Kris Kristofferson’s Heartbroken Reaction to First Hearing Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee”

Janis Joplin’s posthumous 1971 rendition of “Me and Bobby McGee” is arguably the most famous version of the song, but Kris Kristofferson, the writer, ironically never knew Joplin had plans to cut the record until after her tragically premature death in 1970. By the time she recorded her now iconic version, she and Kristofferson had developed a close relationship with one another.

The intimacy these two artists shared made Joplin’s version that much more heart-wrenching for Kristofferson. Sure, it might have given Kristofferson levels of fame he had only dreamed of before. But sadly, it came at the cost of one of his dearest companions.

Kris Kristofferson’s Reaction to Hearing Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee”

In a 2020 interview with the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, the late prolific songwriter Kris Kristofferson shared his reaction to hearing Janis Joplin’s distinctive version of his track, “Me and Bobby McGee,” for the first time. Joplin had just died at 27 of a h***** overdose when producer Paul Rothschild invited Kristofferson into his office the next day. “He had something he wanted to play me,” Kristofferson recalled. “I didn’t even know she’d cut it.”

“I had to leave the room,” the songwriter continued, slowing down as he got to the most emotional part of his story. “It was impossibly hard to hear. There was so much love and emotion going into the song, and then knowing that she wasn’t there to enjoy that. I left his office and walked around the block. I don’t know where I walked.”

Following the success of Joplin’s posthumous version of his song, Kristofferson knew audiences would come to expect the song at his live performances as well. The “Help Me Make It Through the Night” told the MHOF that he and fellow songwriter Donnie Fritts sat down one day and listened to “Me and Bobby McGee” over and over and over until Kristofferson could hear the track without crying. “I didn’t want to get emotional in front of the people, you know,” he said.

A Relationship As Unique As The People In It

Janis Joplin and Kris Kristofferson’s love affair was short-lived and eventually made way to a deeper, more platonic relationship that Kristofferson described to the Musicians Hall of Fame as like a “brother and sister.” “I loved Janis. I loved being around her; I loved teasing her. She was easy to tease because she would wear those God-awful feathers and everything,” he laughed.

Joplin dished it right back. Kristofferson recalled when he and Joplin were on a plane together for the first time. Joplin wanted Kristofferson to join her in the first-class bathroom to “fool around,” but Kristofferson refused. “I knew everybody in the plane was looking at her because she had all those peacock feathers on,” he recalled with a smile. “She really made me feel like a wussy.”

While Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” would propel Kristofferson to all-new levels of fame and success, he called it one of the greatest ironies of his career. “It was such a personal loss,” he said of her passing. “A heartbreak. And at the same time, it was the biggest shot of fame that I ever got. It was never the same after that.”

Even after she died, Kristofferson could imagine Joplin’s reaction to cutting his song without him knowing. “I can just hear her saying, ‘Wait ‘till this son of a b**** hears this. He’s gonna die.”

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