Tag Archives: Janis Joplin

Song of the Week – Hesitation Blues, Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen

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This week a new Janis Joplin documentary, Little Girl Blue, was broadcast on PBS’ American Masters. I had a chance to watch it and think it was worthwhile. It wasn’t the best documentary I’ve ever seen, but it earned some kudos for access to family letters and discovery of some previously unseen archival footage that the filmmaker provided to us.

There were also a few interesting bits of information that were new to me like her romance with David Niehaus, an American she met while she was on a “detox” holiday in Rio in early 1970.

Another bit of information that grabbed my attention was the existence of the “typewriter tape” – a recording she made with the pre Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen in 1964. The tape got its name because you can hear Kaukonen’s wife typing a letter in the background as Janis and Jorma tape a rehearsal in his Santa Clara home when he was still a senior at Santa Clara University (prior to moving into San Francisco’s Haight district).

Today’s SotW is “Hesitation Blues” from the Typewriter Tape.

The fidelity of this recording isn’t great (it wasn’t a true demo) but the performance and historical value makes it worth a listen. Joplin’s command of the blues and Kaukonen’s finger picking guitar style are both very impressive for their age and experience. “Hesitation Blues” would remain a standard in Kaukonen’s repertoire. It was the first cut on Hot Tuna’s first album in 1970.

If you would like to learn more about the Typewriter Tape, check out KQED’s Gabe Meline’s recent interview with Kaukonen.

https://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2016/05/03/jorma-kaukonen-on-janis-joplin-and-recording-the-1964-typewriter-tape/

Enjoy… until next week.

Song of the Week – Stay With Me, Lorraine Ellison

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Where did you go when things went wrong baby?
Who did you run to
And find a shoulder to lay your head upon?
Baby wasn’t I there?
Didn’t I take good care of you?
No no, I can’t believe you’re leaving me
Stay with me baby
Please, stay with me baby
Ooh, stay with me baby
I can’t go on
Who did you touch when you needed tenderness?

So goes the opening section of “Stay With Me” by Lorraine Ellison (1966).

But those words on paper don’t come anywhere close to the emotion that Ellison conveys with her interpretation of the song.

It begins quietly with a simple piano arpeggio, the beat kept with a tap on the high hat. Ellison begins to plead with her man to think about all the kindness and affection she’s given him. Each word is sung with total passion. Then comes the big payoff. The music and her voice swell to an emotion plea to “stay with me baby.”

This may be too bombastic for some of your tastes; to me it is infused with authenticity. Ellison sounds like a woman at the end of her rope – she simply can’t bear to let this man go without a fight. She’s willing to lay it all out, to scratch and claw her way back into his heart, pride be damned.

Some of you may recognize this song from the soundtrack to Bette Midler’s movie The Rose. It was also covered by Janis Joplin. (Although I don’t think she ever did a proper studio recording of “Stay With Me” you can find a live version on YouTube.) That ‘s no surprise when you realize that the tune was co-written by Jerry Ragovoy and George Weiss. Remember, Ragovoy was one of her favorite songwriters, responsible for several other hits in her set list – “Get It While You Can,” “My Baby,” “Piece of My Heart,” and “Try (Just a Little Bit Harder)” (also recorded by Ellison).

Sadly, Ellison died back in 1983 of ovarian cancer. She was only 51.

One last bit about “Stay With Me.” As the story goes, this cut, produced by Ragovoy, only came about because Frank Sinatra cancelled a recording session that was booked with a full orchestra. It was too late to send the musicians home without pay, so Ragovoy decided to take advantage of the opportunity and call Ellison in to take a shot at recording the song live. That was a good call.

Enjoy… until next week.