The bootleg cover…
By David McGee
THE LEGENDARY TYPEWRITER TAPE 6/25/64 JORMA’S HOUSE
Jorma Kaukonen & Janis Joplin
Omnivore Recordings
Ed. Note: Back in January of 2012, when Deep Roots was still The Bluegrass Special.com, an obscure tape recording featuring Jorma Kaukonen (pre-Jefferson Airplane) and Janis Joplin (pre-Big Brother) was floating around collectors’ circles and available, if one had the right sources, as a bootleg release. At only six tunes it was slight, but for fans of both artists, and of acoustic blues, it was a powerful document. At the same time, on YouTube and around the internet, all kinds of tales were being told about its origins and the strange sound of someone banging away on a manual typewriter in the background almost continuously throughout the performances. What struck us at the time was that one of the participants was still alive and well, and just might be able to shed some light on the who, what, where, when and why of what happened that day in 1964. So we up and contacted Jorma, who was then out on tour, but his wife promised to connect us with him upon his imminent return. Despite being under the weather after picking up some big or other while on the road, Jorma responded promptly and graciously, via email, to questions sent in advance, confirming some of what had been previously published but putting some other claims to rest forever while also offering his own take on the music he made with Janis at a time when both were well in the “scuffling artist” stage of their careers.
Cut to December 2022, and lo, Omnivore Recordings snuck in an official release of the Jorma-Janis “Typewriter Tape” session, The Legendary Typewriter Tape 60-25-64 Jorma’s House, complete with Jorma’s liner notes, which add greater context to what we were able to glean from him in our brief 2012 encounter. He relates how he had first met Janis at a 1962 hootenanny at the Folk Theater shortly after he had moved to Santa Clara, California, and occasionally thereafter got the call to accompany her performances there. “To be able to back her then made me feel like the ‘real’ musician I aspired to be,” he writes.
He goes on to explain how the very moment he and Janis converged was simply that—only a moment, because “the time for talented folkies getting together was drawing to a close. The time of dressing in work shirts and boots was ending. Rock ‘n’ roll would change everything but the spirit of the music. I know that Janis was constantly re-inventing herself and that incarnation would soon be slipping into the past. In that moment, however, two kindred spirits aligned and made joyous music without pretense!”
Commemorating the official release of this remarkable recording, we offer our original Q&A with Jorma from 2012, unchanged from its original incarnation but with one further explanatory comment: on the Omnivore package Janis is credited as writing “Kansas City Blues.” In fact, hers is a variation on the original 1927 song written by Jim Jackson and recorded as “Jim Jackson’s Kansas City Blues Song.” Well before Janis’s variation, Jackson’s song had been re-purposed in part by Charlie Patton and Hank Williams, presaging Leiber & Stoller’s classic “Kansas City” as recorded by Little Willie Littlefield in 1952 and, most famously, by Wilbur Harrison in 1959. –D.M.
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Jorma: ‘That Is My Favorite Janis’
Several years ago a bootleg album surfaced featuring Janis Joplin, in a rather awesome channeling of her inner Bessie Smith, and pre-Jefferson Airplane/Hot Tuna guitarist Jorma Kaukonen scorching five venerable blues numbers–“Trouble In Mind,” “Long Black Train,” “Kansas City Blues,” “Hesitation Blues,” “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out”–and her own gem in this style, “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” Those are the facts. After that came the mythology: that the recordings were made on either June 25 or June 30, 1964, at Jorma’s mother’s house (location never specified), and the constant pecking sound coming from a typewriter in the room being Jorma’s wife Margareta playing the machine as a percussion instrument. Still other accounts claimed Margareta was simply typing a letter home to her parents in Sweden. As to why these recordings were even being made no one has ventured to explain, as far as we’ve been able to determine. But The Typewriter Tape, as this Janis-Jorma session has come to be known, is a powerful document: Janis’s singing is more raw and searing than any she ever produced on her commercial recordings—truly commanding—and Jorma’s guitar work is so soulful and earthy you don’t even need Janis’s powerhouse vocals to be moved to your core by it.
So in an effort to correct the record of The Typewriter Tape, I checked in with Jorma via email and asked only a few pertinent questions. Though under the weather a bit after returning from a tour, he responded immediately and thoughtfully. These, then, are the facts, courtesy the sole surviving witness to the session.
‘Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,’ written by Jimmie Cox. Janis Joplin (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), Margareta Kaukonen (typewriter), from The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House
Various websites list both June 25 and June 30, 1964 as the recording date. Do you have any recollection of which is correct, if either are?
I would be hard pressed to give you the exact day, but the end of June sounds right. I know it was 1964.
‘Hesitation Blues,’ adapted from a traditional tune and credited to Billy Smythe, Scott Middleton and Art Gillham. Janis Joplin (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), Margareta Kaukonen (typewriter), from The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House
Were these recordings in fact done at your mother’s house? If so, where was she located? If not, do you remember where the recordings were made?
It was not recorded at my mother’s house. They hadn’t move back to California yet. Dad was still posted to the American Embassy in Sweden. It was recorded at a house my ex-wife (may she rest in peace) and I rented in Santa Clara, California. It was on Fremont St., not far from the University of Santa Clara, where I was going to school at the time.
‘Trouble in Mind,’ written by Richard M. Jones. Janis Joplin (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), Margareta Kaukonen (typewriter), from The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House
Was your wife in fact typing a letter, whether to her mother or someone else, or was she really using the typewriter as a percussion instrument?
It was in fact Margareta typing a letter home to her parents in Sweden. I find the thought (which I have heard before) that the typewriter was a percussion instrument somewhat laughable considering the obvious lack of observable rhythm.
‘Long Black Train,’ written by Lonnie Johnson. Janis Joplin (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), Margareta Kaukonen (typewriter), from The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House
What was the purpose of you and Janis doing the recordings in the first place?
Janis and I were rehearsing for a benefit in San Francisco at the Coffee Gallery, a beat/music joint on Grant Street. We’re talking Beatniks here…. the Hippie thing hadn’t happened yet.
‘Kansas City Blues,’ Janis’s revision of ‘Jimmy Jackson’s Kansas City Blues’ from 1927. Janis Joplin (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), Margareta Kaukonen (typewriter), from The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House
Do you agree that Janis’s singing on “The Typewriter Tape” is as stunning and emotionally searing as it sounds to me? (I won’t ask you if you agree with my assessment of your guitar accompaniment but do feel free to comment.)
I do agree, David. Janis was at her best. As for me, without being too self serving, when I hear tapes from those days, I say, “I was pretty good, for a young guitar player from Washington, D.C.”
I need to editorialize a little bit here. I have gotten to know Janis’ sister Laura over the years. Laura tells me that Janis was constantly re-inventing herself. I only really knew her in the folky/blues days and frankly, that is my favorite Janis.
Thanks for being interested, David. Like they say in the song, “Wasn’t that a time?” Final postscript: Ralph J. Gleason had something to do with this gig…I don’t remember what. I do remember that he reviewed that show, and he liked me and Janis a lot.
“Daddy, Daddy, Daddy,’ a Janis Joplin original. Janis Joplin (vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar), Margareta Kaukonen (typewriter), from The Legendary Typewriter Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House
For all the latest on Jorma’s activities, check his website, http://jormakaukonen.com/
