Bea Garth Enters the 1940s Contest

Tonight I'd like to post Bea Garth's tribute to Janis Joplin, an artist who has been honored more than once at The Song Is..  However, Bea's tribute is remarkable, for it imagines Janis being alive today.

JANIS

What happened to you?

You should be here now

with your gritty sardonic laugh

the way you’d tilt your head,

your wild plum colored hair, shawl and bangles.

The black sheep,

they called you ugly in your Texas high school,

you learned to go your own way,

discovering, to your surprise, your voice

belting out high raspy crescendos

transcending the angst of solitude.

What would you make of it,

the Now of Now,

the way the world

is spinning out of sync?

Would you be forever chasing

that elusive Other,

breaking boundaries

always searching for that impossible, quixotic One?

Or maybe just maybe by now

you finally found him or her,

your broken heart healing at last

as you curl up cat-like in the lap of genuine love

with a house, garden,

a horse in the barn out back

so you can go out for long rides

and all those grandkids.

I just can’t see you giving up though,

you’d have to sing

all that feeling bundled up

ready to explode from your soul

unable to put up with any bull,

the sincere angst of your cry

helping to heal this lowly sphere

with your sardonic insights,

you, our cantankerous Earth Mama,

with the wise beauty

of your wild penetrating eye

and scratchy, soul-shattering voice.

(written to Janis Joplin)

by Bea Garth

Here are a few more of Janis' songs.  I hope that these are not repeats from earlier entries!

The first is her "I Need a Man to Love":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NRzxu_Hak8 

I have always liked "Flower in the Sun":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=natCa2asaq4

Here is her "One Night Stand":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nc9saY_XcXY

I'll finish with "One Good Man":  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIHgZHDJlZY

Enjoy!