<P> Roger Miller was the first artist to record the song and it appeared at No. 12 on the U.S. country chart in 1969 . Gordon Lightfoot's version hit No. 13 on the pop music chart and No. 1 country music chart in his native country of Canada in 1970 . The song was included on a Statler Brothers album but was not released as a single . </P> <P> Kenny Rogers and The First Edition recorded the song (with Rogers on lead vocals) and released in on their album Ruby, Don't Take Your Love To Town in 1969 . </P> <P> Joplin recorded the song for inclusion on her Pearl album only a few days before her death in October 1970 . Studio musician Stephen Ryder manned the keyboard for that session, and famously "Got a little carried away ." Kristofferson had sung the song for her, and singer Bob Neuwirth taught it to her . Kristofferson did not know she had recorded it until after her death . The first time he heard her recording of it was the day after she died . Joplin's version topped the charts to become her only number one single and in 2004, her version of this song was ranked No. 148 on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time . </P> <Table> <Tr> <Th> Chart (1969) </Th> <Th> Peak position </Th> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles </Td> <Td> 12 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> U.S. Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 </Td> <Td> 22 </Td> </Tr> <Tr> <Td> Canadian RPM Country Tracks </Td> <Td> </Td> </Tr> </Table>

When did janis joplin record me and bobby mcgee