Added: 5 years ago
From: JoanBaezFan1987
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  • Best or second best non classical voice ever. Joan Baez and Eva Cassidy

  • Joan Baez is a piece of crap, compared to Janis Joplin!

  • This orchestra is damn awful.......can't listen

  • bobby mi tien le mani quando sono giù... niente io gli chiederò di più......

  • amazing! very beautiful voice.

  • Janis Joplin could sing like that too but she hated the way Joan Baez sang. Why would Joan do that? Did she hate Janis Joplin?

  • @Guppychild17 Not at all. I don't know where you heard Janis hated Joan but that's unture. As far as I know they were friends in real life even though their musical styles were different. A lot of the singers of that era were. Joan did a song called "In the Quiet Morning" about Janis and her death, and in parenthesis said the song was for her. I don't think she would write, record, and dedicate a song to someone she didn't like.

  • This is a beautiful version. And I've converted it to mp3 if anyone wants it for their ipod drop me a note.

  • If Janis wouldnt have gone to god already, she might have sang the song herself and threw all the orchestra outta the place... BUT .. as a matter of fact,

    who is left from the festival, that knew Janis, shared an aim of peace, freedom and love and could represent it better than Joan!?!

    I could make a bet that, Joan hated the orchestra and it wasnt her choice. They will 've casted her and she had to make the best outta it.. I'm pretty sure.

    /watch?v=wWEewVY3fbI

  • I can see Janis rolling over in her grave. It's not so much that Joan butchered the song, but the orchestration is obscene. (IMO, of course)

  • How to kill a beautifull song! Its not the singer but the orchestra arrangement.

  • @hermangeerling yyou're right, orchestra not at all needed for such a voice

  • @hermangeerling yes right, orchestra superflue überflüssig

  • If it was me I'd put my gitbox down and sing the hell out of it with a band like that behind me.

  • Well...at least you can understand what she's saying. I have a hard time understanding Janis' version.

  • She sounds great on the song, but TOO MUCH orchestration. This is a simple song...should have kept it that way.

  • @kathowell08 When you're performing with an orchestra what do you do? Tell them to shut up and let me play?

  • It's beautiful, it's different with the orchestra, but since when does every song, every redition have to be the same???

  • :) She is . . . SHE IS . . .

    Simply "the best"

  • Comment removed

  • Really good but Kris Kristofferson does the song best....as he does with all his own songs.

  • Fantastically pure voice. Been one of my favorite singers since the 60's. Boston Pops added nothing to a beautiful song and a beautiful singer. The intro is abominable.

  • Joan as usual is great pity about the orchestra.

  • @thewanksta36 or Pink's.

  • She does have a beautiful voice. The orchestra is a little weird a first. However, it grows on you.

  • I like it! It is different to the other versions!

  • This is Janis' song - and nobody else's. The orchestra destroys it.

  • Love J.B., but nothing compares to Janis.

  • very good but i think the orchestra is an error

  • A really beautiful woman with a beautiful smile

  • Janis Joplin is the one and only with this song

  • Baez is fine, but I'm not sure the orchestra arrangement works for such a "bluesy" bluesy song.

  • Two different artists, both utterly committed to the songs they sang. Love them both and if Janis had been able to find a way to survive, I can see them on the same stage. Janis started out as a folkie and had a sweet voice before she shredded it singing rock. Would have been wonderful to hear Janis sing Farewell Angelina.

  • I can't believe that U criticize this negatively! Joanie is a pure gift. Don't be crabby-u know nothing. Humbly appreciat her beauty in voice and in person. Yes, janis was a wonder-a wonder who drank herself to death at 27. Joanie and Bobby survive!.

  • @grandmotherbeastie

    Um, is there a way to criticize positively? Her voice is absolutely beautiful though, something I never appreciated as a child growing up in the late 60's early 70's, forced to listen to "hippy" music (admittedly mostly Bob Dylan, who can't sing worth a shit - great lyrics but that is lost on a 10 yr old!) on a Friday afternoon in school (thanks Mr Donahue, you idiot.)

  • john williams and joan baez together unbelievable

  • What a voice that Joan, eh?

  • @Usia55 Yes, absolutely!

  • Really do love and appreciate Joan, but there is only one word to say here...Janis.

  • lovly

  • no soul politically correct Baez

  • NICE

  • @aliboojones butchered by the establishment...... gotta hear kris or janis .... this is really crapped up, politically correct as usual Baez, i like joan , she's just a little to straight to put the soul into this one.

  • @deracinated1 Politically correct?? JB?? One of the original protest singers of the 60s up there with Dylan. I don't think so, this lady has a mind of her own, and a good one at that.

  • Whether 1985 or right now in 2010 Joan Baez is miraculous. Just was listening to her latest cd so am tooling around utube. There are so many comments about her "music" but I guess after an hour or enjoying her performances I can provide a trite comment. the way she wore those scarves back 25 years ago only looks even better in 2010. May she perform for us for many years to come.

    Get a hold of Day After Tomorrow.. the magic is still alive.

  • The orchestra doesn't really seem fitting! Would have liked the version better soley with Joan's voice and her guitar.

  • This is disappointing. She's too far from West 4th Street. That first floor apartment across the street from the record store where she and Bob Zimmerman used to hang out. Now then, then she was great.

  • Weird arrangement-- Kristofferson meets Copland. The pedal steel player is good, though.

  • She is NOT a phony. She "lives" her beliefs!!!

  • the important thing,,even if its good.....there ''no'' feeling in her voice,,,,she doesnt make you feell anything.......

  • She's phony. Be honest, honey.

  • Joan Baez is great. Me and Bobby McGee is great. This version and venue is not.

  • I have heard many versions of Me and Bobby mc gee, but this was just GREAT, absolutly one of the best versions EVER

  • bravissima bellissima - ciao da francesco venezia italy -

  • One may like Joplin's better but musically this is better by a factor of 10.

    Lindy

  • Leider zuviel Orchester, da geht die Charakteristik des Songs verloren.

  • Jesus, mainstream bullshit.

  • Kristoffersen version teh best....

  • Nicely sung, another legend, the more I see her t

  • Reminds me of a line.... "like a pair of brown shoes with a tuxedo". Just don't work.

    (No offense Joan-brown shoes are great with jeans!)

  • This is aweful. This song shouldn't be sung with an orchestra. (In my opinion)

  • Janis had this one down long ago - it is def. hers. Kris wrote if for her! Thanks for the share.

  • Commie

  • He made many, but Joan was Dylan's biggest.

  • i stay with janis joplin.

  • Bagus sekali !

  • Look what they've done to a good 'ol s***kickin'  tune!

  • she is a national treasure! We love you Joan! Thank you for all the beautiful music...

  • @mdqxxx

  • @mdqxxx ....she is an international treasure...we love her too...;)

  • Love Joan, but not the musical backing. Brave arrangement, but no cigar!

  • She's not gotten old yet. She's more beautiful inside and out every year. Dang her! Haha.

  • The video was from 1985. she has gotten old since than. 24 years older

  • She still looks great. If ever I should become lesbian, it would be because of her.:-)

  • So confident and proud, a true maverick

  • such a beautifull voice. You can count on your fingers how many women can sing like that. never mind the arrangement !!

  • Not my favourite but Joan still has a great voice (Why hasn't she got old like the rest of us Folkies she's still hot

  • This has to be one of the most ridiculous arrangements I have ever heard in my life. Totally Absurd.

  • AMEN. I stopped it at 1:37 and ran for some aspirin. Way to eff up a great song (and a great singer).

  • That how the song was wrote...Janis Joplin had here own way of doing it

  • you guyz are so ......i can t say...are we any kind of music legends??please be quiet cous if joan hears us....i don t know...

  • I ♥ Joan Baez :)

  • LOL for an arrangement. In the first few seconds it sounds like he screws up the ouverture to Carmen.

    Not my taste, but I am happy somebody did the experiment.

    This is BTW not the great Joan Baez. Some completely uninspired and unspiring spirit has stole her body for this performance.

  • there is no 'error' in musical renditions, there is only like or dislike--i prefer the original folk format for this song but the fact that it's being done in this kind of venue is also pleasurable because it shows the recognition the song deserves in the larger American culture

  • Bad judgment on Joan's part. Sounds like elevator music--totally inappropriate musical setting.

    The best version of this song--except for its writer Kris Kristofferson--was done by Gordon Lightfoot.

    Janis was good but hammed it up way too much.

    This performance is just a disappointing error. Young Joan Baez would have laughed in disgust at the suggestion of it.

  • diese Stimme ist einmalig!

  • Waaaaaay too upbeat. Thumbs down.

  • Boston silver tails singing a song about someone down on their luck

  • Yes, she has a beautiful voice, but when someone like Janice sings a classic, why does anyone try to sing it? Their never going to top it, so let it be and find your own classic. Knowone is ever going to be able to out do Janises version!!

  • No one could ever top Janis Joplins version, but Joans voice is absolutely beautiful, i want to cry, shes amazing!!  I love you Joan!

  • The Boston Pops just doesn't get it. Sounds like something from "Paint Your Wagon." Actually, I can't imagine Joan Baez singing any song with the Boston Pops.

  • Janis version is the Best, absolutely!!!

  • Great song, great singer. But I agree with others about this arrangement. Arrangement is inappropriate for the song and even lacks internal unity. *sigh*.

  • Wow. I love this song and Joan Baez, but this is a SAD song and somehow the whole orchestra thing DOESN'T cut it. sounds so cheery... very strange for this song..

  • what a wacky idea - the orchestra I mean

  • That orchestra sounds so damn cheerful. I mean, hey, this song is sad.

  • That orchestra is so damn CHEERFUL! Isn`t this supposed to be a sad song?

  • She sure liked her Bobbies. I hated this video almost as much as the crowd hated seeing Dylan play his electric guitar for the first time. The reason being that Joan Baez is a one girl band and the song would have been much better without any of them being in the room. 5 stars for Joan all the same, I'm just glad it wasn't sweet sir gallahad that they ruined.

  • She ages really fast

    Good cover though

  • Sometimes less is more.

  • i don't like very much the orchestra, i think a guitar is enough for beautiful songs like this

  • Joan is great and this piece with the orchestra is also very good. I particularly enjoy her reaction midway through when the steel guitar cuts in. Watch the look in her eyes and her smile.

  • God bless this woman!!!

  • i personally perfer Janis Joplin's version better...but in Joan Baez's defense i would say she did a pretty good interpertation of the song.the only thing i dont like about this particular version is the orchestra backing Baez's voice am

    nd acoustic guitar.

  • You should listen to Pink's version. She rocks.

  • Baez is great BAEZ! I think, the orchestra is no needs in this show (Russians says: "This place needs in it, like a dog needs the 5-th leg"). P.S.: Sorry for my bad english language.

  • Well, I happen to like this version quite a lot. It adds a different thing to it and Joan sounds awesome.

  • Must have been a fund raising concert for the orchestra.

    Generous....to a Fault.

    What a Bl**dy cacophony!!

    Freesoul UK

  • shoot the damn orchestra and let joan sing herself!

  • I just love her. But I just want her by herself, I find the orchestra a distaction, I just want pure Joan!

  • what a pure voice!!!! legend indeed.

  • This is live, and she still sounds perfect!

  • Baez was one of the great anti-war sounds. This vid is one of my greatest!!

  • janis will be spining in her grave

  • i'm a big joan baez fan but she abselutly MURDERED this song. i think the dead did it the best justice. this is horrible ha ha

  • She has so great voice; here it's almost like Me and Bobby is meant to be Her and Bobby Dylan (she called him Bobby some times, later she called him by his real name; Robert. Thanks for posting, love her work, Dylan's too. This is Janis', I must agree to that.

  • Janis and Joan, two different distinct voices, so yes there's a marked difference.Janis' performance will always be the #1 performance of the song.Her Earthy, husky voice was a perfect match to the song.More often than not the Pops does a good job supporting the feature performer, this was one of those not times

  • lol! try as they will but an Orchestra does not Rock or Folk or Country...Joan sounds like ridiculous with them as the band. like a commercial for cereal or something.

  • you are sad example of an expert..jim

  • I like Joan Baez, but to me, this one is nothing compared to Janis's version.

  • janice did it better

  • i think also-but shi is good!!

  • I like the opening...every artist is different. Joan is great in her own way. Excellent voice and talent.

  • Well, usually I am open to all kinds of music, but I think this missed the mark. I love Joan, but the opening sounds like 7 Brides for 7 Brothers or something...Not my favorite. And of course, my favorite version is Janis'. By far.

  • This does not need the orchestra.

    Let Joan sing it with her Guitar,like a blues

    song should be sung...vallo3838

  • Ugh....love orchestra...and love Baez...but NO...not at all. For gods sake!!! lol  -painful-

  • Ugh...I love orchestra, and I love Baez...but ugh...no way!

  • Ugh...I love orchestra and I love Baez...but puh lease! ugh

  • yeah this isn't good..

    it's supposed to be blues. and the orchestra makes it sound comical.

  • Actually I don't think this song works with the orchestra OR Joan's beautiful voice. This song needs a more down & dirty, rough bluesy voice like Mr Kristofferson or Ms Joplin. This version sounds like department store music. I mean it's nice but it's just not right.

  • Well, that was certainly... *interesting*, but I think this song would have sounded better with just Joan's beautiful voice and the guitar. That's all she needs, really.

  • Absolutely. Always was one of my favorite songs, but it needs space behind her guitar, not a lot of smooth muzak.

  • the most bizarre thing i have ever heard. bobby mcgee with orchestra sounding like some ... oh man i love orchestral and i love this song, but this is wrong.OMG

  • The orchestral arrangement reminds be of the music from "Seven Brides for Seven Brothers". Joan is the best when accompaning herself on the accoustic guitar.

  • My dear friends, is only ONE Joan Baez !And she was made for hole world. Enjoy her , and bless her to the one Creator !Don` t forget to cry !

  • Joan sings very good this song...but she has not soul.

  • well, that's what's artists are paid for ;)

  • I can't handle this song with the orchastra it's just too much of a good thing, like listening to two different songs on two different radios at the same time.

  • Is it just me, or does it seem, at 0.03, that Joan extends her hand to shake hands with one of the musicians, but he apparently wouldn't shake her hand? Pretty rude, if that was the case.

  • maybe but she seemed more to signal a quick hi.

  • yes.I agree

  • Yes.I agree.niligafni2u

  • Yeah I think you are right. The guy seems to shake his head as well.

  • What do you expect moet clasical musicians have a better than you atitude.

  • joan baez (one of the best singer/songwriters ever), Me and Bobby McGee (one of the best songs ever written), and a symphony/orchestra...sounds like a possible train wreck waiting to happen, right (even WITH joan baez)?

    but, nope...it is fabulous - thank you for sharing this clip. not only does it show the versatility of baez, but the versatility of the classic 'me and bobby mcgee.'

    I love it!

  • when did people forget how to sing ???

    when did people forget about songs ???

    When did people forget about melody???

    How could they forget about Joan Baez, and Bobby McGee???

  • missdeebates-

    no kidding...i'd love to see a 'current' star cover this song without killing its integrity...

    do you think there is any one out there who could do it?

  • Freedom is just another word nothing left to lose...

    I love this song.

  • Simply marvellous. I love this lady's voice. Amen. Bless you for posting this song.

  • why does this song need an orchestra?? kind of takes away from the simplicity of it. oh well.  she still has an incredible voice

  • half of the singing nation done the song whats the big deal

  • It is supposed to sound like a train moving slow and persistent, carrying you away from your lover. Wrong tempo and tempo not accentuated, voice still the best!

  • i think the tempo is actually pretty good for this particular 'take' on the song...yes, janis' was slower, but the symphony/orchestra had a tempo going that made me feel like i was on a train, moving down the track - almost to the point where i could hear each railroad car going over the breaks in the tracks...

  • arghhh... what a horrible adaption. I love Joan Baez, but this is just terrible.

  • I like that Joan made this version her own, but I like Janis's version better. Joan should stick to her soprano voice, and if she is able to do it, then she shouldn't cover up with low notes.

    taddy1, obviously you don't know shit about music. Janis became famous because she sang life, douche. And Joan didn't sing this song first. I read all Janis Joplin books, and Kris Kristofferson(you know, the guy who wrote the song) said that this was written for Janis.

    Go read some books.

  • Kris wrote it for himself. He had a year long affair with Baez and a one night stand with Janis(they're both alcoholics). He wrote Help Me Make it for Baez but she was so busy with poitics to open her mail with the tape(KK wrote her "if you'd open your mail once in a while you could have a hit"

  • I'd also heard that Kristofferson wrote "For the Good Times" about the ending of his affair with Joan.

  • This Turkey in the Straw arrangemnet sucks,but Baez does it much better in concert.

    Baez often very effectively and effortlessly goes back forth between her chest and head voice. Baez and Judy Collins (who Janis was paranoid about) performed this live at least a year before Janis recorded it. I don't think Janis ever performed it live. I was there and saw them all many times, you read your false books JR. Ps Janis was usually awful in person

  • Janis performed it live at least once, as there was a live acoustic version in her boxed set, sounded like it was sometime before she recorded it for her PEARL album (late '69 or early 1970-ish?). I agree that Judy and Joan do great versions of it too.

  • VieneDummy,did you write your own "Janis Books",fool. Read wiki: Me and Bobby. Roger Miller had a country hit with it in 68 or 69.

    Judy Collins did it with a Someday Soon type arrangement) when I saw her that same yr. Gordon Lightfoot claims her recorded it first. Just cuz Kris got drunk and boffed Joplin once doen't mean he wrote it for her. If she hadn't died, it never would have been a hit. She barely had one hit off the 1st Little Bro album and no hits off her 2nd lp.

  • Sorry Joan, but this song is not for you! You have a lovely voice and I am a fan, but please stay away from this type of song.

  • Tell that to Kris who has peformed it with her many times. It's a country song, which Baez is well know for. It's this arrangement not her vocal.

  • oh the orchestra is ridiculous! what were thinking? baez with just a guitar is so much more superior!

  • Amen. I saw Judy Collins do it with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra and it was a mess too. Judy has done it for years(long before Janis)with her band and it's great.

  • good but as good as joplin

  • I LOVE Joan Baez, but this was like watching the Singing Minstrels. I don't know the history behind this arrangment, but Joan Baez's voice is so pure.

  • agreed, her vocal is to trapped by the Schmarmy arrangement.

  • Shame Joan - you didnt need this

    As an old man said - never find yourself next to sommeone you're not prepared to die with

  • Actually, I like the performance. The orchestra gives the song a lighter tone, which is probably appropriate considering the time the events the narrator tells us take place (and the time in which the song was much performed): "Looking for the Home I hope he found" Not as good as the performance by Janis Joplin and Johnny Cash aforementioned, though.

  • joan and janis give the best versions of this song :)

  • The person who arranged this really missed the mark. I've heard her do it with just guitar and it's great. In the same concert she did stunning versions of "Oh Freedom" "Diamonds and Rust" and "Recently".

  • right on... her vocal on this is fine. it's a lot faster than JJs but better. the pops suck-not Joan.

  • a pretty weak performance. both johnny cash and pink did a way better job with this song .The "la la la " part is just plain horrible .

  • Normally I love Joan Baez, but this is the worst version of this song that I have ever heard.Sounds like it was arranged by the born again Christians and the person who does the Coca Cola adverts !!!

  • I'd have to agree - Joan is my hero in many ways, but this wasn't one of her finer moments..

  • Hi claudius4321, the arrangement couldn't have included born-again-Christians, I think your crowd hung them much too early for that. As for the Coca Cola adverts, they'll have to speak for themselves.

    We'll both be praying for you.

  • Joan's vocal is fine. She sang it before janis by the way who was generally horrible live. But you are right, that Turkey in the Straw meets Annie get your gun arrangement sucks. Joan dated Kristofferson for a year and could've had more first options onhis songs "if you'd open you godamm mail more often" per Kris.

  • Chris wrote it for Janis, about Janis. She sang it before Baez. You are right, it is not a song for Baez, her voice is for the lovely old folk songs like "Go away from my window". And Janis wasn't horrible live unless she was totally stoned.

  • WRONG ! where do you guys come from? It's one thing to be wrong in an original statement, but to be correcting/disputing the TRUTH that someone else has posted, without checking your facts, is idiotic. Kris didn't know Janis when he wrote it. Janis released it until she was almost dead. Many people were already perfroming it BEFORE Janis including Kristofferon's lover at the time, Joan Baez.