Gordon Lightfoot Forums - BLOG posting - Lightfoot and Bobby McGee

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BLOG posting - Lightfoot and Bobby McGee

http://www.wsj.com/articles/novelist...gee-1419349195 Dec. 23, 2014 10:39 a.m. ET

Historical novelist Wilbur Smith, 81, is the author of 35 books, including his latest, “Desert God” ( William Morrow ). He lives in South Africa and spoke to Marc Myers.

I first heard “Me and Bobby McGee” in 1971 while on safari in Rhodesia [now Zimbabwe]. One night after we made camp and set up our radio, Gordon Lightfoot ’s hushed version came on. The song was completely at home in the bush, and I was swept away.

Weeks later, when we returned home to Cape Town, South Africa, I discovered that Lightfoot’s single was a hit there and that the song was actually by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster. Like all great American country songs, “Bobby McGee” tells a colorful story that you can really feel, since all of us have a sad story to tell or still have regrets.

“Bobby McGee” is about an American couple with wanderlust. As written, the story is told from the perspective of a man singing ruefully about his ex-girlfriend, Bobby, their breakup and his wish that he hadn’t let the relationship fall apart when she left him in Salinas, Calif. In the song, the pair split up as Bobby, fed up with the road, seeks to settle down while the singer prefers to remain a carefree drifter: “Every night she kept me from the cold / Then somewhere near Salinas, Lord, I let her slip away / Lookin’ for the home I hope she’ll find.”

In Lightfoot’s version, I love that there’s light rhythmic thigh-slapping that sounds like flames snapping against an evening campfire log. Once I knew that Kristofferson had written the lyrics, I became a fan and looked at him differently. You sense he’s a chap who has had his ups and downs. His face is full of character, and he has a smiley mouth and sad eyes. Clearly, he has lived his lyrics.

Recently, my wife and I were in the States driving to Salinas to see the John Steinbeck House. We were so taken with the area that we began singing “Me and Bobby McGee” without the music on. I messed up some lyrics and my wife, who is Persian, mixed up the English a bit. But that didn’t stop us—we sang it in salute. As Kristofferson wrote in “Bobby McGee,” “Feelin’ good was good enough for me.”