Down on Me (traditional song) explained

Down on Me
Cover:	Down_on_Me_(Janis_Joplin_song).jpg
Type:	single
Artist:	Janis Joplin with Big Brother and the Holding Company
B-Side:	Call on Me
Album:	Big Brother & the Holding Company
Released:	1967
Recorded:	1967
Genre:	Psychedelic rock
Length:	2:08
Label:	Mainstream
Prev Title:	Bye, Bye Baby
Prev Year:	1967
Next Title:	Blindman
Next Year:	1967

"Down on Me" is a traditional freedom song from the 1920s or earlier that became popular following its remake by Janis Joplin and Big Brother and the Holding Company.^{[1] [2] [3]}

Original version

Several early recordings and field recordings exist:^[4]

• Eddie Head and His Family, (1930) on American Primitive Vol 1: Raw Pre-war Gospel (Revenant 206)
• Mary Pinckney and Janie Hunter, on Been in the Storm So Long: A Collection of Spirituals, Folk Tales and Children's Games from Johns Island, SC (Smithsonian Folkways 40031)
• Dock Reed, Livingston, Alabama in 1940. on Negro Religious Songs and Services (Rounder CD 1514).
• The Golden Harps, on compilation Soul of Chicago
• Edna G. Cooke

The lyrics of the freedom song are darker than the later Joplin lyrics. For example, the second stanza of jazz versions^[5] and Dock Reed's version run:^[6]

Janis Joplin version

Janis Joplin rearranged the song and created new lyrics. The song was originally released in the summer of 1967 and was featured on the band's debut album Big Brother & the Holding Company. The song would reach #42 on the charts, barely missing the Top 40 mark.^[7] A live, more aggressive version is featured on the posthumously released live album In Concert and the 1973 collection Janis Joplin's Greatest Hits. This version was also released as a single, reaching #91 on the charts in 1972.

The third and final stanza of Joplin's version ends with a positive message:^[8] Joplin's version was covered by Jeany Reynolds in 1970.

Notes and References

1. Work, American Negro Songs p. 115
2. Solomon, Honey in the Rock Mercer University Press, p. 112
3. Peters, Lyrics of the Afro-American Spiritual p. 10
4. Web site: Down On Me – Dock Reed; 1940 . Bluegrass Messengers . 2016-09-30.
5. Hendrik Roelof Rookmaaker, Marleen Hengelaar-Rookmaaker New Orleans jazz, Mahalia Jackson and the philosophy of art 2002 "Mary and Martha, Luke and John, All God's prophets dead and gone, Looks like everybody in this whole round world down on me. Ain't been to heaven, but I've been told, Gates is pearl and the streets is gold, Looks like everybody in this ..."
6. transcription in Sing for Freedom (p. 235)
7. Edward Willett Janis Joplin: Take Another Little Piece of My Heart p. 83
8. The Alcalde Jul 2008, p. 56