  My favorite quote of all time, from now till the day I die is from "Ball and Chain," as sung by Janis Joplin when she was incredibly fucked up. Funny how that's when she made the most impact. She's singing along, obviously getting more emotional as the song progresses.
She starts straying from Big Mama Thorton's original lyrics: "And I want someone that could tell me, tell me why Just because I got to want your love Honey, just because I got to need, need, need your love," And then she starts to break down: "I don’t understand, honey, but I wanna chance to try Honey when everybody in the world wants the same damn thing When everybody in the world needs the same lonely thing When I wanna work for your love, daddy.
When I wanna try for your love, daddy. " Finally, the musician's stop playing and just let her go: (THIS IS THE BEST PART! ) "I don’t understand how come you’re gone, man. I don’t understand why half the world is still crying, man, when the other half of the world is still crying too, man, I can’t get it together. I mean, if you got a care for one day, man; if I mean, if you, say, say, if you want to care for 365 days, right?
You ain’t got it for 365 days, you got it for one day, man. Well I tell you that one day man, better be your life, man. Because, you know, you can say, oh man, you can cry about the other 364, man, but then you’re gonna lose that one day, man, and that’s all you’ve got. you gotta call that love, man. that’s what it is, man. If you got it today you don’t want it tomorrow, man, ’cause you don’t need it.
’Cause as a matter of fact, as we discovered in the train, tomorrow never happens, man. It’s all the same fucking day, man. " She's now said her piece, and starts to sing again, still to no instruments, and off the correct lyrics: "So you gotta, when you wanna hold a somebody, You gotta hold him like it’s the last minute in your life, baby.
You gotta hold, whoa, whoa, hold him ’cause someday some weight’s gonna come on your shoulders, babe, It’s gonna feel too heavy, it’s gonna weigh on you, It’s gonna feel just like a ball, ball, ball, oh daddy, And a chain. " Whew. Normally, I would just quote "THE BEST PART," but I wanted to set up the stage. I could have gone on and on with that, by talking about her life, but if you're reading this, you may already know all about Janis, and I would just be boring you.
If you don't know about her, learn and listen. Her life story is tragically beautiful, and beautifully tragic. Not that Janis rambles on about it enough, but this quote has touched me from the first time I heard it. I know, you have to look past the drug-induced "mans," "baby's" and repeated words to get to the meat of the quote, but it hits home. This breakdown that Janis has is basically a response to the shit that the world has thrown on her.
A social outcast growing up, she still lived life to the fullest, and had a damn good time doing it. She fully felt all the good and all the bad experiences. I guess that's why it touches me so deeply. I think that's a great way to live, and I think that it's a great way to understand life. People always wonder why things happen, and I think that the quote means that to wonder and question all the big and little things of life is crap.
Take life for what it is. Ride the rollercoaster, and try to stay on the ride as long as you can. Refuse get out of your favorite seat or to make every seat your favorite seat. 
