Janis Joplin – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

The Dick Cavett Show

I remember being a kid and how ABC, which was our “channel 2,” never came in clearly. The picture was snowy, but I still recall catching glimpses of The Dick Cavett Show. Of course, I also remember Johnny Carson—he and Cavett were the two big talk show hosts of the time. While it might be sacrilegious to say, I always favored Cavett over Carson. Even as a kid, Cavett seemed more interesting.

The Dick Cavett Show on ABC was a smart alternative to The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. Cavett frequently booked intellectuals and gave them time for extended, in-depth conversations. You truly got to know his guests—he took more than 10 minutes, unlike the rushed format of today. There were no distractions, no flashy sets, just meaningful conversations. That was the key: Cavett didn’t just interview his guests… he had real conversations with them. No gimmicky skits, just an authentic exchange.

Cavett had his critics. Some called him a snob, a name-dropper, or too controversial. All three were true—and I loved it. Yes, he went to Yale, and yes, he dropped names. But honestly, if I’d spent time with people like Groucho Marx, I’d name-drop too. Cavett’s guest list was legendary: John Lennon, Jimi Hendrix, Katharine Hepburn, Bette Davis, and so many more. He embraced the counterculture, but he also joked about the counterculture, staying balanced in his approach. In modern times, Conan O’Brien and David Letterman came closest to that spirit…and Charlie Rose as far as having conversations.

One of Cavett’s trademarks was his unique mix of guests. Where else would you see Janis Joplin, Raquel Welch, and Gloria Swanson sharing the same stage? His early 1970s ABC show was the pinnacle of his career. When he booked a rare or special guest, he often dedicated the entire episode to them. Bette Davis and Katharine Hepburn each had an entire show to themselves. Can you imagine that happening today? Is it because today’s stars aren’t as compelling, or has the audience’s attention span shrunk too much to appreciate such depth?

Cavett also thrived on risk. He hosted Norman Mailer and Gore Vidal, who famously clashed, and another episode featured Salvador Dalí, Lillian Gish, and Satchel Paige. These combinations were bold, and they worked. Even Johnny Carson admitted that Cavett was the only talk show host who could’ve seriously challenged him, though ABC’s third-place standing in the network race kept Cavett from overtaking Carson’s dominance.

This isn’t a knock on Johnny at all—his show set the blueprint for today’s talk shows. But Cavett offered something different: a smarter, more thoughtful experience. Watching his episodes now feels like opening a time capsule. While some moments are tied to their time, much of it remains timeless. Hearing from legends like Marlon Brando and Katharine Hepburn, who rarely did talk shows, is especially fascinating.

It wasn’t one of those “Hi, my name is Miss/Mr. So-and-So, my favorite color is blue, and goodbye until next time I have something to promote” situations. With Dick Cavett, you really got to know the person. He had a knack for drawing out something truly interesting. My favorite interview is the one with George Harrison. It didn’t seem promising at first—George wasn’t particularly eager to be on any show at the time—but Dick managed to get him to open up. You could see Cavett’s relief when George finally warmed up. This interview, which came right after John and Yoko’s appearance, turned out to be one of George’s best.

Here are some YouTube comments for these older talk shows:

I’m amazed when I go back and watch interviews from older talk shows, because it’s more quiet and the celebrity hosts and celebrity guests actually engage in authentic conversation with pure respect.

Jimmy Fallon should watch this video. No stupid laughing constantly, no sound effects and no fake laughter from the host. Just a meaningful conversation

Man no wonder podcasts have taken over. This interview was far more interesting and informative than any late night tv interview we get these days.

Car Songs…Part 1

In my Fred Eaglesmith post on Saturday, two comments caught my attention. One was Keith telling me when he was a DJ they would play car songs at certain times. Then Obbverse mentioned… that would be a good post for someone…and indeed he was right.

When I was a teenager…a car wasn’t just a car…it was freedom. It was a key to an adult world we wanted eagerly to jump into. Ok…I’ll have songs with either the word “car” in them or with a model of a car in the title only. If not I would have 80 percent of Springsteen songs…not a bad thing at all but I will play by those rules.

Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz

Let’s start with Janis Joplin. This is based on a song called C’mon, God, and buy me a Mercedes Benz by the Los Angeles beat poet Michael McClure. Joplin saw McClure perform it, and on August 8, 1970, she reworked it into her own song, which she performed about an hour later.

There are three credited songwriters on this track: Joplin, Michael McClure, and Bob Neuwirth. McClure says he never earned a cent from his poetry, but “Mercedes Benz” paid for his house in the Butters Canyon section of Oakland, California.

Janis Joplin never got a Mercedes Benz, but she did have a 1965 Porsche that was painted to become a piece of hippie art.

Wilco – Bull Black Nova

Many thanks to Obbverse for recommending this one. This song is a dark one…very dark. It’s somewhat cryptic and open to interpretation but one thing it does show… guilt, betrayal, and the consequences of one’s actions…and the narrator possibly killing his girlfriend. This song was released in 2009 on the album Wilco (The Album). The song was written by Wilco… Glenn Kotchie, Jeff Tweedy, John Stirratt, Mikael Jorgensen, Nels Cline, and Pat Sansone.

If I am the one, blood on the sofa
Blood in the sink, blood in the trunk
High at the wheel of a bull black Nova
And I’m sorry as a setting sun
This can’t be undone, can’t be outrun

Bruce Springsteen – Cadillac Ranch

I could probably do a post just on Cadillac songs.

This song is a great little rocker off of The River. This is one of many early Springsteen songs featuring cars. Some others were “Thunder Road,” “Backstreets,” and “Racing In The Street.” Bruce used the Cadillac image again in 1984 on “Pink Cadillac.”

Springsteen used Cadillac Ranch as a metaphor for the coming of death.

There is a real Cadillac Ranch.

In 1974 along Route 66 west of Amarillo, Texas, Cadillac Ranch was invented and built by a group of art-hippies from San Francisco. They called themselves The Ant Farm, and their silent partner was Amarillo billionaire Stanley Marsh 3. He wanted a piece of public art that would baffle the locals, and the hippies came up with a tribute to the evolution of the Cadillac tail fin. Ten Caddies were driven into one of Stanley Marsh 3’s fields, then half-buried, nose-down, in the dirt

T Rex – Jeepster

This song was on the 1972 album Electric Warrior. The music was supposedly based off of the Willie Dixon song You’ll Be Mine.

Jeepster was recorded live in the studio. The recording happened entirely organically and was not overdubbed. Marc Bolan, amid a performance, jumped up and down as he played his guitar, shaking the microphone stands. The sound of those stands was kept in the song. Producer Tony Visconti saw them as important features of the overall mood of the track and chose to include them.

K.C. Douglas-Mercury Blues

Mercury Blues was written by the Blues musicians K.C. Douglas and Robert Geddins in 1949. It was originally titled “Mercury Boogie.” The song was made famous 44 years later by Alan Jackson, whose 1993 cover peaked at #2 on the Billboard Country charts. The song has also been covered by Steve Miller, David Lindley, and Meat Loaf.

Janis Joplin – My Baby

As of yesterday, she has been gone for 53 years. She dedicated this song to her dad. It was on her last studio album Pearl released in 1971 right after Joplin died.

Janis’s voice is gold on this one… a pure blues voice. I’m convinced Janis had a built-in dynamic. She had one of the best dynamics in her songs based purely on her building up to the choruses of her songs. Her influences were Bessie Smith, Billie Holiday, and last but not least…Otis Redding. She saw Otis a few months before he died and copped some of his stage mannerisms.

This was written by Jerry Ragovoy and Mort Shuman. Shuman’s credits include Teenager In Love and Let’s Live For Today. Ragovoy also wrote Joplin’s songs Piece Of My Heart and Try. The song was first released by Garnet Mimms in 1966.

I have included the studio version and a live version she did on the Dick Cavett show. Cavett talks about her as if he had somewhat fallen for her. It was an odd combination…Cavett attended Yale and here was Janis…a loud brash blues singer from Port Arthur Texas.

Cavett tells a story about Janis and him eating at a restaurant and the song “Down On Me” is playing while they are at the table. Cavett said to Janis…I bet they don’t play that song on the radio because of it’s sexual nature…Janis then leaned in and told Cavett…Dick…uh it’s a gospel song.

Cavett later credited Joplin for sending so many other major rock stars his way after her first appearance on his show in 1968. She told her fellow musicians that Cavett wasn’t a dreary television personality like many. The fact is…Cavett was different from other talk show hosts…especially now. He would dedicate entire shows to one person and he had conversations with them, not interviews. He also mixed and matched people that you would not see in everyday life. Janis for instance, was on a show with Raquel Welch and Gloria Swanson. Three completely different women but he had all of them in a conversation.

If you see the Cavett DVD’s…get them…if not many of them are on youtube.

The biography I read on Janis was by Holly George-Warren. It was released in 2019 and it is one of the best books about her I’ve read. Here are a few quotes from that author.

Holly George-Warren: You can look to two major influences that Janis had that I think affected her sexuality and the way she expressed it on stage. One was, of course, the great Bessie Smith, whose lyrics Janis knew by heart. She started out singing Bessie Smith songs way before we ever saw her, these images of her with Big Brother and the Holding Company. She started performing Bessie Smith songs around 1963. And those kind of lyrics of sexuality, of sexual longing, sexual betrayal, those very much informed Janis’ own songwriting and the songs that she chose to sing.

The other major influence was Otis Redding. She was a huge Otis fan until the day she died. And she got to see him perform live three nights in a row at The Fillmore back in 1966, and it transformed her because he was a very sexual performer. And he was able to emit this heat on stage that Janis herself was able to do through her own way of manifesting these feelings that she had while singing these songs. And I mean, Janis herself, she compared singing on stage to having an orgasm. She blew some journalists’ minds when she used that expression, but she – it was a very sexual experience for her.

The original version of this song was by Garnet Mimms.

My Baby

And when I work hard all day long
I tell you what, it don’t bother me nohow,
‘Cause how could anything ever go wrong
When I got my baby, Lord, yes,
When I got my baby, oh Lord!

And when they tell me love is pain
I said it might be true for you, honey,
But not for Janis no more, no no no no.
All I’ve ever got to do is call my daddy?s name
Yeah and I got m-my baby, Lord, yeah,
Yes I got my baby, good good God,
Honey, I want to tell you something that I do.

Deep down, h-honey, in the dark of the night,
When I lay my head down, I want to go to sleep,
And I know everything is gonna be alright,
Yeah I got my baby, Lord yeah,
‘Cause I got m-my baby, oh yeah.

And when I want to call the names
Or the things to be that want to be to you.
And when I want to reach out my hand
It always seems you hold me, dear,
Love, don’t you know how long I looked for you
Daddy, daddy, daddy.
Love, don’t you know how hard I tried,
But now I got my baby, Lord, yeah,
Now I got my baby, yeah.

Max Picks …songs from 1971

1971

This year may be the best ever for albums. You had Who’s Next (My number one), Led Zeppelin IV, Marvin Gaye’s What’s Goin On, and so much more.

We will start off with what I think is the greatest rock song ever played in a concert environment. I’ve seen The Who play Won’t Get Fooled Again twice and of all the concerts I’ve gone to… I’ve never heard anything this powerful live.

Roger Daltrey’s Scream is considered one of the best on any rock song. It was quite convincing…so convincing that the rest of the band, lunching nearby, thought Daltrey was brawling with the engineer.

Now let’s visit Led Zeppelin and they released IV or Zoso a few weeks after The Who released Who’s Next. Stairway To Heaven…this song is considered by some as the best song in rock history. The song was written by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant.

Marvin Gaye released this great song and it came off the album of the same name. A powerful song from a powerful performer. The song was written by Al Cleveland, Renaldo Benson, and Marvin Gaye.

The Moody Blues released the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour and this song was on it. It may be my favorite song by them. Story In Your Eyes.

Great melody in this song. I bought the album Every Good Boy Deserves Favour just because of this song and I ended up liking the album a lot. The song peaked at #23 on the Billboard 100 in 1971. The song was written by Justin Hayward.

This is almost a perfect song…by the one and only Janis Joplin. There are few artists who give everything they have all the time. Bruce Springsteen is one…Janis was one. On film it comes through…she gives everything she has and more. It was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster.

She would die on October 4, 1970. Her nickname was Pearl and that was the name of her last album. She left $2,500 for her wake…. 200 guests were invited with invitations that read…”Drinks are on Pearl”…

…

Bessie Smith – Baby Won’t You Please Come Home

When I heard this woman sing…I was shocked. Listen to the purity of her voice…she still amazes me. We cannot forget the pioneers of any genre. Artists like Mahalia Jackson, Janis Joplin, and Norah Jones have all given Bessie Smith credit as their inspiration.

It seems like the female singers I like the most have a growl to their voices. That includes Janis Joplin, Aretha Franklin, Willie Mae Thorton, and yes Bessie Smith.

Within 10 months of signing Smith, the Columbia label sold two million records. Over the next four years, her sales reached six million. But she sang a wider repertoire than most, in her traveling tent show, on theatrical tours, and, later, in jazz clubs. The blues made Smith the highest-paid black entertainer of her era, but she was just as adept at singing show tunes and more popular Tin Pan Alley songs, which became the basis of many early jazz standards. Those record sales don’t sound as high now but remember this was in the 1920s!

This song came out in 1923 and peaked at #6 on the Billboard 100… I just looked it up…Billboard first published a chart in 1894.

Whenever I hear Bessie Smith I hear pain and greatness all at once. I’ve written about her song No One Loves You When You’re Down And Out and I’ve been revisiting her lately. This song was written by Charles Warfield and Clarence Williams in 1919. It’s been covered by Louie Prima and Frank Sinatra.

I got into Bessie Smith from listening to Janis Joplin and reading about her. Bessie’s voice sends chills up my spine…that is my litmus test. This particular song grabs me because of Smith’s voice and the recording vibe. She sings it, means it, and she damn well lived it. The sound of the record and her voice is just unbeatable. Yes, we have digital now but digital could not give you this sound.

Smith took care of her own…she moved her sister and other family to live near her in Philadelphia and supported them financially when they squandered her money.

She died from injuries in a car accident in 1937, having not recorded a song in years, more than 5,000 people attended her funeral. Her grave had no headstone. There was money for a headstone apparently, but her estranged husband spent it on something or someone else.

Janis Joplin helped buy Smith’s headstone in 1971…two weeks before her own untimely death. But the real story was the other person who helped buy the stone. That was Juanita Green… a little girl whom Smith once told to give up singing and stay in school.

Louis Armstrong: “I say, ‘Look here Bessie, you got change for a hundred? And she say, ‘Sure my man.’ She raised up her dress standing and there was, like, [you know,] how a carpenter keeps his nails? Man, so much money in the apron under her skirt that killed me.”

Danny Barker a New Orleans musician: “If you have a church background, like people who came from the South as I did, you would recognize a similarity between what she was doing and what those preachers and evangelists from there did, and how they moved people … Bessie did the same thing on stage.”

Baby Won’t You Please Come Home

I’ve got the blues, I feel so lonely
I’ll give the world if I could only
Make you understand
It surely would be grand

I’m gonna telephone my baby
Ask him won’t you please come home
‘Cause when you’re gone
I’m worried all day long

Baby won’t you please come home
Baby won’t you please come home
I have tried in vain
Evermore to call your name
When you left you broke my heart
That will never make us part
Every hour in the day
You will hear me say
Baby won’t you please come home, I mean
Baby won’t you please come home

Baby won’t you please come home
‘Cause your mama’s all alone
I have tried in vain
Nevermore to call your name
When you left you broke my heart
That will never make us part
Landlord gettin’ worse
I’ve got to move May the first
Baby won’t you please come home, I need money
Baby won’t you please come home

Janis Joplin – Piece Of My Heart ….Under The Covers Tuesday

Erma Franklin, Aretha’s sister, was the first to record this song. She did a fantastic job and Janis Joplin came later and did what is probably the definitive version of it.

Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns wrote this song. Aretha Franklin’s younger sister Erma sang the original version and put it on the R&B charts in 1967. It peaked at #63 on the Billboard 100, #10 on the Billboard R&B Charts, #3 on the Canada Adult Contemporary Charts, and #9 in the UK in 1967.

Big Brother and the Holding Company covered it and it peaked at #12 on the Billboard 100 and #9 in Canada a year later in 1968. For Erma Franklin, it was her biggest hit. She went on to sing backup on some of Aretha’s songs and ran a childcare agency called Boysville. Erma died of cancer in 2002 at age 64.

I like Erma’s version of it. It’s a very soulful version of the song. I’m surprised it didn’t do better on the charts. I have to wonder if Aretha would have covered it first…would it have been more of a hit since she was so popular and had more of a presence on the charts?

A great song by one of my favorite artists…Janis Joplin. I could listen to her sing the phone book and be happy….but some songs I really like are…Down On Me, Summertime, Piece of My Heart, Ball and Chain, Try (Just a little bit Harder), Maybe, Little Girl Blue, Cry Baby, Me and Bobby McGee, Mercedes Benz, and anything live she did with either band…She could sing the blues and she lived them…

I covered this song back around 5 years ago but I wanted to get this in for a Tuesday cover.

Piece Of My Heart

Didn’t I make you feel
Like you were the only man?
Didn’t I give you everything that a woman possibly can?
(Ohhhh ohhh ohhhhh)

But with all the love I give you
It’s never enough
But I’m gonna show you, baby
That a woman can be tough
So come on
Come on
Come on
Come on
And
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
(Break it!)
Break another little bit of my heart now, honey
(Have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
(You know you got it if it makes you feel good)

You’re out on the streets (looking good)
And you know deep down in your heart that it ain’t right
And ohhhhh you never never hear me when I cry at night
Ohhhhhhhh

I tell myself
That I can’t stand the pain
But when you hold me in your arms
I’ll say it again
So come on
Come on
Come on
Come on

And take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
Heyyyy!
(Break it!)
Break another little bit of my heart now, baby
You can
(Have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
(You know you got it if it makes you feel good)

Hey heyyyyy!
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
Ohhhh
(Break it!)
Break another little bit of my heart now, honey
Heyyyyyy!
(Have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
Come on
(Take it!)
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby

Janis Joplin – Half Moon

I just read a Joplin book and anyone who follows me knows what that means…a few Janis Joplin posts are coming.

She wasn’t here to be conventional or a cookie-cutter person. She was here to blaze a path and leave her mark…and she did just that.

I owned the album Pearl a long time ago and loved it. Through the years I also got her greatest hits and was wrapped up in those songs. I had forgotten about this funky song…and I use funky in the best way. It reaffirmed what a singer should be about to me…giving 100 percent of yourself every time out there.

On her last album, she was produced by Paul Rothchild who wanted Janis to use less of her brash voice to give more. He also worked on her dynamics which worked perfectly with this album and song. She was working with her 3rd band in two years…and this one was the best one no doubt. I liked Big Brother but she HAD to scream to get over those loud guitars. She was taking more of an R&B/soul/funk/blues/rock approach unlike her strictly rock/blues approach with Big Brother. She had more nuances on this album and her voice never sounded better.

Half Moon was written by John Hall and his first wife, the former Johanna Schier. It was picked as the B-side to Me and Bobby McGee. At the time, John was a struggling musician and Johanna was a writer for The Village Voice. Johanna was assigned an interview with Joplin, who suggested the couple write a song for her. Joplin wanted Johanna to write a song about how she was feeling about a man she met in Rio Janeiro and was planning to marry in the future after he finished what he was doing.

It was the first song they wrote together, and a huge break for the couple, who were able to buy a house and a sailboat with the royalties. John Hall got a lot of credibility in the rock realm from co-writing it, and his career took off. A few years later, he formed the group Orleans, which had hits with two songs he wrote: “Still The One” and “Dance With Me.”

I never realized what it meant when I heard people say…”the artist always gives everything of themselves” until I saw clips of Joplin, Springsteen, and Hendrix. They go out on a limb on stage and risk a train wreck to give you that raw excitement. In today’s world of pre-packaged high-priced Las Vegas style shows…you get a slick show with dancers (I never understood that) without a bit of soul. Sure…the live acts sound exactly like their records and that can be tedious after a while. Some love that…and more power to them but I like the emotional roller coaster journey you take with an artist like Joplin…and she gives you that feeling on studio albums also.

The amazing thing about Pearl is that all of the vocals were called “scratch” takes…meant to be redone later on. She was planning to replace all of her vocals…she went all out anyway so I don’t see how she could have improved on them. Funny thing about the album…the original producer was no other than Todd Rundgren…Janis got rid of him right off the bat because she could not relate to him. Paul Rothchild (Door’s producer) took over and just fell for Janis’s voice and Janis.

I included a live version she did a few months before her death on the Dick Cavett show. When she grabs that mic…there is no doubt who is in charge. There is no screaming in this…just pure soul/blues singing…I love the high notes and dynamics…and she just plain kicked ass on this song.

Pearl peaked at #1 on the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #20 in the UK in 1971.

John Hall: “It was numerological and astrological in nature. And it also had an alliterative repetition that was kind of captivating. It wasn’t rhyming, exactly, but it was an internal rhyme, perhaps you could say. It’s a device that poets use and that songwriters use to not just have the end of lines rhyme or the end of verses rhyme, but to have sort of a foreshadowing of that and words inside each line.”

Half Moon

Half moon, night time sky
Seven stars, heaven’s eyes
Seven songs on seven seas
Just to bring all your sweet love home to me

Hey, you fill me like the mountains
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You fill me like the sea, Lord
Not coming past but still at last
Your love brings life to me
Your love brings life to me, hey

Rings of cloud and arms aflame
Wings rise up to call your name
Sun rolls high, Lord, it burns the ground
Just to tell about the first good man I found

Yeah, you fill me like the mountains
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You fill me like the sea, Lord
Not coming past but still at last
Your love brings life to me
Your love brings life to me
Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh yeah

Half moon on night time sky
Seven stars, heaven’s eyes
Seven songs on seven seas
Just to bring all your sweet love home to me

Hey baby, you fill me like the mountains
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You fill me like the sea, Lord
Not coming past honey still at last
Lord, you fill me like the mountains
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You fill me like the sea, Lord
Not coming past but still at last

Hey, you fill me like the mountains
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
You fill me like the sea, oh Lord
You’re not coming past, honey, still at last
Your love brings life to me
Your love brings life to me
Your love, la la la la la, la

Won’t you bring life to me
I said you’re gonna ride around
When I’m on a little home babe
Bring it on home, you bring it on home
Bring it on home, bring it on home
I said your love brings life to me, yeah

…

Favorite Rock Lyrics 3

I again took all of your suggestions and now we have a post that we made together. Thank you for all of the suggestions. I usually don’t repeat artists on one post but we had 3 Neil Young requests…I used two and the other one will be on the next.

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free… Janis Joplin/Kris Kristofferson

Met myself a coming county welfare line, I was feeling strung out, Hung out on the line…Creedence Clearwater Revival

He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week / All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek…Kinks

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see…The Beatles

As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes. And say, Do you want to make a deal?…Bob Dylan

Set my compass north, I got winter in my blood… The Band

And the sign said, The words of the prophets, are written on the subway walls, and tenement halls… Simon and Garfunkel

They say that Cain caught Abel rolling loaded dice,
ace of spades behind his ear and him not thinking twice…Grateful Dead

When I said that I was lying, I might have been lying…Elvis Costello

Though nothing will keep us together/We can be heroes/Just for one day…David Bowie

It’s a town full of losers, I’m pulling out of here to win…Bruce Springsteen

The motor cooled down, the heat went down, and that’s when I heard that highway sound…Chuck Berry

We were the first band to vomit at the bar, and find the distance to the stage too far…The Who

Shule, shule, shule-a-roo, Shule-a-rak-shak, shule-a-ba-ba-cooWhen I saw my Sally Babby Beal, Come bibble in the boo shy Lorey… Peter, Paul, and Mary

But then one night at the lobby of the Commodore Hotel, I chanced to meet a bartender who said he knew her well, And as he handed me a drink he began to hum a song, And all the boys there, at the bar, began to sing along…Little Feat

But me I’m not stopping there got my own row left to hoe; just another line in the field of time… Neil Young

You are like a hurricane there’s calm in your eye and I’m getting’ blown away…Neil Young

When I was young the radio played just for me, it saved me… Roddy Frame

…

The Music of 1968

Dave from A Sound Day (check out the other posts on Dave’s “Turntable Talk”) posted this on November 5, 2022. He wanted a group of us to write about what we thought was the best year in music…I ended up picking the turbulent year of 1968.

When I think of the best year of music …for me it’s between 7 years. I would pick 1965 through 1971. I cannot pick all so here it goes…I pick 1968. It had some of the greatest albums and singles ever.

It was a turbulent year, to say the least. We lost two proponents of peace—Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy. Other events include the Vietnam War’s Tet Offensive, riots in Washington, DC, the Civil Rights Act of 1968, and heightened social unrest over the Vietnam War, values, and race.

The music was also toughened up by moving away from psychedelic music. The social climate and The Band’s album Music from Big Pink had a lot of influence on this. You still had psychedelic music released but overall, music was more stripped down to the basics.

My favorite album of all time was released by The Beatles. My favorite album by The Rolling Stones was released that year as well. Let’s look at the albums released in 1968…it’s outstanding.

The Beatles – The Beatles (The White Album)

The Rolling Stones – Beggars Banquet

The Kinks – Are the Village Green Preservation Society

The Band – Music From Big Pink

Small Faces – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake

The Jimi Hendrix Experience – Electric Ladyland

Cream – Wheel Of Fire

The Byrds – Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Creedence Clearwater Revival

Big Brother and Holding Company – Cheap Thrills

Johnny Cash – At Folsom Prison

The Zombies – Odyssey and Oracle

The Grateful Dead – Anthem of the Sun

Van Morrison – Astral Weeks

Aretha Franklin – Lady Soul

Simon and Garfunkel – Bookends

Traffic – Traffic

That list could be on my desert island list… those albums are still being played today. I’ve only scratched the surface of the albums that year.

The Holy Trinity of Rock all released music that year… which would be The Beatles, The Who, and The Stones. I can’t imagine living in the era when these bands were in their prime and roamed the earth. The Who didn’t release an album, but they did release some singles and were gearing up for the following year. Let’s look at some of the singles of that year.

The Beatles – Hey Jude/Revolution

The Beatles – Lady Madonna

The Who – Magic Bus

The Rolling Stones – Jumping Jack Flash

Steppenwolf – Born To Be Wild

The Doors – Hello, I Love You

The Rascals – People Got To Be Free

Cream – Sunshine Of Your Love

Otis Redding – The Dock of the Bay

The Supremes – Love Child

The Chamber Brothers – Time Has Come Today

Janis Joplin – Piece of My Heart

Creedence Clearwater Revival – Suzie Q

Joe Cocker – With A Little Help From My Friends

The year featured the debut album of Creedence Clearwater Revival. Brian Jones made his final album with the Rolling Stones and it was the start of their great 5 album stretch. The Who started to record the album that would break them worldwide with Tommy. Dock of the Bay would be released posthumously after Otis Redding died in a plane crash on December 10, 1967. The Grateful Dead would release their second album Anthem of the Sun and continue to build one of the largest fan bases ever. Jimi Hendrix was breaking barriers with his experimentation in the studio as well as live.

The Band would change the game by releasing Music From Big Pink. It influenced nearly everyone at the time to go back to a rootsy kind of music. Fleetwood Mac would release their debut album this year. Jeff Beck would release his legendary album Truth.

FM radio was getting huge at this time and showed that audiences didn’t have to have top 40 hits to buy albums. Take Van Morrison for instance. Astral Weeks didn’t have a “hit” on the album but continued to be played and sell. The Beatles The White Album is as diverse as you can get… Pop, Rock, Country, Folk, Reggae, Avant-Gard, Blues, Hard Rock, and some 20’s British Music Hall thrown in for good measure. No singles were released from this album or Sgt Pepper the previous year. They treated singles and albums as two different things. Hey Jude and the hit version of Revolution was recorded during the White Album but yet they left those two off. The Stones would do the same and leave off Jumpin’ Jack Flash from Beggars Banquet.

1968 set the stage for the coming decade’s rock music. Bands like The Who, Beatles, Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin didn’t need hit singles. You bought the album now and listened to the music in the context of that format. There were still pop/rock singles but the albums were gaining traction.

To wrap it up…I think any of the years between 1965-1971 could have a strong argument for my tastes. If you are into disco or synth music…not as much.

Infamous Rock and Roll Locations…Part II

I did a post earlier on Infamous Rock and Roll Locations and I wanted to do a follow-up on it. If you don’t want to click on the link…I mentioned the Riot/Hyatt House, The Edgewater Inn, The Rainbow Bar and Grille, Villa Nellcôte, and Rodney Bingenheimer’s English Disco.

To be honest….a few are infamous but the other are just cool. I love reading rock music bios and there are some places I would love to visit one day. A warning though…a few are very morbid.

The Highland Gardens Hotel…Ok…this one is a little morbid…well a lot morbid. On October 4, 1970, Janis Joplin stayed here and it was called The Landmark Motor Hotel. She died in room #105 of a suspected heroin overdose. The same hotel stands but it’s called The Highland Gardens Hotel now. Yes, you can rent room #105. She lived there for months while working on her last album Pearl. The closet has handwriting by visitors but the rest of the room is normal. Yes, I would love to go.

Big Pink in Saugerties/Woodstock: This is the house where The Band and Bob Dylan recorded The Band’s debut album…Music From Big Pink…this house was pink then and is now. Now you can rent the house but you cannot go down to the basement where they recorded…what’s the fun in that?

Whisky a Go-Go on the Sunset Strip: The one on the Sunset Strip opened in 1964. So many bands played and visited there. The Doors, Van Morrison, Buffalo Springfield, Alice Cooper, The Byrds, The Flying Burrito Brothers, Chicago, Germs, Elton John, Oasis, Buffalo Springfield, Steppenwolf, Van Halen, Johnny Rivers, X, Led Zeppelin, Fleetwood Mac, KISS, Guns N’ Roses, Death, AC/DC, Linkin Park, Metallica, Mötley Crüe Stryper, and many many more.

The Whiskey is still open now.

The Joshua Tree Inn – Another morbid one but I would stay there. On September 18, 1973, Gram Parsons purchased liquid morphine on that night from an unknown girl and died of an overdose. This all happened in Room 8 of this Inn. Yes, you can rent room 8 today in fact..it’s decorated with posters of Gram.

Mayfair…Curzon Square – This apartment was owned by Harry Nilsson at the time. It was in this building, in the same apartment that both Cass Elliot (Mama Cass) and Keith Moon died 4 years apart. Nilsson liked the location because it was near Apple Records and nightclubs. It was decorated by ROR…Ringo and Robin (Ringo Starr and designer Robin Cruikshank).

On July 29, 1974 after a performance…Mama Cass died of a heart attack. In 1978 Keith Moon wanted to rent it from Nilsson but he was afraid to rent it again because Nilsson remembered what happened to Cass. He ended up talking to Pete Townshend and Townshend told him that ‘lightning does not strike in the same place twice’ so he let Keith rent it. On September 7, 1978, Keith Moon died because of an overdose of clomethiazole…a prescription drug for combating alcoholism in the same bedroom.

Janis Joplin – Ball and Chain

I always thought Janis had the voice of a songbird. A cigarette smoking and Southern Comfort drinking songbird…but a songbird all the same. Janis and Aretha Franklin are my two favorite female artists of all time. They put every ounce of themselves into their songs. They cheated no one.

I first heard this song on Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits. I bought the album for the song Me and Bobby McGee and I found out I liked every song on the album. Unlike other singers I listened to at that time…Janis left everything on the field so to speak. That is the same quality I liked about Bruce Springsteen later.

Ball and Chain was written and originally recorded by a blues singer named Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, who recorded the original version of “Hound Dog.” Thornton was introduced to church music at an early age. A skilled singer, songwriter, dancer, self-taught drummer, and harmonica player.

Janis’s big break came at the Monterey Pop Festival singing this song. She would go on to sing it at Woodstock also. It was on the album by Big Brother and the Holding Company called Cheap Thrills released in 1968. With the help of their appearance at Monterey, the album peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album charts for 8 consecutive weeks.

This was their breakthrough album. The album was supposed to be called Sex, Dope and Cheap Thrills; Columbia nixed it. The album ended up being the band’s last album with Joplin, who left by the end of the year to launch a solo career.

The cover was designed by legendary artist Robert Crumb. He didn’t care for Big Brother too much but liked Janis.

Robert Crumb: “She was a swell gal and a very talented singer. Ever heard any of this pre-Big Brother stuff she recorded? She was great. Then she got together with those idiots. The main problem with Big Brother was they were amateur musicians trying to play psychedelic rock and be heavy and you listen to it now and it’s bad… just embarrassing.”

“She wasn’t nationally known yet. I remember going to see her at the Avalon Ballroom and you could tell right away that she had an exceptional voice and she would go far. She started out singing old time blues like Bessie Smith. She was kind of a folknik originally.“

“Janis had played with earlier bands just playing country blues and it was much better. Way, way better. She’s singing well, not screaming, not playing to the audience that wanted to watch her sweat blood. In the beginning she was just an authentic, genuine Texas country-girl shouter.”

Ball and Chain

Sitting down by my window
Honey, looking out at the rain
Sitting down by my window, looking out at the rain
All around that I felt it
All I can see was the rain
Something grabbed a hold of me
Feel to me, oh, like a ball and chain
Hey, you know what I mean that’s exactly what it felt like
But that’s way too heavy for you, you can’t hold them all

And I say, oh, whoa, whoa, oh, that cannot be
Just because I got oh, your love, please
Why does every
Oh, this can’t be just because I got to need you, daddy
Please don’t you knock it down now, please
Here you’ve gone today
What I wanted to love you and I wanted to hold you, yeah, till the day I die
Yes, I did, yes, I did, yeah, hey, hey, alright

Say, whoa, whoa, whoa, honey
This can’t be anything I’ve ever wanted from your daddy tell me now
Oh, tell me, baby
Oh, say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, honey
This can’t be, no, no, no, no, no
Yeah, yeah
I hope there’s someone out there who could tell me
Tell me why just because I got to want your love
Honey, just because I got to need, need, need, need your love
I said I understand
Honey, what I’m wanna trying to say hi
Trying, try, try, try, try, try, try
Honey, everybody in the world, also same, baby
When everybody in the world what needs, seem lonely
What I wanted work for your love, daddy
What I wanted trust your love, daddy
I din’t understand how come you’re gone
I don’t understand why half the world is still crying, man
And the other half of the world is still crying too, man
I can’t get it together
I mean if you go to ? Oneday, man
I mean, so baby, you want ? Three and sixty five days, right
You ain’t gonna within sixty five days, you gonna for one day, man
I tell you, that one day, man, better be your life, man
Because you know, you can stay oh man, you can cry about the other three and sixty four, man I said whoa, whoa, whoa
But you gonna lose that one day, man
That’s all you got, you got to call it love, man
That’s what it is, man
If you got today, you don’t worry about tomorrow, man
Because you don’t need it
Because the matter of the fact, as we discovered tat’s rain, tomorrow never happens, man
It’s all the same fucking day, man

So you gotta when you want to hold someone
You gotta hold them like it’s the last minutes of your life
You gotta hold, hold, hold and I say, oh, whoa, whoa, now babe, tell me why
Hold, baby, ’cause some come on your shoulder, baby
It’s gonna feel too heavy, it’s gonna weigh on you why does every thing, every thing
It’s gonna feel just like a ball
Oh, daddy and a chain

Janis Joplin – Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)

The song was written by Jerry Ragovoy and Chip Taylor. Chip Taylor is famous for writing Wild Thing.

Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)” is the opening track on I Got Dem Ol’ Kozmic Blues Again Mama!

That was Janis’s debut solo studio album and it was released on September 11, 1969. It was the first album which Joplin recorded after leaving her former band, Big Brother and the Holding Company. This would be the only solo album released in her lifetime. Pearl came out in January 1971 three months after her death on October 4, 1970.

This song charted in Canada at #89 in 1969. The album peaked at #5 in the Billboard Album Charts and #4 in Canada in 1969.

She got good reviews for the album partly because she wasn’t trying to out shout the loud Big Brother and The Holding Company…although I did like Big Brother…without them she might not have made it.

Try (Just A Little Bit Harder)

Try, try, try just a little bit harder
So I can love, love, love him, I tell myself
‘Cause I’m gonna try, oh yeah, just a little bit harder
So I won’t lose, lose, lose him to nobody else, yeah
Hey, I don’t care how long it’s gonna take ya
But if it’s a dream I don’t want No I don’t really want it
Yeah if it’s a dream I don’t want nobody to wake me

Yeah I’m gonna try, oh yeah, just a little bit harder
So I can give, give, give, give him every bit of my soul
I’m gonna try, oh yeah, just a little bit harder
So I can show, show, show him love with no control, yeah
Hey! I don’t care how long it’s gonna take ya
But if it’s a dream I don’t want
No I don’t really want it
Yeah if it’s a dream I don’t want nobody to wake me
Hey, dig it! Yeah! Yeah yeah yeah!
Yeah, yeah, yeah, all right

Try oh yeah, hey, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord
Try oh yeah, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord
Try oh yeah yeah, try, whoa, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord,
Push, work, push, work, oh yeah, try, oh yeah hey!
Try oh yeah, hey try oh yeah
Try Lord, try, try, you ain’t trying man
You’re not trying out man, come up with it
Come on, that’s a wanker that listens to words, man
Hey you gotta work all night
Hey little girl, gotta push on
You gotta need
Work a little more, hey, try a little more
Need a little more
Yeah, work on, push on, move on, move on
You gotta work for it, you gotta work on it
Push on, need on, move on
Move on, hey hey hey

Work it daddy
Work it daddy
Come on, work it daddy, oh
Yeah, yeah, you better try, try, try, try a little more
You ain’t never gonna get any man if that’s the sort of thing you can do
Shit, there’s lot more talent around than that man
Try, try, try, try try try
You’ve gotta try, try, try, try
Try, try, try, try, try, try…
You gotta try, try, try, try…
Lord, try, try, try, try
Lord, try, try, try, try
Hey, try, try, try, try

Hey, try oh yeah, try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord
Try oh yeah, hey, try whoa, try oh yeah
Try oh yeah, Lord, Lord, Lord, try oh yeah
Try oh yeah, hey, hey, hey
Try oh yeah, try oh yeah
Lord, Lord, Lord, oh Lord

Janis Joplin – Move Over

I listened to Pearl today and was remembering Janis who died 50 years ago on this date at the Landmark Motor Hotel (now Highland Gardens Hotel) while working on her album Pearl.

Janis Joplin is my favorite rock/blues female singer. I like a gravelly voice and Janis had that covered. She put her soul in every song and left everything on stage. Like her or not she was genuine. She had a rough life growing up in Port Arthur Texas being bullied in High School and College and finally making it in 1967 with Big Brother and the Holding Company when she moved to San Francisco.

Move Over was the first track on the Pearl album, which sold four million copies and hit #1 on the charts, all after Joplin passed away. She wrote this one herself and recorded it the same day as Trust Me and Me And Bobby McGee.

The album was released January 11, 1971, three months after her death. It peaked at #1 in the Billboard Album Charts, #1 in Canada, and #20 in the UK.

Janis went on the Dick Cavett Show on September 25, 1970, to perform “Move Over.” On the show, she stated that the song was about men…specifically the guy who tells you your relationship is over but won’t move on, thus equating the way some guys hold on love to the way one would dangle a carrot in front of a mule.

Move Over

You say that it’s over baby, Lord
You say that it’s over now
But still you hang around me, come on
Won’t you move over

You know that I need a man, honey Lord
You know that I need a man
But when I ask you to you just tell me
That maybe you can

Please don’t you do it to me babe, no!
Please don’t you do it to me baby
Either take this love I offer
Or just let me be

I ain’t quite a ready for walking, no no no no
I ain’t quite a ready for walking
And what you gonna do with your life
Life all just dangling?

Oh yeah
Make up your mind, honey
You’re playing with me, hey hey hey
Make up your mind, darling
You’re playing with me, come on now
Now either be my loving man
I said-a, let me honey, let me be, yeah

You say that it’s over, baby, no
You say that it’s over now
But still you hang around me, come on
Won’t you move over

You know that I need a man, honey, I told you so
You know that I need a man
But when I ask you to you just tell me
That maybe you can

Hey! Please don’t you do it to me, babe, no
Please don’t you do it to me baby
Either take this love I offer
Honey let me be

I said won’t you, won’t you let me be
Honey, you’re teasing me
Yeah, you’re playing with my heart, dear
I believe you’re toying with my affections, honey

I can’t take it no more baby
And furthermore, I don’t intend to
I’m just tired of hanging from the end of a string, honey
You expect me to fight like a goddamned mule
Wah, wah, wah, wah, honey

Janis Joplin – Down On Me

Whenever I hear this song I think of a story that Dick Cavett told. He said he met Janis in a restaurant and a Janis song was playing on a jukebox while they sat down. Cavett asked Janis what the name of it was…and she said “Down On Me.” Dick said “Wow, I guess that is one you cannot sing on television”…Janis smiled and said “Dick, it’s a gospel song.”

It was a traditional gospel song from the 20s that Janis reworked. The song was on the debut album of Big Brother & the Holding Company featuring Janis and the album had the same name. The song peaked at #43 in the Billboard 100 in 1967. The album was sloppy…Big Brother and the Holding Company were really raw with no polish. On their second album “Cheap Thrills” they would improve but Janis left after the that album to work with better musicians.

This is not the best Joplin song but I do like it.

Down On Me

Down on me, down on me,
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
They’re down on me.

Love in this world is so hard to find
When you’ve got yours and I got mine.
That’s why it looks like everybody in this whole round world
They’re down on me.

Saying they’re down on me, down on me.
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
Down on me.

When you see a hand that’s held out toward you,
Give it some love, some day it may be you.
That’s why it looks like everybody in this whole round world
They’re down on me, yeah.

Lord, they’re down on me, down on me, oh!
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
Is down on me.

Believe in your brother, have faith in man,
Help each other, honey, if you can
Because it looks like everybody in this whole round world
Is down on me.

I’m saying down on me, oh, down on me, oh!
It looks like everybody in this whole round world
Down on me!

Favorite Lines from Songs Part 2

I did Part 1 over a year ago and it was a fun post. I’ve been meaning to do this again. I remembered some of the lyrics suggested by my friends hanspostcard and allthingsthriller on the last post…I have added those to list. Thanks to both of you.

I saw her from the corner when she turned and doubled back, And started walkin toward a coffee colored Cadillac… Chuck Berry

Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose, And nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free… Janis Joplin/Kris Kristofferson

And I need you more than want you, And I want you for all time… Jimmy Webb

Doesn’t have a point of view / Knows not where he’s going to / Isn’t he a bit like you and me…The Beatles

Met myself a coming county welfare line, I was feeling strung out, Hung out on the line…Creedence Clearwater Revival

And you’ve got to learn to live with what you can’t rise above…Bruce Springsteen

He’d end up blowing all his wages for the week / All for a cuddle and a peck on the cheek…Kinks

Well it’s too late, tonight, To drag the past out into the light, We’re one, but we’re not the same, We get to carry each other, Carry each other…U2

You can blow out a candle but you can’t blow out a fire…Peter Gabriel

Living is easy with eyes closed, misunderstanding all you see…The Beatles

Where you drink champagne and it tastes just like cherry cola, C-O-L-A Cola…Kinks

It was gravity which pulled us down and destiny which broke us apart…Bob Dylan

A drunkard’s dream if I ever did see one… The Band