Big Brother and the Holding Company - Down On Me (1967)

Peter Albin had been playing with future Grateful Dead members Jerry Garcia and Ron McKerman through whom he met Sam Andrew. The pair decided to start a band and picked up guitarist James Gurley and eventually drummer David Getz (who had replaced their first drummer, Chuck Jones). After achieving a decent amount of successs in the Haight-Ashbury section of San Francisco, the group’s manager, Chet Helms, suggested they try a singer he knew of in Texas: Janis Joplin. After arriving, the group wasn’t thrilled with Joplin’s singing style compared to the direction they wanted to take their music, but Joplin’s style eventually won out and the group’s popularity skyrocketed.

A traditional song from the 1920s, this song was first recorded by Deacon Leon Davis and His Congregation in 1926 under the title, “Everybody’s Down On Me”. This particular recording by today’s artist was rearranged by Joplin and first released during the Summer of Love on the group’s debut self-titled album. Joplin also added new lyrics, essentially making the song her own. A live version would later be released in 1973 on the album titled Janis Joplin’s Greatest Hits.



Big Brother and the Holding Company - Down On Me (1967)

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Lyrics:

Down on me
Down on me
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
They're down on me

Love in this world is so hard to find
When you've got yours and I got mine
That's why it looks like everybody in this whole round world
They're down on me

Saying they're down on me
Down on me
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
Down on me

When you see a hand that's held out toward you
Give it some love, someday it may be you
That's why it looks like everybody in this whole round world
They're down on me, yeah

Oh, Lord, they're down on me
Down on me, oh
Looks like everybody in this whole round world
Is down on me

Believe in your brother, have faith in man
Help each other, honey, if you can
Because it looks like everybody in this whole round world
Is down on me

I'm saying they're down on me
All down on me, oh
It looks like everybody in this whole round world
Down on me

Janis Joplin - Mercedez Benz (1970)

Getting her start as the lead singer of Big Brother and The Holding Company in 1966, this singer/songwriter was immensely popular in the late 1960s. In 1969 she became a solo artist backed by The Kozmic Blues Band and later The Full Tilt Boogie Band. Known as “The Queen of Rock and Roll” and “The Queen of Psychedelic Soul,” her career was cut short, in 1970, at the age of twenty-seven after an accidental heroin overdose.

Recorded in one take just three days before her death, this song was one of the last two recordings she ever completed. Despite its obvious sarcastic message mocking the materialism of society, Mercedes-Benz car manufacturers have used the song in their commercials since 1995. It was released posthumously in 1971, on her album Pearl.



Janis Joplin - Mercedez Benz (1970)

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Lyrics:

I’d like to do a song of great social and political import’. It goes like this:

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me
I wait for delivery each day until three
So oh Lord, won't you buy me a color TV?

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?
I'm counting on you, Lord, please don't let me down
Prove that you love me and buy the next round
Oh Lord, won't you buy me a night on the town?

Everybody!

Oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends
So, oh Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz?

That's it!