Me and Bobby McGee (1970)
One of the great American songs – evident from those who have covered it, including Janis Joplin, Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson, Johnny Cash and the Grateful Dead – was written by Kris Kristofferson and first a hit for Roger Miller. It’s a perfect road song, inspired by Fellini’s La Strada, and encapsulates Kristofferson’s voice: bruised and desolate, but romantic and hopeful, with a markedly masculine streak. (Kristofferson neither looked nor sounded metrosexual; his sensitivity was not uncomplicated.) It’s hard to imagine a song with such a perfect opening verse (“Busted flat in Baton Rouge … feelin’ near as faded as my jeans”) could deliver on its setup, but Me and Bobby McGee does, with its single devastating line: “Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose.”
