Much like Kristofferson, she was shunned, not by her family, but by her community.

The hosts move on to talk about Janis Joplin and her unique life as an outcast.

Enter Cowboy Jack Clement, who saw the letter from Kris's mother and showed it to Johnny Cash.

Having tossed aside his education to become a 'music bum,' Kristofferson's family shunned him out of shame.

Kevin and Butch break down the song and some of its best lines, as well as where they came from.

He wrote the song in a time when he was going broke, which informed the song's lyrics. Before his music career, Kristofferson, a Rhodes Scholar who studied at Oxford, was flying planes down in Louisiana.Who the subject of the song really was - and you may not know that her name wasn't Bobby McGee.How Kristofferson conceived and wrote the song, and how Fred Foster fits into the picture.On this episode, Butch and Kevin discuss a number of aspects of the song: So, whose song is it, anyway? Does it belong to Kristofferson? Or Joplin, given it's her version most people remember? But along the way, many artists covered 'Bobby McGee,' with a wide variety of results. In this episode of Rock 'n' Roll Rabbit Hole, hosts Kevin Gibson and Butch Bays focus on the enduring song 'Me and Bobby McGee.' Written by Kris Kristofferson, its most successful recorded version was done by Janis Joplin, who topped the Billboard Top 40 chart in 1971 with her take on the tune.

Who wrote the song me and bobby mcgee