On 5 September 1970, Janis Joplin recorded "Me and Bobby McGee" in the studio, a Kris Kristofferson song that would become the only US number one single of her career. The session took place almost exactly a month before Joplin was found dead of a heroin overdose in a Los Angeles hotel, aged 27, giving the recording a poignant place in her legacy as one of rock's most distinctive voices.

Joplin and Kristofferson had met in spring 1970 through folk singer Bobby Neuwirth and had a brief romantic relationship, during which Kristofferson encouraged her to record his composition, partly inspired by the Italian film La Strada. Kristofferson only learned Joplin had recorded the song after her death and said he could barely listen to it without weeping. Released posthumously, "Me and Bobby McGee" reached number one on the US pop chart in March 1971, making Joplin only the second artist, after Otis Redding three years earlier, to top the Hot 100 after their death.