Janis Joplin’s "Piece Of My Heart" Is On Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox

Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox: In interviews through the years, Leonard Cohen has mentioned a handful of specific songs he favors. Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox is a Heck Of A Guy feature playing those tunes for your edification and entertainment.

The “Sweet Little Sound”¹ Of Janis Joplin

Today’s selection was found by Florian² in “Leonard Cohen – In Eigenen Worten” (In His Own Words) by Jim Devlin, a volume that includes a list of Leonard Cohen’s Top Five songs of 1985. Fourth on that list is ” Piece Of My Heart” by Janis Joplin.

The Chelsea Hotel Connection

In case someone looking for the Lynyrd Skynyrd fan site accidentally wandered onto Heck Of A Guy, I’ll point out what most readers know already – Leonard Cohen has repeatedly attested that his song, “Chelsea Hotel #2,” is about his liaison with Janis Joplin at that very hotel. The back story, the obligatory Leonard Cohen apocryphal anecdote, and a video of the original version (“Chelsea Hotel #1,” as it were) can be found at Rare Leonard Cohen Chelsea Hotel #1 Video.

On A Personal Note

I’ve personally liked each of the songs featured on Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox, a fact which will no doubt alleviate much angst for Leonard and his crew.

But, Janis Joplin singing “Piece Of Heart” knocks me out.

This is so damn great ….

Janis Joplin – Piece Of My Heart

Video from bakabana1966

Other Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox Posts

All posts featured in the Heck Of A Guy Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox series can be found at the end of the Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox Page.

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The lyrics of the first version of “Chelsea Hotel” included the lines

But you got away, didn’t you, baby?
You just threw it all to the crowd.
You got away, they can’t pay you now
For making your sweet little sound.

Many of us have some difficulty applying “sweet little sound” to a Janis Joplin performance. [↩]
Of the several members of LeonardCohenForum who responded to my request for help in finding documented instances of Leonard Cohen favoring a specific song performed by another artist, Florian was far and away the most prolific. He will account for several Leonard Cohen’s Jukebox posts in the future. [↩]