(I meant to post a blog on October 4th in memoriam for the "Queen of the Blues." )Janis Joplin died in an L.A. hotel room on October 4, 1970 while recording her album 'Pearl.' The post-humous album included "Me and Bobby McGee," "Mercedez Benz," and "Buried Alive In The Blues." At age 27, she had fans falling in love with her and her music. She was engaged to the man of her dreams, Seth Morgan, but cried to her Bobby McGee, Kris Kristofferson.
Ironically enough, the day Janis was found dead on the floor of the L.A. hotel room, she was scheduled to finish the recording and edits on the song "Buried Alive In The Blues." She was supposed to spend that night in the hotel with Seth Morgan, but his womanizing ways found him bedding a waitress in San Francisco and not with his soon-to-be wife. Her excessive heroin use, cocaine use, and chugging of Southern Comfort didn't mix well in the lonely, blues-singing heart and soul of Janis that night. The 'Queen of the Blues' was almost a martyr to her own destiny when she was quoted, on more than one occassion, to foreshadow what lie ahead of her.
Her former lover, Jimi Hendrix, was dead only a few weeks when Janis finally went too far with her self-destructive ways. After Hendrix perished in London, Janis was quoted, "I can't say that I was shocked. I guess this just decreases my chances. Two rockstars can't die in the same year." Seeming invincible, Janis assured her worrying friends and Texas family that "Nothing will ever happen to me." In the twenty months leading up to October of 1970, she had overdosed six times and one being almost fatal. On October 4, she was dead and a part of rock-and-roll's "Forever Twenty Seven" club.
The way she expressed the intense emotions of life in a pure, honest, and riveting way left her fans needing that release. Only, she was dead. Never before was a raspy, beatnik from Texas so relative to everyone that listened to her. In twenty-seven years, she did more than most will do in a lifetime. Yet, she felt the same feelings that her fans did. She was human. She got too drunk, she made mistakes, she loved, she never felt loved, and she wanted more. Always wanting more, until too much was too much.
She drifted, always feeling lonely and alone. She left her parents in Port Arthur to study at the University of Texas. She hitch-hiked to Greenwich Village, she rode a bus to Berkeley, she found a home in San Francisco. Unlike anything my generation will ever know, she was a young and ambitious adult in a time where music was what kept the world going. Not Wall Street, not civil rights. Music. You were for 'peace', which was only found in music, or you were for 'war', which wasn't found in her neck of the woods. She released herself from her bindings in music. When music wasn't enough she turned to booze - always Southern Comfort, of course! When booze wasn't enough she turned to cocaine. Cocaine turned in to heroin. When it seemed like the 'Queen of the Blues' was finally figuring it out, she let her last 'release' go too far. At age twenty-seven, she was dead. She left one final gift to the world. Her album, "Pearl." The album was filled with Janis. Screaming her words like only she could do, exploding her soul into her lyrics and proving that fame doesn't make you immortal. She was lonely, she was depressed, and she didn't think anyone could hear her.
On October 4th, 1970 the world heard her. They heard the silence. They lost inspiration. They lost liveliness of her performances. They lost Janis Joplin. Silence.
Her motto, "The more you live, the less you die." was perfectly fitting for the twenty-seven years of her life. What could have killed her way before her fatal night was what kept her alive. She lived up to people's expectations even when people didn't live up to hers. "People like their blues singers miserable. They like their blues singers to die afterwards."
Her need for her audience's adoration was enormous. When she got it, she claimed that was the only thing that made her feel. She compared performing and moving her audience to feel what she is feeling to 'having a baby' and 'falling in love twenty times.'
It makes you wonder what she may have accomplished had she continued her legacy and not become a legend so soon. If she had seen what the album "Pearl" did for blues, rock, and soul music. It is hard to fathom what music in general would have been like if Janis lived another few decades.
We may have never known Madonna. Me may have never known Stevie Nicks. We may have never known Courteney Love or Mariah Carey. Sheryl Crowe or Celine Dion.
What we do know is that no one can touch the heart and soul of America the way Janis Joplin did. A small-town girl with dreams bigger than Texas. A tomboy, a beatnik, a gypsy. Her career that turned into what she called "the whole success thing" was always embarked upon by staying true and righteous to herself. In all aspects of life she vowed she'd stay real. One of her most famous quotes was "Don't compromise yourself, you're all you've got." Nothing else said could prove this more true than the life she lived and the legacy she left. She never compromised, she never was anything but human.
No one can turn vocals and instrumentals into the sublime power of one's heart, soul, whole self, the way she could. Her words were relative, her music was riveting, and her performance was empowering.
What is it about this woman that I'm so intrigued and inspired by, many ask. Why do I love her as if I knew her? She was real. She was lonely. She was yelling but no one could hear her. She had passion. She was a musician because it made her feel good. She didn't want money, she wanted the experience. She was a tomboy. She let no one's expectations be limitations. She was boundless, out there, and made being 'different' something to be proud of.
Janis, as she described herself, was 'one of those regular weird people.'
-bjj
the 'other' sister
Download these Janis Joplin favs:
- A Woman Left Lonely
- Ball And Chain
- Me and Bobby McGee
- Mercedez Benz
- Tell Mama
- Piece Of My Heart
- Little Girl Blue
- Down On Me
- San Francisco Bay Blues
And, remember... "Don't compromise yourself, you're all you've got."
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