S.O.D. "Mercedes Benz" by Janis Joplin

9/9/2015     Yes that is correct, Janis Joplin is an amazing a cappella singer.  With the help of poets Michael McClure and Bob Neuwirth, the three of them wrote the song sort of by accident.  It happened at a bar called Vahsen's in Port Chester, New York during a poetry jam that was improved between Joplin and songwriter Bob Neuwirth who was also a good friend.  Inspired by a Michael McClure song's first line, "Come on, God, and buy me a Mercedes Benz," Janis was familiar with the lyrics and started changing them as she sang the song at the bar. While this was happening, Neuwirth was writing the new lyrics on bar napkins which he held onto for years. That same night she sang the new version at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester at her concert.  Joplin's studio version was amazingly recorded in one take on October 1, 1970 and were her last recorded tracks ever.  Three days later on October 4, she died of alcohol and drug abuse.  

     The song was a part of her album "Pearl", released in 1971.  In the song she also asks God for a color TV and a night on the town.  The song is meant to be a rejection of consumerism.  Joplin was an excellent painter, dancer and multi instrumentalist, playing guitar, percussion, piano, autoharp and harmonica.  She began her musical career in 1962 teaming up with future Jefferson Airplane guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and Margareta Kaukonen who used a typewriter as a percussion instrument.  

     Four years later she was recruited by psychedelic rock band, Big Brother and the Holding Company where she stayed for two years.  Her solo career lasted a little more than one year and by the end of it she was an icon and considered to be the female Elvis Presley, able to captivate an audience and hold them there from beginning to end.  Pete Townshend of The Who said in his 2012 memoir regarding her Woodstock performance: "She had been amazing at Monterey, but tonight she wasn't at her best, due probably to the long delay and probably, too, to the amount of booze and heroin she'd consumed while she waited. But even Janis on an off night was incredible."  I wonder how many people that were too young to see her would add years to their life just to do so.