She was hardly the first artist to record the tune though. The single became only the second in Billboard’s history to vault to the top of the pop chart following the artist’s death, following Otis Redding’s 1967 “(Sittin’ on) The Dock of the Bay.” The magazine ranked Joplin’s “Bobby” (backed with “Half Moon”) as the #11 single of the year 1971. Both the single and the album from which it was drawn, Pearl-Joplin’s final solo studio LP-first charted on January 30 the album, too, would reach #1, Joplin’s only one to do so. 4, 1970, the single reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Record World singles charts on the week ending on this date in 1971.
Recorded with her new Full Tilt Boogie Band for Columbia Records just days before her death on Oct. Regardless of one’s take on that key segment of the song’s chorus, most folks know “Me and Bobby McGee”-the song in which that line resides-by Janis Joplin’s version. Grumbled one person, “This has always struck me as one of the stupidest statements in all of pop culture.” Not everyone thought so highly of the line. You can wander around anywhere, just pick up and go like the two hobos in the song.”
In one online chat room, a participant writes, “I always understood it to mean that the only time you’re really free to do whatever you want is when you have nothing to lose-there can’t really be consequences if there is nothing to lose.” A second person opines, “If you have nothing left to lose, you’re not tied down to anything and you’re free. It’s one of the most oft-quoted, and hotly debated, lyrics of the past 50 years: “Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose.” Entire web pages are devoted to its meaning.
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