About The Song
One of the things that always struck me about Janis was how bursting with life she was. She’d finally found her tribe in the se.x, drugs, and rock ’n’ roll world of San Francisco in the late sixties and embraced that tribal life with unrestrained zeal and passion.
Enter Todd into her orbit when he’s sent out to California by Bearsville Records head Albert Grossman to oversee preparation of her next album. Janis is now the head and lead singer of her own band, the reconfigured Full Tilt Boogie Band, having quit her previous position as vocalist for Big Brother & the Holding Company two years earlier following the release of their #1 album Cheap Thrills. The lead single from that album, “Piece of My Heart,” had reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and made Janis into a bona fide star — with all the outrageous perks and baggage that came along with that.
You can just imagine 22-year-old Todd all fired up to expedite her record to completion as an up-and-coming producer, wanting to make good on his burgeoning reputation as the “boy wonder” of Bearsville.
But Janis, as he quickly found out, had other more important things on her mind:
“Daily I would make my way to Janis’ house where a cavalcade of songwriting suitors would pitch tunes to her when they could get her attention. Maybe day three and there are players and songsmiths waiting to present to her when I get a phone call from Janis saying she’s at the police station and will be a couple hours late. Shortly thereafter someone accidentially leaves her bedroom door open revealing Janis still abed with a young partner and nowhere near the cop station.”
In reflecting on the experience, he admits that he “was still pretty young and inexperienced… I hadn’t previously worked with someone who really had no interest in the process of making records. The live performance came so naturally that the details of making a record made everything seem tedious… she was already a force unto herself.”
Todd would end up returning to New York, and the recording sessions for what would become Janis’ fourth and final album, Pearl, would finally get under way in early September. Janis would record the a capella hit “Mercedes Benz” on October 1st, just three days before her accidental death from a heroin overdose. The posthumous album, released the following January, would go 4x platinum and the recorded single “Me and Bobby McGee” would reach #1.
In 2004, the Big Brother and the Holding Company version was ranked No. 353 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The song is also included among The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. In 1999, the version of the song by Big Brother and The Holding Company was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.
Video
Lyric
Oh, come on, come on, come on, come on
Didn’t I make you feel like you were the only man? Yeah
And didn’t I give you nearly everything that a woman possibly can?
Honey, you know I did
And each time I tell myself that I, well I think I’ve had enough
But I’m gonna show you, baby, that a woman can be tough
I want you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby (whoa, break it)
Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah, yeah, yeah (whoa, have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
You know you got it if it makes you feel good
Oh, yes indeed
You’re out on the streets looking good
And baby, deep down in your heart, I guess you know that it ain’t right
Never, never, never, never, never, never hear me when I cry at night
Babe, and I cry all the time
But each time I tell myself that I, well I can’t stand the pain
But when you hold me in your arms, I’ll sing it once again
I said come on, come on, come on, come on and take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby
Break another little bit of my heart now, darling, yeah
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
Well, you know you got it, child, if it makes you feel good
I need you to come on, come on, come on, come on and take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby (whoa, break it)
Break another little bit of my heart, now darling, yeah, c’mon now (whoa, have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby
You know you got it, whoa
Take it
Take another little piece of my heart now, baby (whoa, break it)
Break another little bit of my heart, now darling, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah (whoa, have a)
Have another little piece of my heart now, baby, hey
You know you got it, child, if it makes you feel good