Janis Joplin

with Big Brother and the Holding Company · 1968

Janis Joplin sang lead on ‘Piece of My Heart’ with Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1968, on the chart-topping album Cheap Thrills. Her ferocious performance became the definitive one, and the record is usually filed simply under her name — though it was a band recording, and a cover. The song is genuinely hers to sing; the only error is treating a 1968 cover as the place the song began.

Who recorded it

Songs credited to Janis Joplin that are covers

Me and Bobby McGee

Cover — originally recorded by Roger Miller

Piece of My Heart

Cover — originally recorded by Erma Franklin

Did they really say it?

Thought Janis Joplin said something else?

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