Help: Songs by Janis Joplin

Subject: Lyric analysis
From:
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 01:37 PM

I was wondering if anyone knew anything about the songs of Janis Joplin. i.e. What do her songs mean? Why did she write them. If you have any information, please contact me at [e-mail]. Thanks for your help. -Rachel

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: Amergin
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 02:09 PM

Well in one of them I think she really wanted a mercedes benz......

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: mousethief
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 02:11 PM

How many of "her" songs did she actually write?

Alex

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: RWilhelm
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 02:16 PM

She co-wrote a few of her recorded songs, including "Mercedes Benz" but I don't think she wrote any by herself. They were always in the blues tradition and I always took them at face value.

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: MMario
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 02:20 PM

Rachel - if I remember correctly from my student days;there were several books on Janis in the Cornell libraries. You might want to check there.

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: Hollowfox
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 02:21 PM

What subject is the paper for, how long does it have to be, and when is it due? Have you checked the library?

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: Hollowfox
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 02:38 PM

Aw durn, Mmario, we cross-posted and you won the sprint.*g*

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: Lyrical Lady
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 02:51 PM

A&E did a great biograpy on Janis not too long ago ... maybe you could look up their site and check it out . There was a lot of focus on her songs as I recall. LL

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: GUEST,UB Dan
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 03:21 PM

What do her songs mean? -She was secretly trying to communicate a cookie recipe and a subliminal message for people to cook them and mail them too her

Why did she write them. -She loved cookies

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: chip a
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 04:03 PM

Not True! It wasn't the cookies at all. It was all part of a commie plot to overthrow our government and universities through the use of drug crazed hippies. I know this for a fact because I was a pawn in their game. By the way, during my tenure as a commie pawn, I had the good fortune to lie on the floor of the Straight Theater in the Haight while Janis poured it out from the stage. Cookies indeed! Brownies maybe! Peace

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: Sorcha
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 04:32 PM

Alice B. brownies, more like.

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: GUEST,#1
Date: 11 Apr 01 - 04:48 PM

She probably meant them to be sung, not analyzed.

Subject: RE: Help: Lyric analysis
From: Kim C
Date: 12 Apr 01 - 03:49 PM

Why does anyone write songs? 1) To make money. 2) To tell a story. 3) To express an emotion. 4) To make money.

Personally, only #2-3 apply to me. I think those two apply to most people who write songs. Janis was a rather sad and tortured woman so probably a lot of her feelings came out in her songs.

But what a song means... well, that's entirely up to the listener a lot of times. What do YOU think it means? It may not mean the same to you as it does to me.

I saw a documentary on John Lennon one time, and this vagrant had camped out on the lawn of his home. He told Lennon, "man, I know you wrote that song for me. I know you did."

And Lennon said, "man, I don't even know you. It's just a song. Are you hungry? Let's get something to eat." And he invited the man in.

I rarely write any "made-up" songs. Just about anything I write comes out of some true feeling about something. But maybe I'm the only one who knows what it's really about.

Cheers-- Kim