Overall, it is a great version of the song. But he sounds like he is celebrating his time with her. His singing is more pleasant and has a more upbeat, happy tone and I think misses some of the sadness and regret the narrator has after Bobby McGee. Roger’s vocals are great and he sings in a pretty traditional country delivery. That is the only reason I can see for the change in the song. I believe the beginning had a more country / blues feel as they were in New Orleans and then by the end of the song they are in California and that is the more mariachi sound. Then the last part of the song turned in to a little more uptempo with some horns added that gave the song a slight mariachi sound.
LYRICS ME AND BOBBY MCGEE ROGER MILLER FULL
Roger’s version was country slanted full of guitar pickin’ and a mouth harp at a relatively mid-tempo. This is about which version is the best so we will get to that part of the show. I could go in to more depth about the song and the lyrics, but then this would turn in to a My Sunday Song episode where we deep dive in to the songs. They end up breaking up and going their own ways and the singer is filled with sadness and regret about them parting as I believe he loved that Bobby McGee. They are hitchhiking, singing the blues and discovering the land and each other. The song is about a couple that is traveling across the southern part of the country. Kris didn’t think he could write the song, so he avoided Foster for months until he finally got it written. The song was started by Fred Foster, the head of the label Kris was signed, when he went to Kris with a song title called “Me and Bobbie McKee” which Kris thought it he heard McGee. There were actually two other versions released in 1970 by Gordon Lightfoot and the Statler Brothers and then in 1971, Jerry Lee Lewis released a version.
The versions we are covering are the original release by Roger Miller (1969), Kris Kristofferson’s own version (1970) and then the version by Janis Joplin (1971). This time we are discussing the song “Me and Bobby McGee” which was written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster, but let’s be honest, Fred only gave the song the title. the Cover and this time it is another trio of versions.