wilder Beatz + Words: Rare Janis Joplin Recording (and) On Freedom

I don't remember where or when I first heard Janis Joplin's "Me and Bobby McGee," but I remember how I felt: electrified, inspired, and comforted. Her raggedy voice and deft guitar playing were unlike anything I'd ever heard, and represented a kind of female power and confidence that I wanted to embody. Her lyrics also completely sucked me in, such as the opening lines, "busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train, and I's feelin' near as faded as my jeans." But it's words above about freedom really get me; they can be read in either a hopeless or hopeful way (song and more after the jump).

Because in the case of the song, Joplin is singing about losing her lover. But as I hear them, the words can be freeing and allowing; if you've got nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. Perhaps it's because I'm young and optimistic and ambitious, but I'd rather think of the lyrics as what could be, rather than what is not. Though there's definitely an edge of sadness to them.
I've had these lines stuck in my head for a while now, especially when swimming. So yesterday, I decided to see if I could find any early versions or videos of Joplin singing "Me and Bobby McGee." I couldn't find a good video, but I did come across this recording: Joplin sings the song in one take and absolutely kills it. I love that you can hear her talking in the beginning, too, about a certain mic not being on. "Not that I'm playin' that great," she says, "but still, I want to be able to hear it, you know what I mean?" Give it a listen, it's pretty incredible:

I got inspired to learn more about Joplin after listening to this, so I downloaded a biography of her called Buried Alive by Myra Friedman. I'll let you know how it is once I finish the current book I'm reading (more on that in a later post). But in my brief research, I came across this great little tidbit from Joplin's Wikipedia page: her college newspaper, The Daily Texan, ran a profile of her in a1962 issue, headlined "She Dares To Be Different." The article opened like this: "She goes barefooted when she feels like it, wears Levi's to class because they're more comfortable, and carries her autoharp with her everywhere she goes so that in case she gets the urge to break into song it will be handy. Her name is Janis Joplin."
I would love someone to write an article about me and open it like that. Janis, you knew what was up.