What is the backstory of Janis Joplin's Bobby McGee song?

[Baitball Blogger]

?

[rsdsharp]

1. It's actually Kris Kristofferson's song.

He wrote it. He also recorded it, although I think Janis' version is better.

[utopian]

6. Check out the more recent version from The Austin Sessions

I love this version. In fact, I love the whole record. I think Kristofferson's craggy voice has benefited from age.

[Iggo]

2. First off, it's a Kris Kristofferson song.

Heroin users I've known tell me that it's about addiction, and they sometimes jokingly refer to heroin as "Bobby McGee."

It kinda fits if you force it a little.

That being the case, though, I try not to think too hard about the line, "We played every song that driver knew."

Shudder.

[hlthe2b]

4. No.. According to Kris Kristofferson, not at all about heroin or addiction; others have appropriated

The song was released after Joplin's death from heroin overdose, so there is that..

http://www.songfacts.com/detail.php?id=485

[Iggo]

5. Like I said, ya gotta force it a little.

[The_Casual_Observer]

3. It's probably just as simple as the lyrics are.

I always looked at it as sort of a rip of "On the Road" & Dean Moriarty/Neal Cassady.

[kwassa]

7. well, she was busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train,

you know.

[red dog 1]

8. "Me and Bobby McGee" was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster

The song is the story of two drifters, the narrator and his girlfriend, Bobby McGee.
It was written in 1969, and first recorded by Roger Miller
Janis Joplin recorded the song for inclusion on her "Pearl" album only a few days before her death in October, 1970.
Kristofferson didn't know she had recorded the song until after her death.
It toped the U.S. singles chart in 1971, making the song the second posthumously released Number 1 single in U.S. chart history, after "Sittin' on the Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding.
(It was Janis Joplin's only number 1 single)

[BluesRunTheGame]

9. Bobby McKee was the secretary of Boudleaux Bryant

Fred Foster wanted Kris to write a song using her name. Kris misheard her last name.

[Ptah]

10. Roger Miller

[Beausoleil]

11. Nice!