White people really can have soul, if Janis Joplin is considered in evidence. Rather than recap her whole career, beginning with the familiar story of manager Chet Helms' 1966 phone call from San Francisco to Joplin in Austin, TX (after which she hitchhiked all the way out to the audition with Big Brother and the Holding Company), I propose that we look at her unique vocal character simply via the example of the posthumous hit, Kris Kristofferson's "Me And Bobby McGee".
"McGee" is a perfect example of how Joplin and her several collaboration bands brought together two components of late 60's hard rock more effectively than ever: the soulful singing and the keyboard inclusions. Joplin's gravel-throated power was well-suited for subjects of raw emotion, and a matter of instrumentation heightened the serious connotations at work: not only was the Hammond organ augmented by a rotating speaker unit known as a 'Leslie', thus thickening the sound, but the use of the organ in the first place flew in under the audience's radar screen. Organs weren't typically heard in popular music - but they were indeed typically heard at least once a week for most American listeners; that would have been in church. With the screams, moans and right-on-key sustains of Joplin in front and the dead-serious backing of the Hammond right behind, the result suggests what might have happened if Mahalia Jackson had gotten hold of some rock 'n roll lead sheets and said to her band, "We ought to be able to handle this". Kristofferson's words were united with a naturally relaxed yet powerful vocal delivery plus a gospel-infused bed, all to lasting effect.
It's often said that Frank Sinatra could sing so naturally that he could make every guy in the world think he could sing at least a little bit like Frank. Now, consider every version you've ever heard of "Bobby McGee" and consider if the memory of Janis's performance is making that suggestion to us all even today. So many people think that they can do "McGee"... it's the lazy siren effect of Janis with Big Brother, Full Tilt Boogie Band and others that makes them think so. Listening to them, it seems so easy.
But the Janis "McGee" is the only version for me.
Bio written by: Pete_Jamison |
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