Janis Joplin sang lead. Big Brother & the Holding Company was one of the groups she sang with before going solo later in 1968. Until her death in 1970, this was her biggest chart success and best-known song (the posthumous "Me And Bobby McGee" went to #1 in 1971). Although she wasn't the first to record it, the song remains most associated with Joplin and continued to get airplay long after her death. The song is about a lovelorn woman so enraptured by her man that she's willing to break off yet another piece of her heart if only he will take it. Joplin showed off her extraordinary vocal dexterity on the song, which was right in her wheelhouse in terms of dynamics and subject matter.
Jerry Ragovoy and Bert Berns wrote this song. Aretha Franklin's younger sister Erma sang the original version and put it on the R&B charts in 1967. Big Brother & the Holding Company quickly covered it and took it to #12 on the Hot 100. For Erma Franklin, it was her biggest hit. She went on to sing backup on some of Aretha's songs, and ran a childcare agency called Boysville. Erma died of cancer in 2002 at age 63.
Franklin's original version made its UK chart debut in 1992 - 25 years after initial release - thanks to its being used in a Levi's jeans commercial.
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