I dedicate my song today to my Facebook friends, Eddie Walsh from Ireland and Warren Harvey Ackroyd from West Yorkshire. Both Eddie and Warren celebrate their birthdays today. I hope that your day is memorable and happy and that you each leave room for lots of cake and ale. Best regards Bill.
Today’s song is ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. This song was written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and songwriter Fred Foster. The song was originally performed by Roger Miller. A posthumously released version by Janis Joplin topped the ‘U.S. Singles Chart in 1971, making the song the second posthumously released Number 1 single in U.S. chart history after ‘Sitting on the Dock Of the Bay’ by Otis Redding. Other recordings of the song include those by Loretta Lynn and Kris Kristofferson himself, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton Olivia Newton-John, Gordon Lightfoot and Johnny Cash among many others. In 2004, Janis Joplin’s version of this song was ranked Number 148 on Rolling Stone’s list of the ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’.
The song tells the story of two drifters, the narrator and Bobby McGee. The couple Hitch a ride from a truck driver and sing as they drive through the American south. Partway, the song's narrator expresses sadness. Due to the singer's name never being mentioned and the name ‘Bobby’ being easily identifiable to both sexes, the song has been recorded by both male and female singers with only minor changes needed to the lyrical content.
Roger Miller was the first artist to record the song and it appeared at Number 12 on the ‘U.S. Country Chart’ in 1969. Gordon Lightfoot’s version hit Number 13 on the pop music chart and made Number 1 on the country music chart in his native country of Canada in 1970.
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This song was first released in 1970 in the States, but it would be a few years later before it came across the music ocean to hit the radio airwaves in England. I was just commencing my career as a Probation Officer at the time. I was a man in my early 30s who was determined to change the world for the better and to right the numerous wrongs in society that then surrounded us.
As a man with his own speckled past where stealing was concerned, this Probation Officer-turned-Gamekeeper was resolved to make up for the many chances he’d received from significant others along the way. There had been many times I’d hitch-hiked my way through life as a teenager when others had stopped to help me along the road.
I could recall going to the dance in Halifax, spending all my money and having to hitch a ride home from a sympathetic motorist around midnight as I walked the ten miles back. I remember having stolen from the greengrocer shop on the estate where we lived. Not only did the grocer, Mr. Northrop, decline to tell my parents of my theft or report me to the police; instead, he offered me a Saturday morning job in his shop and allowed me to serve the customers and use the cash till. Mr. Northrop was probably the one person in my life who was ‘more responsible’ for me becoming a Probation Officer than any other person in my life.
There have been so many people as I’ve ‘hitchhiked ‘through life who stopped and helped me continue my crime-free journey along the way by giving me good advice and offering me support, encouragement, and love; or who have steadied me and held me up straight when I threatened to fall again. It is all these good people whom I think of when I hear this song.
You must also have known such people in your life who helped you significantly along the way. I once co-composed a song about how we each pass through life and often fail to smell the roses along the way. The song was composed for my late friend and the nation’s favourite television gardener, Geoffrey Smith, entitled ‘ We Must Smell the Roses As We pass By.’ Upon Geoffrey’s wish, after his death, I re-wrote his song and turned it into a hymn, ‘Be My Life’, which I then gave to my wife, Sheila as her Easter Sunday present of 2011. http://www.fordefables.co.uk/be-my-life.html
I could so easily have changed the message from ‘failing to smell the roses as we pass by’ to one of ‘being unaware of the people who significantly touch and influence us along our journey of life’. Have a nice day everyone, especially, Eddie and Warren.
Love and peace Bill xxx
Today’s song is ‘Me and Bobby McGee’. This song was written by American singer-songwriter Kris Kristofferson and songwriter Fred Foster. The song was originally performed by Roger Miller. A posthumously released version by Janis Joplin topped the ‘U.S. Singles Chart in 1971, making the song the second posthumously released Number 1 single in U.S. chart history after ‘Sitting on the Dock Of the Bay’ by Otis Redding. Other recordings of the song include those by Loretta Lynn and Kris Kristofferson himself, Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton Olivia Newton-John, Gordon Lightfoot and Johnny Cash among many others. In 2004, Janis Joplin’s version of this song was ranked Number 148 on Rolling Stone’s list of the ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’.
The song tells the story of two drifters, the narrator and Bobby McGee. The couple Hitch a ride from a truck driver and sing as they drive through the American south. Partway, the song's narrator expresses sadness. Due to the singer's name never being mentioned and the name ‘Bobby’ being easily identifiable to both sexes, the song has been recorded by both male and female singers with only minor changes needed to the lyrical content.
Roger Miller was the first artist to record the song and it appeared at Number 12 on the ‘U.S. Country Chart’ in 1969. Gordon Lightfoot’s version hit Number 13 on the pop music chart and made Number 1 on the country music chart in his native country of Canada in 1970.
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This song was first released in 1970 in the States, but it would be a few years later before it came across the music ocean to hit the radio airwaves in England. I was just commencing my career as a Probation Officer at the time. I was a man in my early 30s who was determined to change the world for the better and to right the numerous wrongs in society that then surrounded us.
As a man with his own speckled past where stealing was concerned, this Probation Officer-turned-Gamekeeper was resolved to make up for the many chances he’d received from significant others along the way. There had been many times I’d hitch-hiked my way through life as a teenager when others had stopped to help me along the road.
I could recall going to the dance in Halifax, spending all my money and having to hitch a ride home from a sympathetic motorist around midnight as I walked the ten miles back. I remember having stolen from the greengrocer shop on the estate where we lived. Not only did the grocer, Mr. Northrop, decline to tell my parents of my theft or report me to the police; instead, he offered me a Saturday morning job in his shop and allowed me to serve the customers and use the cash till. Mr. Northrop was probably the one person in my life who was ‘more responsible’ for me becoming a Probation Officer than any other person in my life.
There have been so many people as I’ve ‘hitchhiked ‘through life who stopped and helped me continue my crime-free journey along the way by giving me good advice and offering me support, encouragement, and love; or who have steadied me and held me up straight when I threatened to fall again. It is all these good people whom I think of when I hear this song.
You must also have known such people in your life who helped you significantly along the way. I once co-composed a song about how we each pass through life and often fail to smell the roses along the way. The song was composed for my late friend and the nation’s favourite television gardener, Geoffrey Smith, entitled ‘ We Must Smell the Roses As We pass By.’ Upon Geoffrey’s wish, after his death, I re-wrote his song and turned it into a hymn, ‘Be My Life’, which I then gave to my wife, Sheila as her Easter Sunday present of 2011. http://www.fordefables.co.uk/be-my-life.html
I could so easily have changed the message from ‘failing to smell the roses as we pass by’ to one of ‘being unaware of the people who significantly touch and influence us along our journey of life’. Have a nice day everyone, especially, Eddie and Warren.
Love and peace Bill xxx
