“You Only Gotta Do One Thing Well” (Janis Joplin)

              

 

 

           YOU ONLY GOTTA DO ONE THING WELL

                           “CRY BABY” – Janis Joplin

 

 

   There are two studio versions of this song out there, the “alternate” with Janis’ famous cackling and at the end you hear her ask “was it a hit or a miss?”  Well, it was a definite hit, baby, but not as good as the other take.  That’s the one I’m here to talk about, though I should mention that today Rosie at the health food store was asking me about the third eye, after which I got in the car and accidentally discovered an old homemade CD with this version on which Janis sardonically mentions the third eye(!) and one “Hare Krishna identity.” So here we are.

 

     Talk about the gospel of rock, this is like a rockin’ gospel song.  Only this gospel is the Gnostic Gospel of Mary Magdalene, and Janis said Mother Goddess.   Horny Mother Goddess,  but she’s decidedly in Divine Mother mode. 

 

      Seems like music and men were Janis’ thing.   But when push came to shove, seems like music was her main thing, singing was her main thang.  Men were a sideline.  Music was the one thing she did the best (that “did” has sexual connotations, as of course, does “thing”).  And on this song, my favorite or hers and quite possibly her best, she’s using her main squeeze – music — to share a very deep truth.  As she puts it in her seemingly rambling, but actually dead on monologue: 

“You can go all around the world

Trying to find something to do with your life, baby,

When you only gotta do one thing well,

You only gotta do one thing well to make it in this world, babe.

You got a woman waiting for you there,

All you ever gotta do is be a good man one time to one woman

And that’ll be the end of the road, babe,

I know you got more tears to share, babe,

So come on, come on, come on, come on, come on,

And cry, cry baby, cry baby, cry baby.

 

 

      

   This reminds me of an old story I’ve heard.  It’s about this poor guy (we’ll call him Jay Jay) who dreams that there’s a treasure buried under a castle in this far off country.  So he travels all the way over there to get the treasure.  Only when he’s at the gate, the gatekeeper stops him, and asks him his business.  When he tells him about his dream, the gatekeeper laughs.  “That’s funny,” he says, “because the other night I had a dream that I was supposed to travel all the way to this guy Jay Jay’s home to find a treasure buried under there.”  So Jay Jay returns home and finds the treasure buried under his own hearth.    The End.

    

 

                                     Which is a longass way of saying: 

               “The answer lies within, so why not take a look now…” (Cat Man Do)

 

 

 

                                         You Dig?

 

 

 

Epilogue : I mentioned that a little synchronicity led me to begin writing this piece.  Namely, I found this CD after talking about the third eye.  Well, so after writing this piece, it’s languished for over two years on my computer.  The other night I dig it up again, and the next day I find another old CD with “Cry Baby” on it, same version.  Weird, huh?  But so natural, too.  Why shouldn’t it be so?