[Harp-L] Rob P's Me and Bobby McGee (kinda long)

[Captron100@xxxxxxx]

Hopefully Rob Paparozzi will chime in on this.
  I saw Rob play with Dolly twice this past week.  Both  times i had vcr 
snafu's - the first time on the Conan Show i only taped the  first 30 seconds and 
missed the rest, including the key change.  The second  time on The View show, 
i saw the last half of the song and totally missed  taping it .
   On the Conan Show, the song started in Bb, then  modulated.  Did it 
modulate a whole step to C with Rob switching from an Eb  harp to an F harp?  
  I missed half of the song on The View, so when i tuned in  was already past 
the modulation part of the song.  At the end of the song,  when i grabbed my 
guitar to see what key it was in, i got Bb.  Did they not  modulate or did 
they start the song in Ab?  At the end of the song, Dolly  apologised for messing 
up.  What happened?  
  My all-time fav. rendition is Charlie McCoy's instrumental version  on his 
2nd or 3rd album, entitled "Charlie McCoy".  I havent heard the  orig. 
Kristoferson version (with Charlie on harp, i believe), in many many years  but 
here's something i do, which i may have gotten from the orig.  version.  
   Example: Acc. to a sound clip i found on the net, the  orig. version 
starts in key of A.  If u want to play in  second position, use a D harp; then an E 
harp when and if the song  modulates a whole step. 
  In the orig. version, iirc, the harp first appears after  the word "blues, 
as in: "I was blowin' sad while Bobbie sang the  blues".  At the word "blues" 
the chord moves to the IV  chord (to a D chord).  At the word "blues", have  
your high G harp in hand and use draw holes 3, 4, 3, 3 bend, and 2 to  do a 
nice accenting 5 note riff in D.  Then get rid of the G harp and  start using 
your D harp if u want to accompany some more in 2nd position before  the song 
modulates.
  Back in the old days before high G's were manufactured, Charlie  would have 
used a Hohner Vest Pocket key of G harp, which is/was tuned an  octave higher 
than a normal G harp.  As we know, nowadays they make regular  sized 
diatonics tuned to high G.
   On the Conan Show, Rob started the song playing in Bb  using an Eb harp.  
To do the 5 note accent riff on the IV chord, Rob  would have had to grab an 
Ab harp (preferably a high Ab, if they make  'em).
ron