It’s Not a He it’s a She
Photo of Boudleaux Bryant (Center) Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
For many years, it’s been thought that Kristofferson initially used this love song to pay tribute to Janis Joplin, as she happened to record it a few days before her death. The song instantly became a worldwide sensation and was bound to be performed by artists for decades to come. However, no one at the time knew that Bobby was a woman.
In fact, it was just until an article published by the “Songwriter Magazine” revealed that the name McGee was meant to be McKee. The claims of the published article were later confirmed to be true.
So what’s the backstory? Well, it turns out that Bobby McKee was the secretary to Boudleaux Bryant, a composer and a friend of Foster with whom they worked in the same building. Occasionally, Bryant would taunt Foster that the only reason he came to his office was to see Barbara. At the time, Barbara was the 29-year-old secretary to Bryant, and who went by the nickname, Bobby. In response to the teases, Foster gave his word to make a song about Bobby.
That’s when he contacted Kristofferson and requested him to write the song about the lady.