Sunday Music: The Essential Janis Joplin
Jul. 21st, 2013 06:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowAlbum Title: The Essential Janis Joplin
Why I Bought It: Joplin is an iconic figure in '60s rock. How could I not buy this album? (Perhaps it would be more "authentic" to buy one of the original albums by Big Brother and the Holding Company - or whatever her group's name was - but this is what I chose.)
What I Like (Mocking): "Mercedes Benz". A silly little song, lampooning crass materialism, but what really tickles me is the spoken bit at the beginning ("great social significance") and the giggled "That's it." at the end.
What I Like (Nostalgic): "Me and Bobby McGee". Did I say "iconic"? This is her song, never mind how many others, of both sexes, have covered it. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"....
What I Like (Search for Purpose): "Work Me, Lord". I guess this is one of her lesser-known songs, but I like it. It kind of reminds me of some of George Herbert's poetry, somehow - "The Pulley", maybe. I don't know.
Overall: This is a two-disk set, with thirty songs all told; there's no way I can do it justice. These are songs about love, and life, and loneliness, and if her voice is rough, well, it suits the material. Shall we say we lost her too young, or be glad that she didn't suffer the decay that so many of her longer-lived peers underwent? What she left us is... all we have of her, and it'll have to be enough.
Why I Bought It: Joplin is an iconic figure in '60s rock. How could I not buy this album? (Perhaps it would be more "authentic" to buy one of the original albums by Big Brother and the Holding Company - or whatever her group's name was - but this is what I chose.)
What I Like (Mocking): "Mercedes Benz". A silly little song, lampooning crass materialism, but what really tickles me is the spoken bit at the beginning ("great social significance") and the giggled "That's it." at the end.
What I Like (Nostalgic): "Me and Bobby McGee". Did I say "iconic"? This is her song, never mind how many others, of both sexes, have covered it. "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"....
What I Like (Search for Purpose): "Work Me, Lord". I guess this is one of her lesser-known songs, but I like it. It kind of reminds me of some of George Herbert's poetry, somehow - "The Pulley", maybe. I don't know.
Overall: This is a two-disk set, with thirty songs all told; there's no way I can do it justice. These are songs about love, and life, and loneliness, and if her voice is rough, well, it suits the material. Shall we say we lost her too young, or be glad that she didn't suffer the decay that so many of her longer-lived peers underwent? What she left us is... all we have of her, and it'll have to be enough.
