![]() They visit California and then part ways, with the song's narrator expressing sadness afterwards. The pair hitch a ride from a truck driver and sing as they drive through the American South before making their way westward to California. The song is the story of two drifters, the narrator and Bobby McGee. He explained that he was trying to convey the despair of the last scene of Federico Fellini’s La Strada in which a broken, war-torn, inebriated man (played by Anthony Quinn) stares up from the beach at the night's stars, and breaks down sobbing. ![]() The titular character was named for a studio secretary, Barbara "Bobbie" McKee, but Kristofferson had misheard her surname. The suggestion for the title was a cordial challenge from producer and Monument Records founder Fred Foster to Kris Kristofferson. Jerry Lee Lewis released a version that was number 1 on the country charts in December 1971/January 1972 as the "B" side of "Would You Take Another Chance On Me." Billboard ranked Joplin's version as the No. Gordon Lightfoot released a version that reached number 1 on the Canadian country charts in 1970. chart history after " (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" by Otis Redding. singles chart in 1971, making the song the second posthumously released No. A posthumously released version by Janis Joplin topped the U.S. Fred Foster shares the writing credit, as Kristofferson wrote the song based on a suggestion from Foster. ![]() You just have to savour it for as long as it lasts." Me and Bobby McGee" is a song written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and originally performed by Roger Miller. That’s the thing about looking at living history, you’re never quite sure how much time you’ve got. When its over the audience files out, unsure how to feel about the knowledge that we’ve just seen something we’re unlikely to ever get the chance to see again. There isn’t a lot of interaction with the crowd, but also, there doesn’t really need to be- the songs speak for themselves. That, however, does nothing to diminish the sense that something very special is taking place as Kristofferson and the band work their way through two sets of about 50 minutes each. The audience are, as to be expected, older and a little more reserved than most. The music is deceptively simple in its construction, but within the confines of picked chords and some fiddle accompaniment the songs are so evocative, so suggestive of a time and an era that will soon be all but forgotten, that its hard not to get lost in them. Doing so is both a worthy tribute to the man’s music and a painful reminder of just how much we’ve lost in the last few years. He also takes the opportunity to play some of Haggard’s songs, like Okie from Muskogee, Daddy Frank (the guitar man) and prison ballad Sing Me Back Home. Of course, he plays the song Janis Joplin made a hit, Me and Bobby McGee, to the delight of everyone in the room. Songs like Sunday Morning Coming Down and The Pilgrim are unquestionably among the great depictions of hard living, and songs like Loving Her is Easier than Anything I’ll Ever do Again have aged with their composer, evolving with his impossibly rasped vocals into something approaching wistful melancholy. The strength of the material is where the value of the show is to be found. They simply walk on without fanfare and begin to play. There isn’t any support act and nobody announces the band. Kristofferson brings his show tonight to the newly renovated Civic Hall in Ballarat and the history of the man and his music hangs in the air. ![]() Most of them are gone now, with only Kristofferson and Nelson still alive and working. Kristofferson and Haggard, along with Waylon Jennings, Willy Nelson and longtime friend and muse Johnny Cash formed the core of what might best be called the outlaw country genre. Looking weathered, but not frail worn but not worn out, Kristofferson is touring with The Strangers, the band best known for backing Merle Haggard for a great portion of his career. The man is now eighty-three and wears every day of it proudly. Having recorded dozens of albums, written countless songs for other artists and collaborated with a most impressive list of contemporaries, Kristofferson has earned himself a place amongst the most important musicians of the last 50 years. Kris Kristofferson is one of the great songwriters. Project Description KRIS KRISTOFFERSON Ballarat Civic Hall 23/09/19 (Live Review) Reviewer: Benjamin Smith
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