Another Name Song

Me & Bobby McGee

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Since "Bobby" is a diminutive (nickname) for Robert, we can include this song in our class name song list. The song by Kris Kristofferson, one of the most gifted of the singer-songwriters of the 1970s, achieved greater popularity when recorded by white Blues singer, Janis Joplin, who had an unhappy life and died young. In fact, the song reached #1 on the Billboard charts after Joplin's death at 27. The song was actually about a woman ("Bobby" is also a nickname for the female name Roberta) but was regendered by Joplin for her record. The most famous line in the song (and one of the most famous of the entire era) was "Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose"). The song is a capsule of the "Existentialist" or make your own choices and "live for the moment" ethos of the 1960s Hippie generation: transience, feeling good, absolute freedom, and loss. Baton Rouge is in Louisiana, USA. Kristofferson was one of the better writers of the singer-songwriters of the time, with strong images, place names (Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Kentucky, California, Salinas), and idiomatic usage: "busted flat," "faded as my jeans," "I pulled my harpoon (harmonica) out of my dirty red bandanna," "windshield wipers slapping time," "freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose," "feeling good was good enough for me," "I let him slip away," etc.

Busted flat in Baton Rouge, waiting for a train
And I's feeling nearly as faded as my jeans.
Bobby thumbed a diesel down just before it rained,
It rode us all the way to New Orleans.

I pulled my harpoon out of my dirty red bandanna,
I was playing soft while Bobby sang the blues.
Windshield wipers slapping time, I was holding Bobby's hand in mine,
We sang every song that driver knew.

Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing don't mean nothing honey if it ain't free, now now.
And feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
You know feeling good was good enough for me,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

>From the Kentucky coal mines to the California sun,
Hey, Bobby shared the secrets of my soul.
Through all kinds of weather, through everything we done,
Hey Bobby baby? kept me from the cold.

One day up near Salinas, I let him slip away,
He's looking for that home and I hope he finds it,
But I'd trade all of my tomorrows for just one yesterday
To be holding Bobby's body next to mine.

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing, that's all that Bobby left me, yeah,
But feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
Hey, feeling good was good enough for me, hmm hmm,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee.

La la la, la la la la, la la la, la la la la
La la la la la Bobby McGee.
La la la la la, la la la la la
La la la la la, Bobby McGee, la.

La La la, la la la la la la,
La La la la la la la la la, ain`t no bumb on my bobby McGee yeah.
Na na na na na na na na, na na na na na na na na na na na
Hey now Bobby now, Bobby McGee, yeah.

Lord, I'm calling my lover, calling my man,
I said I'm calling my lover just the best I can,
C'mon, hey now Bobby yeah, hey now Bobby McGee, yeah,
Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lord
Hey, hey, hey, Bobby McGee, Lord!

Yeah! Whew!

Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lordy Lord
Hey, hey, hey, Bobby McGee.