According to Wikipedia, it was Roger Miller who sang the song first, in 1969. YouTube has his interpretation, in a straightforward country style as you would expect. The "nana"s were there alright, and so was the melancholical tone. Nevertheless, it was only Janis Joplin who unleashed the power of the song in 1970: not being "country" in the traditional sense, but a desparate lament for a (perceivedly) lost concept of freedom, genuinely associated with the late 1960s. The fact that she died only a week later sealed the message, for many of us who did not care for country music.

It is remarkable that even at that time, most songs and tales about the new freedom already implied that the era was over, the freedom oppressed, the ideals betrayed, the revolution cancelled, and everybody striving for Mercedes-Benzes. It seems that if the Golden Age ever existed, it could not reach the record studios and radio stations alive.