Billboard #1 Hits: #250: ” Me And Bobby McGee”- Janis Joplin. March 20, 1971. #1 for 2 weeks in Billboard Hot 100.

• Single: “Me And Bobby McGee”- Janis Joplin
• Record Company-Columbia
• Genre: Blues Rock
• Written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster
• Time: 4:33
• B-side:”Half Moon”
• Album-Pearl
• Grade: A+
• Peaked at #1 2 weeks in Billboard Hot 100. #1 in Australia.

“Me And Bobby McGee” was written by a young upcoming songwriter in Nashville- Kris Kristofferson. A brilliant song- it was first recorded by Roger Miller but has been recorded over the years by many different artists- but the ultimate version is always going to be Janis Joplin’s. She never lived to see the success that her version had- she died on October 4, 1970- and the single released after he death went to #1 over 5 months later.

The suggestion for the title came from Nashville record producer Fred Foster who had told Kris he wanted to write a song called “Me and Bobby McKee” McKee was a secretary who worked in the same building as Foster and he had a crush on her. Kris turned it into “Me and Bobby McGee”- and gave Foster half the songwriting credit just for his suggestion of the title. I wonder how many millions of dollars that turned out to be?