Klarinet Archive - Posting 000607.txt from 2002/10

From: LeliaLoban@-----.com
Subj: [kl] Song lyric website
Date: Fri, 25 Oct 2002 10:32:02 -0400

Regarding "Me and Bobby McGee," Gene Nibbelin wrote,
>It doesn't take a mind reader to see that these are
>stupidly meaningless lyrics. I'll refrain from further
>comments on my opinions concerning the
>current crop of so called popular "music".

It doesn't take a mind-reader to see that you don't know that song. "Me and
Bobby McGee" is a classic ballad by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster. I
best remember Janis Joplin's 1971 recording, but the crossover song has been
recorded several dozen times, by a great variety of musicians, from the folk,
blues, country, rock, pop and Broadway traditions.

The song's lead writer, Kris Kristofferson, is not a stupid or meaningless
sort of person. He graduated Phi Beta Kappa from college. He also earned a
post-graduate degree from Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. He then
joined the U. S. Army, where he rose to the rank of Captain. He's led an
interesting life and he's a thoughtful man. Short biography of Kristofferson
by William Ruhlmann:

http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=B0m7zeflkhgf6~C

In the 1970s, "Me and Bobby McGee" became an anthem for the growing empathy
with the homeless and the perception that they're still human beings. Times
are changing again now, and I know that some people regard Kristofferson's
take on the drifter personality as naive and romanticized. There's some
truth behind that criticism. In my volunteer work, I've met many lazy bums
and many predatory losers with no morals. However, I've also met a larger
number of transients who maintain close bonds of friendship and love. They
protect each other as well as they can. That's usually not too well.

Realistically, there's no good way out of the poverty pit for people too
physically or mentally handicapped or too messed up on booze and drugs to
finish an education or hold down a job. When their families can't or won't
shelter them any more, society doesn't know what to do for them or with them
or to them. Most of them look old before they die young. That doesn't mean
these people stop being human, a fact I think that song brought home to a lot
of listeners.

Even among the hardcore homeless who subsist on crime, I've never personally
encountered the sickest side of drifter bonding, embodied by John Muhammad
and Lee Malvo. I've only seen that side on the news, but living in Falls
Church, Virginia, I often shop at the Home Depot where those monsters
committed one of their murders. As angry as I feel at the killers and as sad
as I feel for their victims and their families, I'm also worrying about the
fear and prejudice the D. C. snipers will bring down against those other
drifters, the Bobby McGees.

So that's what the song means to me, Gene. People might want to listen to
it, before they write it off as just another piece of pop-slop with

>stupidly meaningless lyrics.

Lelia

Then somewhere near Salinas, Lord, I let her slip away,
Lookin' for the home I hope she'll find;
And I'd trade all my tomorrows for a single yesterday,
Holdin' Bobby's body next to mine.
Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose;
Nothin' ain't worth nothin', but it's free.
--Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, "Me and Bobby McGee," 1969

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