There was a powerful emotional intensity to Joplin\u2019s performances and her voice could shift from a vulnerable whisper to a raw visceral scream in a heartbeat. She also had an astonishingly physical and charismatic stage presence.<\/p>\n
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Joplin was appearing later that evening at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester with her band Full Tilt Boogie. They had just finished their soundcheck and she was in Vahsen\u2019s bar with songwriter and producer Bob Neuwirth \u2013 a former road manager and associate of Bob Dylan\u2019s \u2013 as well as the actors Rip Torn and Geraldine Page.<\/p>\n
Also in the bar was rising-star singer and poet Patti Smith, a good friend of Neuwirth\u2019s, who recalled the events of that evening at Vahsen\u2019s in her 2010 memoir, Just Kids. Smith recalled that Joplin began reciting the line, \u201cOh, Lord won\u2019t you buy me a Mercedes Benz\u201d, which was adapted from a short, rhythmic poem by San Francisco beat poet, Michael McClure.<\/p>\n
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The poem was a wry comment on the futility of consumerism, the counterculture\u2019s rejection of the idea that the accumulation of material goods will bring happiness and contentment.<\/p>\n
According to Smith, the others started banging beer mugs on the table to form a rhythm. Joplin and Neuwirth then came up with lyrics elaborating on the premise of McClure\u2019s short poem. Neuwirth hastily wrote them down.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the Port Chester bar, Janis sang the line a few times,\u201d Neuwirth told The Wall Street Journal in 2015. \u201cIt was like a sea shanty. Janis came up with words for the first verse. I was in charge of writing them down on bar napkins with a ballpoint pen. She came up with the second verse too, about a colour TV. I suggested words here and there, and came up with the third verse \u2013 about asking the Lord to buy us a night on the town and another round.\u201d<\/p>\n
One hour later, Joplin performed the new song a cappella during her show at the Capitol Theatre. \u201cI just wrote this at the bar on the corner,\u201d she told the audience. \u201cI’m going to do it Acapulco,\u201d she joked.<\/p>\n
All of which came as something of a shock to the Full Tilt Boogie Band who were on stage with her.<\/p>\n
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\u201cOn Mercedes Benz, Janis wanted to accompany herself on guitar,\u201d bassist Brad Campbell told the Wall Street Journal. \u201cShe took out her Gibson Sunburst and whispered to us, \u2018Watch me, boys.\u2019 But instead of playing it, she just sang. We eventually played a few notes here and there and sang where we could, figuring she wanted us to follow her.\u201d<\/p>\n
There is an alternative version of how the song came into being. In his autobiography Midnight Mover, singer-songwriter and musician Bobby Womack \u2013 who was commissioned by Joplin to write the song Trust Me for her album Pearl \u2013 suggests that Joplin was inspired to come up with the song while going for a ride with Womack in his new Mercedes Benz 600.<\/p>\n
The show at The Capitol Theatre in Port Chester on 8 August 1970 was recorded and widely bootlegged. On 1 October 1970, Joplin recorded the song Mercedes Benz during sessions for her debut solo album Pearl. Three days later, she died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27.<\/p>\n
If there is one moment that defines the breakthrough of Janis Joplin it is her appearance at The Monterey International Pop Festival on 17 June 1967, with the band Big Brother And The Holding Company.<\/p>\n
The audience was stunned by Joplin\u2019s performance as is evident in the documentary of the festival when Joplin and the band perform the song Ball And Chain.<\/p>\n
As Joplin unleashes a mercurial performance on stage, the camera hones in on Cass Elliot of the Mamas & The Papas, who is watching, spellbound, from the audience below.<\/p>\n
Janis Joplin – Ball & Chain – Monterey Pop – YouTube
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Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n Clive Davis, the newly appointed president of Columbia Records, was also in the audience that day and signed Janis Joplin and the band to Columbia Records.<\/p>\n Joplin and the band\u2019s self-titled debut album fared reasonably, but their second album Cheap Thrills had a raw, visceral quality. Released in August 1968, the album launched Joplin as a star and reached No 1 in the Billboard Hot 200 chart, where it stayed for eight weeks.<\/p>\n Joplin\u2019s ascent as an artist was beset with profound challenges. Throughout her adult life, she struggled with drug and alcohol addiction.<\/p>\n She performed at Woodstock, walking out on stage around 2 am on Sunday 17 August 1969, following consistent delays, which meant it was ten hours after her allotted stage time when she finally began her performance.<\/p>\n In his 2012 memoir, Pete Townshend of The Who<\/a> wrote: \u201cShe had been amazing at Monterey, but tonight she wasn\u2019t at her best, due, probably, to the long delay, and probably, too, to the amount of booze and heroin she\u2019d consumed while she waited. But even Janis on an off-night was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n By the time Joplin began planning the recording of her second solo album in 1970, the stakes were high. After leaving Big Brother & The Holding Company in 1968, she recorded her first solo project I Got Dem Ol\u2019 Kozmic Blues Again Mama!, backed by new outfit the Kozmic Blues Band. Some reviews at the time were extremely negative. While it reached No 5 on the Billboard Hot 200, some critics lamented her shift from psychedelic rock to horn-heavy soul and R&B.<\/p>\n When it came to her choice of producer for the follow-up solo album, Pearl, Joplin opted for The Doors\u2019 producer Paul Rothchild, who began by insisting that they record at Sunset Sound Recorders studio in Hollywood, not at her label CBS\u2019s own studio. Clive Davis reluctantly agreed and recording sessions began on 27 July 1970.<\/p>\n Before she recorded the song Mercedes Benz, Joplin wanted the agreement of Michael McClure, who had written the original short poem. Joplin phoned McClure at his home in Haight Ashbury, as Joplin\u2019s sister Laura recounts in her 1992 book, Love, Janis.<\/p>\n \u201cJanis finally called Michael, saying, \u2018I’m singing a song with your Mercedes Benz line in it.\u2019 He said, \u2018Will you sing it for me?\u2019 So, she sang it over the telephone. He said, \u2018I like my song better.\u2019 \u2018Do you mind if I use it?\u2019 she asked. \u2018No, go ahead,\u2019 he said, ignoring any discussions of money or credit.\u201d<\/p>\n McClure was credited as co-writer along with Joplin and Neuwirth. In an interview with SF Gate in 2003, McClure said he never earned a cent from his poetry but the significant royalties from Mercedes Benz helped pay for his house, high in the Oakland Hills, on the eastern side of San Francisco Bay.<\/p>\n Joplin recorded Mercedes Benz during a lull in sessions on 1 October 1970 and none of the band were present. It was recorded in one take and her performance reportedly left Paul Rothchild and engineer Phil Macy mesmerised.<\/p>\n Janis Joplin – Mercedes Benz (Official Audio) – YouTube
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