Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) by Janis Joplin was written by Jerry Ragovoy and Chip Taylor and was first recorded and released by Lorraine Ellison in 1968.
In 1967, Joplin rose to fame following an appearance at Monterey Pop Festival, where she was the lead singer of the then little-known San Francisco psychedelic rock band Big Brother and the Holding Company. After releasing two albums with the band, she left Big Brother to continue as a solo artist with her own backing groups, first the Kozmic Blues Band and then the Full Tilt Boogie Band.
She appeared at the Woodstock festival and the Festival Express train tour. Five singles by Joplin reached the Billboard Hot 100, including a cover of the Kris Kristofferson song "Me and Bobby McGee", which reached number one in March 1971. Her most popular songs include her cover versions of "Piece of My Heart", "Cry Baby", "Down on Me", "Ball and Chain", and "Summertime"; and her original song "Mercedes Benz", her final recording.
Joplin died of an accidental heroin overdose in 1970 aged 27, after releasing three albums. A fourth album, Pearl, was released in January 1971, just over three months after her death. It reached number one on the Billboard charts. She was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.
Lyrics
This is a song called Try
(Just a Little Bit Harder)
You know you'd better baby and you know you got to
Try, try, try just a little bit harder
So I can love, love, love him, I tell myself
Well, I'm gonna try, just a little bit harder
So I can't give, give, give, give him to nobody else.
Well, I've been waiting for such a long time
I ain't gonna lose myself
(No, I ain't gonna lose it)
I ain't gonna lose myself
To make him mine, all mine.
Yeah, I'm gonna try yeah, just a little bit harder
So I can give, give, give, give him every bit of my soul. (Hey!)
Yeah, I'm gonna try yeah, just a little bit harder
So I won't lose, lose, lose him to nobody, no.
Oh! Well, I don't care how long it's gonna take me
But if it's a dream I don't want
No, I don't really want it
If it's a dream I don't want
Nobody to wake me.
Hey, you better not do it! Yeah!
Try yeah, try oh yeah, hey, hey!
Try yeah,
Try yeah,
Try yeah.
Try
Oh daddy, daddy, daddy, daddy
Well, every time I reach out I said baby
I know, know, know I got to try some more.
I said I got to put my arms around you
I said, I said I got to hold my demand.
I said I got to make you understand
Whoa baby, I said I gotta bring you round
Bring you round to the insight of me.
I said try, try, yeah, try, try, try, try.
Whoa try, oh yeah, try oh yeah, hey hey!
Try, oh yeah, try, oh yeah, hey hey!
I gotta talk to my man now, You know, I gotta work for my man now, I said, I gotta feel for my man now, You know I, I gotta work for my man now, I think-a every day for my man now, I think-a every day for my man now, You know it, every way for my baby now. Oh, try, oh yeah, oh try yeah, Try yeah, try yeah, hey, hey, Try, oh yeah, try ah yeah, Try just a little bit Harder.
Songwriters: Shea Taylor / James Fauntleroy
Try (Just a Little Bit Harder) lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc, Universal Music Publishing Group, Downtown Music Publishing
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