Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Mike B. in Oshawa
Date: 24 Oct 13 - 12:57 PM

"Harpoon" most definitely refers to a harmonica,however in order to make sense of this, the original intent was probably " I took a harp-tune out of my dirty red bandana". This is an awkward lyric to sing so it gets slurred for artistic simplicity. Sort of like pulling a tune out from under your hat. Love it.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: PHJim
Date: 24 Oct 13 - 03:46 PM

I enjoy listening to Janis's interpretation of the song, but I don't think she added anything new to the meaning of the song. I've enjoyed many singers' renditions of Kris's song and I certainly don't consider Janis's version to be the definitive one, just one of many great interpretations.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: Don Firth
Date: 24 Oct 13 - 03:51 PM

I heard harmonicas or "mouth harps" sometimes referred to as "harpoons" long before I heard the song.

Don Firth

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 18 Sep 17 - 04:00 AM

Boy you guys sure covered some ground on this one didn't you?

I'd be interested in any pre-1960s harmonica-harpoon references. Ever Hohner doesn't know where it came from. Most everybody I know thinks it was coined by KK's Monument (ie: Foster's) labelmate Charlie McCoy a few years before Bobbie McGee was written.

And it's not just any harmonica. It's a Hohner Marine Band.

Thought Gibb would have chimed in on "bandanna" by now. It's a Luso-Indian word for a head dress brought to the West by the Portuguese. A "kerchief" is the same deal, on a different ocean (see also Portuguese East India Company and 4:5 Tommy Chong pictures.)

If you tie it to a stick or use it to wipe your nose it becomes a handkerchief.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,henryp
Date: 18 Sep 17 - 07:01 AM

Harpoon Man by Charlie McCoy and the Escorts; Monument 1965

Harpoon Man

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST
Date: 18 Sep 17 - 10:11 AM

Just a minor point of order, Mr Chairman, but it wasn't Bobbie McGee's "harpoon" as stated in the misleading thread title. The instrument in question, whatever it was, clearly belonged to the narrator and not to Ms McGee.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 Sep 17 - 03:58 AM

more minor pedantry:

Larry Adler played harmonica,

I think he always insisted he played a mouth organ - certainly in a BBC radio documentary of him he was recorded saying it. He made a distinction.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 19 Sep 17 - 05:29 AM

No, it's not a Harmonica, it is in fact A 'Jew's harp' or a very similar instrument played in the mouth

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 Sep 17 - 06:29 AM

you are obviously all missing the third verse where Bobby spots the whale she has been endlessly searching the byways of America for.

There is a life changing struggle somewhere near Salinas. Bobby is lost overboard - slips away despite Kris's brave efforts. However the whale is mortally wounded. They have proved each others nemesis.

I always had the feeling Kristoferson stole the plot from somewhere.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 19 Sep 17 - 10:24 AM

Desi: No, it's not a Harmonica, it is in fact A 'Jew's harp' or a very similar instrument played in the mouth

Depends on the singer, JJ (best known) or KK (original) -

JJ: "I was playin' soft while Bobby sang the blues, yeah."

Jew's harp might fit the lyric, the blues... not so much. imo JJ is more honkytonk than country blues. Great band though.

KK: "Was blowin' sad while Bobby sang the blues."

Blowing sad blues on a Jew's harp? How to? Blues need limber reeds that one does not have to chuff 200kPa to bend a note. That's a Hohner Marine or Blues band for country folk on a budget.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Desi C
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 03:20 AM

From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
WHALE!? Where does a whale come into it! Am totally missing something?

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Phil d'Conch
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 03:28 AM

Desi: You'd think it would hard to miss an Al named "Big"...

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 04:53 AM

well there were a lot of drugs around in those days....

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Grishka
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 07:09 AM

@Desi: According to the ever authoritative Big Whal Ittle,

1. the narrator was a former whaler
2. who kept a little harpoon in his "bandana" – presumably a small red suitcase meant for band-aids and other medical stuff.
3. Being on drugs, he spied a whale on the Mississippi and uncased his harpoon, shouting "Thar she's blowing!" – sad!
4. while Bobby, realizing that her friend was hopelessly hallucinating, sang the blues and eventually slipped away.

Easy, innit?

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 01:32 PM

i think that much is pretty clear.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST
Date: 20 Sep 17 - 07:21 PM

"Thar she's blowing!" ????

Is it "Talk Like a Whaler" day?

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 24 Sep 17 - 03:59 AM

I've heard this parody credited to a number of different sources, but I got it from some guys in a Sydney band I was filling in with back in the 1980s. A trifle dated and in dubious taste, but make of it what you will. Should the authors wish to acknowledge their sin, or be offended by its publication here, please let admin know. I shall not name them.

The story they told me was that it was written after a gig where an audience member got stuck up them about the "harpoon" thing. After smacking him around a bit, they decided that, in retrospect, he had a point, so after scraping him up off the floor, bought him a beer and some sticking plasters, and agreed to change the offending word to "didgeridoo" for future gigs. While they were at it, they thought that they might Australianise the entire song too.

Enjoy, ignore or report/delete. Your call....


ME AND CHERYL McGRAW

Busted flat in Wollongong, waiting for the bus
Feeling crap, and vomit on my jeans
Cheryl flagged a Holden down, riddled full of rust
Took us all the way to Narrabeen
I pulled my didgeridoo out of my Eastern Suburbs t-shirt
Was blowing hard while Cheryl combed her hair
With the windscreen wipers slapping time, I got hung up on the thirteenth line
Of the seventeenth verse of Advance Ausrtralia Fair

Freedom's just another word for being unemployed
The dole it ain't worth nothing, but it's free
Feeling good was easy, Lord, with a stubby in my paw
Feeling good was good enough for sure
As long as I was feeling Cheryl McGraw

From the coal mines of Mt Kembla, to the Sydney Harbour Bridge
Cheryl shared my chicko roll and prawns
Standing right beside me, Lord, sometimes on my foot
Playing Holy Jesus with my corns
But somewhere down near Blues Point Road I let her slip away
With a long haired yuppee poofter from Balmain
And I'd swap my stack of roaches and my Kylie autograph
For another night with Cheryl's sister Jane


(There you go. Not a harpoon (or whale) in sight....)

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Guest
Date: 24 Sep 17 - 07:08 AM

Penultimate line, typo, should read "stash", not stack.

Subject: RE: Bobbie McGee's 'harpoon'
From: GUEST,Ebor Fiddler
Date: 26 Sep 17 - 08:46 PM

All this fuss about a gob-iron!