It was only a matter of days before Joplin died.
Kristofferson did not know she had recorded his song, the first time he heard her recording of it was the day after she died.

Joplin, who was a lover and a friend of Kristofferson’s from the beginning of her career to her death, topped the U.S. singles chart with the song in 1971 after her death, making the song the second posthumous #1 single in U.S. chart history after “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding.