Music Journal

  1.) "Piece of My Heart" - Janis Joplin One commentator described the scream that Janis Joplin unleashes fight before the final chorus as 'outside musical laws, outside the boundaries of traditional social behavior.' Discuss the scream and her entire performance in the context of Sheila Weller's profile of Joplin in the Vanity Fair article about the Summer of Love. How does this song, and Joplin's personality, reflect the counterculture ideals of "social tolerance and experimentation" 2.) "Summertime" - Janis Joplin version and then the Broadway version (treat as one song) "Summertime" - Broadway version: Nikki Renee Daniels, Joshua Henry, Natasha Yvette Williams & Company. The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess: New Broadway Cast Recording (don't worry if you can't find this exact recording, any broadway version would be fine). One commentator described Joplin's version of Summertime as 'cliche and accused Joplin of simulating "a burlesque, even stereotyped, African American blues queen." Meanwhile the more traditional, Broadway version of Summertime is often thought of as a traditional gospel song but was actually written by two white guys for their Opera, Porgy & Bess. How would you describe the difference between these two versions? Do you think Janis Joplin's version is a cliched version of a black blues singer?