Janice Joplin

[Grumpy]

I don’t remember the exact date, but sometime in April or May 1968 was the first time I heard a Janice Joplin song AND LIKED IT. Well, maybe liked is not the right word, but the song was PIECE OF MY MIND and it was USEFUL in timing the bursts on my .50 Caliber Machinegun.

I was a Track Commander with the 11th Armored Cavalry and we were on a Search and Destroy Operation somewhere in War Zone C, north of the Dong Nigh River. My driver had a portable radio tuned to the Armed Forces Network and they started playing that song just as we got into a firefight. That’s when I used the music to time my machine gun bursts. However, it wasn’t until many years later, and after I had long been out of the Army, when I bought a Janice Joplin Album with that song on it.

For those that may not remember or know, Janice Joplin was a famous Blues singer in the 1960’s and an Icon of the Hippy, Drug, and Anti-War Culture of that era. She and that culture were the antithesis of what I believed in, and was fighting for at the time. So, it is not surprising that I despised her and her music.

Although I did buy a Janice Joplin album, except for a few songs, I never listened to all of it until yesterday. I attended a Retiree’s conference in Cincinnati and drove by myself to and from. On the way home, I played the Joplin CDs and actually enjoyed several of the songs. Which brings me to the real reason for writing this and that is to comment, that if the songs she sang (some of which she wrote herself) are any indication, that lady crammed a lot of living into her short life of 27 years.

Some of the song titles are: Misery; Ball and Chain; I Need a Man to Love; One Night Stand, Get it While You Can; Try A Little Bit Harder; and Mercedes Benz, to name just a few of the 45 or so on the Album. She died of a Heroin overdose on October 4th, 1970.

This commentary is meant just to share the thoughts I had during a lonely drive and is not in any way intended to be an endorsement of Janice Joplin or her life style.

Grumpy

[gilly]

although i didn't like her lifestyle she was a great performer. what made the musicians of that era great was the passion they had. curt cobain was the last to have any passion. music today is junk.

[Chubminnow]

curt cobain was the last to have any passion. music today is junk.

Agreed!!

Although he's not a rocker, I sometimes wonder about Jamey Johnson...that guy can flat out write some lyrics too. I actually met him in a bar in Nashville and again on one of the streets in Nashville. I swear I thought the guy was writing a song in his head as he was hanging out....it just didn't seem to me like he was 100% "there" at the time, know what I mean?

[stratosjoe]

sorry Grumpy, I was one of those long haired hippy freaks who liked her and still listened to her when forced into the Mud N Blood could not wait to get home and listen to her on my own porch.

[Big Gills]

I guess I totally missed the appeal she had as I was just a kid in the sixties. I still have a mental image of her on stage at the mike with her crazy hair, rough voice and flowery pants. I never could understand what she was belting out. She seemed all mixed up and high on something. I was too young to understand the hippy movement. I still dont see the appeal and I really dont like her voice. Of course, I dont care for Bob Dylan either.

[Tim_T]

Grumpy, I think she had a great voice. That being said, I might offend some, but having young kids around me a lot, I always thought I would love to hear Miley Cyrus (sp) sing some JJ. Her voice is similar.

[HURRICANEBOB]

I've read about her in history books. I don't think I was alive back then. Or, maybe I was and just didn't realize it.

[riverrat12]

Me and Bobby Mcgee I remember well...Man what another time....Thanks again for your service Grumpy...

[ElectricSLT]

Great blues singer - who like many great blues singers - never found happiness. Lived a tragic life . . .

I won't condone or condemn her lifestyle - made some bad choices myself when I was young that I regret now - but what a talent she had! Had she lived longer maybe she would have pulled out of her bad behaviors - we will never know . . .

[Mean Morone]

She didn't just sing, she performed and what a great performer she was. My 15 yr old daughter likes her music. She has several of her CD's. I find that odd with all the Jonas brother kind of music out there now. Yes I have had talks with her about that era and the bad choices that some of these artist made. Good teaching stuff right there.

[peter]

The first time you heard that song conjures up tons of images for which my only point of refference are the news casts (and replays of such) from back when I was probably in grade school. Sounds like a movie scene. Sometimes songs stick and I guess that one is glued tight.

One of my favorite songs is Me and Bobby McGee. I just like the song, make me feel like I am on a road trip or something. Some of her stuff is a little screachy but man she does put everything into it. Music--I just listen to the songs and sometimes the lyrics are not understandable so I don't know what they are saying. Joplin ..yes, represented the Counter Culture ( and I understand why it was a bit of a problem for you). I have a couple of her albums and I don't remember any mouthing off in protest about the war. Maybe I don't listen to the words close enough. Maybe she saved her mouthing off for her concerts between songs..I have no idea.

If she was a hugely anti war vocal I wonder what she would think about her song, by chance, being used in the war as you did.

Thanks for your service Grump.

[Grumpy]

Peter, you are absolutely right, there are some things we will never forget.

I don't think Joplin made any direct anti-war songs, like Joan Baez did, and I am not even sure that she was in any way vocally anti-war. It was just to me, in my mind at least, it seemed like the Hippy, Drug and Anti-War people were all part of the came Culture.

I too like Me and Bobby McGee, for that matter, her rendition of the song was what got me to buy the JJ album in the first place. In my early Army years, I hitch hiked back and forth accross the US four or five times and I could really relate to the lyrics. Also other parts of the song were/are especially poignant for a solder.

Grumpy