Piece of My Heart

The original version of "Piece of My Heart" was recorded by Aretha Franklin's older sister Erma Franklin in 1967 for producer Bert Berns' Shout label with "Baby, What You Want Me to Do" on the b-side of the 7-inch vinyl single. Bert Berns asked Van Morrison, whom he was producing, to record the song, but Morrison declined, preferring to do his own material.

The song reached number 10 in December 1967 on the Billboard Hot Rhythm & Blues Singles chart in the United States and also peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Pop Singles chart.{{cite magazine |title=Erma Franklin Chart History – Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs|url=https://www.billboard.com/artist/erma-franklin/chart-history/bsi/|magazine=Billboard|access-date=July 17, 2022|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211117163148/https://www.billboard.com/artist/erma-franklin/chart-history/bsi/|archive-date=November 17, 2021}} In Canada, it reached number three on the CKFH Soul Survey. Cash Box said that it "starts with less volume than might be expected, which only emphasizes the build that follows."{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=October 7, 1967 |page=18 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1967/CB-1967-10-07.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}} Record World said "Gospel-shouting side from Erma will turn into a terrific one. Girl really does it."{{cite magazine|title=Single Reviews|magazine=Record World|date=October 14, 1967|page=6|accessdate=2023-06-09|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Record-World/60s/67/RW-1967-10-14.pdf}}

Franklin's single was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance, with the winner to be revealed in March 1969 at the 11th Annual Grammy Awards.{{cite web |url=https://www.grammy.com/artists/erma-franklin/12601 |title=Erma Franklin |website=Grammy.com |access-date=October 30, 2022}} The award went to Franklin's sister Aretha for the song "Chain of Fools".

In the United Kingdom and some other European countries the single was re-released in 1992 after it appeared in a popular Levi's jeans commercial ("Cinderella" a.k.a. "Night and Day" directed by Tarsem Singh). The reissue peaked at number 5 in Denmark, number 9 in the Netherlands and the UK Singles Chart, and number 10 on the Irish Singles Chart.

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{{Infobox song

| name = Piece of My Heart

| cover = Janis Joplin cover.jpg

| alt =

| caption = Cover of the 1968 Dutch single

| type = single

| artist = Big Brother and the Holding Company

| album = Cheap Thrills

| B-side = Turtle Blues

| released = {{Start date|1968|08}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre = {{hlist|Psychedelic rock{{cite magazine |title=The Janis and Tupac Show |date=February 27, 2015 |magazine=Hits |url=http://hitsdailydouble.com/news&id=294857 |access-date=July 20, 2016}}|blues rock{{cite book |author=Nick Talevski |title=Rock Obituaries – Knocking on Heaven's Door |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DykffzkFALoC&pg=PA183 |date=April 7, 2010 |publisher=Omnibus Press |isbn=978-0-85712-117-2 |page=183}}}}

| length = {{Duration|m=4|s=15}}

| label = Columbia

| writer = {{hlist|Jerry Ragovoy|Bert Berns}}

| producer = John Simon

| prev_title = Blindman

| prev_year = 1967

| next_title = Coo Coo

| next_year = 1968

}}

The song became a bigger pop hit when recorded by Big Brother and the Holding Company in 1968 with lead singer Janis Joplin.{{Gilliland|https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc19834/m1/ |Show 52 – The Soul Reformation: Phase three, soul music at the summit. [Part 8] : UNT Digital Library}}{{Cite book|title=Piece of my heart : a portrait of Janis Joplin|author=Dalton, David|date=1991|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=0306804468|location=New York, N.Y.|oclc=23868679}} The song was taken from the group's album Cheap Thrills, recorded in 1968 and released on Columbia Records. This four-minute, 15-second rendition made it to number 12 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.{{cn|date=January 2024}} Billboard called it "dynamite," stating that "this raucous dance treatment will rock up the Hot 100."{{cite news|newspaper=Billboard|accessdate=2021-02-22|date=August 24, 1968|page=62|title=Spotlight Singles|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/60s/1968/Billboard-1968-08-24.pdf}} Cash Box said that it is an "explosive performance" with a "power-packed Janis Joplin vocal" and also praised the backing band.{{cite magazine |title=CashBox Record Reviews |date=August 24, 1968 |page=24 |access-date=2022-01-12 |url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Cash-Box/60s/1968/CB-1968-08-24.pdf |magazine=Cash Box}} The album release was the culmination of a hugely successful year for Joplin with acclaimed performances at the Monterey Pop Festival, Anderson Theater in New York, the wake for Martin Luther King Jr. (with Jimi Hendrix) in New York and on TV's prime-time The Dick Cavett Show.{{cn|date=January 2024}}

The song's instrumentation was arranged by Sam Andrew, who performed three distorted, loud guitar solos for a psychedelic touch. The B-side was "Summertime". Another version had the B-side "Turtle Blues".{{cn|date=January 2024}}

Franklin said in an interview that when she first heard Joplin's version on the radio, she did not recognize it because of the vocal arrangement.{{cite web |url=http://www.bluesmusicnow.com/efranklin10.html |title=Erma Franklin |website=Bluesmusicnow.com |date=June 28, 1990 |access-date=October 1, 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303193320/http://www.bluesmusicnow.com/efranklin10.html |archive-date=March 3, 2016 }} Cultural writer Ellen Willis wrote of the difference: "When Franklin sings it, it is a challenge: no matter what you do to me, I will not let you destroy my ability to be human, to love. Joplin seems rather to be saying, surely if I keep taking this, if I keep setting an example of love and forgiveness, surely he has to understand, change, give me back what I have given". This way, Joplin used blues conventions not to transcend pain, but "to scream it out of existence".The Rolling Stone Illustrated History of Rock & Roll, "Janis Joplin". Random House, 1980

Until her death in 1970, "Piece of My Heart" was Joplin's biggest chart success and best-known song. ("Me and Bobby McGee", which Kris Kristofferson wrote, eclipsed "Piece of My Heart" when it appeared after her death in 1970. It went to number 1 in 1971). "Piece of My Heart" remains most associated with Joplin and continued to get airplay long after her death. Berns never got to hear Joplin's version, dying of a heart attack on December 30, 1967.

{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Italy|title=Piece of My Heart|artist=Janis Joplin|award=Gold|relyear=1968|certyear=2018|access-date=January 12, 2021|certweek=19|type=single}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|title=Piece of My Heart|artist=Janis Joplin|type=album|award=Platinum|relyear=1968|certyear=2021|access-date=January 8, 2021}}

{{Certification Table Bottom|noshipments=true|streaming=true|nosales=true}}

{{Infobox song

| name = Piece of My Heart

| cover = Faith Hill cover.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Faith Hill

| album = Take Me as I Am

| B-side = I Would Be Stronger Than That

| released = January 13, 1994{{cite web |author=Faith Hill |url=https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00000DLDZ |title=Piece of My Heart – Amazon.com Music |website=Amazon.com |access-date=October 1, 2016}}

| recorded = 1993

| studio =

| genre = Country

| length = 4:01

| label = Warner Bros. Nashville

| writer =

• Jerry Ragovoy
• Bert Berns

| producer = Scott Hendricks

| prev_title = Wild One

| prev_year = 1993

| next_title = But I Will

| next_year = 1994

| misc = {{External music video|{{YouTube|qPseJvXVVfo|"Piece of My Heart"}}}}

}}

American country artist Faith Hill included the song on her debut album, Take Me as I Am (1993); her version reached No. 1 on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs chart in 1994. Hill's version was more passive, with traditional country instrumentation. Prior to recording it, Hill had no knowledge of the song.{{cite magazine|first=Peter|last=Cronin|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1994/BB-1994-02-19.pdf|title=Music Publishing: 'They're Playing My Song'|magazine=Billboard|date=February 19, 1994|page=15|access-date=April 30, 2025}} The accompanying music video won an award for Best New Artist Clip of the Year in the category for Country at the 1994 Billboard Music Video Awards.{{cite magazine|first=Deborah|last=Russell|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1994/BB-1994-10-15-P.pdf#page=12|title=Music Video Award Nominees Named|magazine=Billboard|date=October 15, 1994|page=12|access-date=May 30, 2025}}{{cite magazine|first=Deborah|last=Russell|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1994/BB-1994-11-19-N.pdf#page=1|title=Warner/Reprise's Green Day Shows 'Maximum Vision'|magazine=Billboard|date=November 19, 1994|page=1|access-date=June 3, 2025}}

Hill re-recorded the track for the soundtrack to the television series King of the Hill, released in 1999. This edgier version can also be found on the 1998 international pressing of her third album, Faith (re-titled Love Will Always Win outside the US) and 2001 international greatest hits album There You'll Be. Her original version was included in her 2007 compilation album The Hits.

At the time Hill recorded her version of "Piece of My Heart", she had no knowledge of the song or Joplin's rendition. Hill's producers told her not to listen to the Joplin version until she had completed her own recording. Hill told Billboard magazine in February 1994, "When that song was brought to me, it was a country version. When I was recording it, everybody was like, 'Oh God, that's Janis Joplin', and I was thinking, 'What's the big deal?' I knew who Janis Joplin was, but I didn't really know any of her stuff. When Warner Bros. found out that I had not heard the original, they said, 'Whatever you do, do not listen to her version until you have finished your record.' When we finished, and they played it for me, I listened to it twice through and thought, 'Dadgum, how in the world did I ever cover that song?'"

Upon the release, Larry Flick from Billboard wrote, "One test of a great song is the way it stands up to different interpretations. Hill's sunny, effervescent take on this one is the stylistic flipside of Janis Joplin's go-for-broke, raw-throated approach, but if it works, it works."{{cite magazine|first=Larry|last=Flick|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/90s/1994/BB-1994-02-05.pdf|title=Single Reviews: Country|magazine=Billboard|date=February 5, 1994|page=71|access-date=April 30, 2025|author-link=Larry Flick}} Cyndi Hoelzle and Lisa Smith from the Gavin Report said, "How long did it take you to recognize this song? Faith takes Janis Joplin's classic (actually a 1968 hit for her band Big Brother and The Holding Company) and transforms it into a driving countrified lament."{{cite magazine|first1=Cyndi|last1=Hoelzle|first2=Lisa|last2=Smith|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Gavin-Report/90/94/Gavin-1994-02-04.pdf|title=Gavin Country — New Releases|magazine=Gavin Report|date=February 4, 1994|page=|accessdate=March 12, 2022}}

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{{Infobox song

| name = Piece of My Heart

| cover = Pieceofmyheartshaggy.jpg

| alt =

| type = single

| artist = Shaggy featuring Marsha Morrison

| album = Midnite Lover

| B-side =

| released = 1997

| recorded = 1996

| studio =

| genre = Dancehall

| length = 4:17

| label = Virgin

| writer =

• Jerry Ragovoy
• Bert Berns
• O. Burrell

| producer = O. Burrell

| prev_title = Why You Treat Me So Bad

| prev_year = 1995

| next_title = Luv Me, Luv Me

| next_year = 1998

}}

Jamaican-American reggae artist Shaggy covered the song on his self-produced and fourth album, Midnite Lover (1997). The single featuring Marsha was a top 10 hit in Italy, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, peaking at number four, six and seven, respectively.{{cite web|title=Discography Shaggy|url=https://charts.nz/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Shaggy|work=charts.nz|publisher=Hung Medien|access-date=April 10, 2012}}

A reviewer from Music Week gave this version a score of three out of five, adding, "Shaggy's fast-paced vocals get somewhat overshadowed by the smooth, silky presence of Marsha on this unadventurous remake of the Erma Franklin hit."{{cite magazine|first=|last=|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1997/Music-Week-1997-06-28.pdf|title=Reviews: Singles|magazine=Music Week|date=June 28, 1997|page=20|accessdate=May 28, 2022}} Music Week editor Alan Jones noted that "Shaggy returns in fine style", concluding that "the result is a summery and unique treat, with the Shagmeister's verses interspersed by a fine femme vocalist—credited as Erma herself in sample form, though definitely not."{{cite magazine|first=Alan|last=Jones|url=https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1997/Music-Week-1997-07-05.pdf|title=Talking Music|magazine=Music Week|date=July 5, 1997|page=30|accessdate=August 15, 2022}} Andy Winter from Smash Hits wrote that it "will have you wrigglin' like a sackful of snakes!"{{cite magazine|first=Andy|last=Winter|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/smashhits90s/36342311322/in/album-72157684874253244/|title=Albums|magazine=Smash Hits|date=July 30, 1997|page=61|access-date=December 12, 2024}}

A live medley of this song with Janis Joplin and the Full Tilt Boogie Band's 1971 song "Cry Baby" became a hit duet for American rock singer Melissa Etheridge and English soul singer Joss Stone when it was released to iTunes Store after they performed it at the 47th Grammy Awards on February 13, 2005, in tribute to Joplin. Etheridge had previously sung it at Woodstock '94 as part of a four-song medley of Joplin tunes.{{Cite web|url=https://www.songfacts.com/facts/big-brother-the-holding-company/piece-of-my-heart|title=Piece Of My Heart by Big Brother & the Holding Company Songfacts|website=Songfacts.com|language=en|access-date=2017-10-30}}

Etheridge's medley with Joss Stone made number 32 in the Billboard Hot 100 and number 2 on the Hot Digital Tracks in April 2005. The performance also signaled Etheridge's first public return from her battle with breast cancer; appearing with her head bald from the effects of chemotherapy.{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnlyinAmerica/story?id=1228805 |title=Melissa Etheridge Talks About Breast Cancer – ABC News |website=Abcnews.go.com |date=October 19, 2005 |access-date=October 1, 2016}} Etheridge also recorded a solo version of "Piece of My Heart" on her 2005 greatest hits album Greatest Hits: The Road Less Traveled.

{{Infobox song

| name = Piece of My Heart

| cover = Beverley Knight - Piece Of My Heart (CD).jpg

| alt =

| caption = CD single cover

| type = single

| artist = Beverley Knight

| album = Voice - The Best of Beverley Knight

| released = {{start date|2006|3|13}}

| recorded =

| studio =

| genre =

| length =

• 4:17 (album version)
• 3:36 (radio edit)

| label = Parlophone

| writer = Jerry Ragovoy, Bert Berns

| producer = Jimmy Hogarth

| prev_title = Keep This Fire Burning

| prev_year = 2005

| next_title = No Man's Land

| next_year = 2007

}}

On her 2005 Affirmation Tour, English soul singer Beverley Knight performed the song with Ronnie Wood, which encouraged her to make a studio recording of the song. "Piece of My Heart" was the lead single from her 2006 best-of compilation Voice - The Best of Beverley Knight. It peaked inside the top 10 of the UK radio airplay chart. The physical single was released on March 13, 2006.{{cite magazine|title=New Releases: Singles|magazine=Music Week|page=29|date=March 11, 2006}}

Due to a change in the UK chart rules which allowed singles to chart purely on downloads a week before their physical release, "Piece of My Heart" entered the UK chart at number 93, becoming one of the first singles to do so. It peaked at number 16 after its physical commercial release. It was Knight's first single to be released as a DVD. It is her longest-running single to date on the UK Singles Chart, spending 11 weeks inside the top 75. It was her thirteenth top 40 entry and her seventh top-20 hit on the UK Singles Chart.

• Beverley Knight – lead vocals
• Bryan Chambers, Billie Godfrey, Louise Marshall – backing vocals
• Martin Slatterty – Wurlitzer organ, Hammond organ
• Sam Dixon – bass
• Jeremy Stacey – drums
• Jimmy Hogarth – guitars, percussion, producer
• Pom (Pierre-Olivier Magerand) – engineer
• Phillip Bodger – mixer

• Bonnie Tyler on her 1977 album The World Starts Tonight.
• Etta James, on her 1978 album Deep in the Night. Released as a single, it reached No. 93 on the Billboard Hot Soul Singles chart.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}
• Sammy Hagar, on his 1982 album Standing Hampton. Released as a single, it became a minor hit, reaching number 73 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 67 on the UK Singles Chart.{{citation needed|date=April 2020}}
• The Move on the 1999 reissue of their 1968 live album Something Else from the Move.

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{{Reflist}}

{{Janis Joplin}}

{{Melissa Etheridge}}

{{Faith Hill singles}}

{{Shaggy}}

{{Joss Stone}}

{{Etta James}}

{{Big Brother and the Holding Company}}

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Category:1967 songs

Category:1967 singles

Category:1968 singles

Category:1982 singles

Category:1994 singles

Category:1997 singles

Category:2005 singles

Category:2006 singles

Category:Beverley Knight songs

Category:Erma Franklin songs

Category:Etta James songs

Category:Faith Hill songs

Category:Jenny Morris (musician) songs

Category:Janis Joplin songs

Category:Joss Stone songs

Category:Melissa Etheridge songs

Category:Sammy Hagar songs

Category:Shaggy (musician) songs

Category:Songs written by Bert Berns

Category:Songs written by Jerry Ragovoy

Category:Song recordings produced by Scott Hendricks

Category:Song recordings produced by John Simon (record producer)

Category:Music videos directed by Deaton-Flanigen Productions

Category:Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipients

Category:Columbia Records singles

Category:Parlophone singles

Category:Shout Records singles

Category:Warner Records Nashville singles

Category:Virgin Records singles

Category:Country ballads

Category:Rhythm and blues ballads

Category:Soul ballads

Category:Male–female vocal duets

Category:Big Brother and the Holding Company songs