Kris Kristofferson (1936-2024) was the walking contradiction, as one of his best songs put it. Music has always been about sex, even in country music. But the free-spirited, stoned and carefree style only arrived in Nashville with the Texan. An obituary for the songwriter and actor.
Kris Kristofferson was born in Texas, the son of a U.S. general. His grandparents were Swedish immigrants. Literary ambitions led to a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship at the elite University of Oxford. Then he followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a pilot in the army, spending three years in Bad Kreuznach. But the passion never left him. It was the mid-sixties and he was a hippie – jeans, smoking pot, long hair, guitar. So he went to Nashville to write songs. Five years and only a few respectable hits later, he resorted to more drastic measures. When Johnny Cash initially ignored his demos, he flew a helicopter into his backyard and handed them to him.
He recorded his first album when he was already in his mid-thirties. No wonder his songs quickly built bridges to other adult musical worlds: Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr, Elvis and many other pop greats drew on his repertoire early on. His ballads also proved to be suitable for the soul world: Percy Sledge and Wilson Pickett, Richie Havens and Gladys Knight all picked up on them. The mega hits were by Janis Joplin (Me And Bobby McGee), Johnny Cash (Sunday Morning Coming Down), Sammi Smith (Help Me Make It Throuth The Night) and Ray Price (For The Good Times). Only success as a performer was not to come for the handsome man with the not quite pitch-perfect voice. The following nine albums can be skipped. In the beginning there were more and in the end less and less interesting songs on them. Lyrically often on a high level, musically without any direction or claim. Two now-forgotten duets with his wife Rita Coolidge earned him Grammys. Otherwise, his own singles largely flopped through the seventies. A handful of singles in the top 100 of the US charts, he never made it into the top ten.
Don’t look so sad
I know it’s over
But life goes on
And this old world will keep on turning
Let’s just be glad
We had some time to spend together
But by then the loner, who never let himself be taken in, had long outgrown his career start in show business. The actor outshone the songwriter. Dennis Hopper gave him his first role, followed by well-known directors such as Peckinpah, Scorsese, Cimino, Pakula, Burton – and Schwarzenegger. The successful albums and tours as part of the supergroup The Highwaymen were enriched with a tepid TV remake of the western classic Stagecoach, in which the four played the Country Rat Pack. The striking, bearded face could be seen in the movies well into old age, most recently in the Blade trilogy or in Ethan Hawke’s film adaptation of Blaze Foley’s life (2018).
In Convoy, he was an indomitable moral authority for the first time. And he got Ali MacGraw, the most beautiful woman in the world. Yes, it made a lot of sense to me to be like Kris Kristofferson. At the end of the 80s, Kristofferson was where Peter Gabriel was with “Biko” or Simple Minds with “Mandela Day”. Songs about Mahatma Gandhi or the Sandinistas in Nicaragua from the two grandiose political albums Repossessed and Third World Warrior positioned him on the most progressive fringe of the USA. Even Bob Dylan was so impressed that he covered “They Killed Him” on Knocked Out Loaded. For a country singer of the time, this was at least as unheard of as his songs about hitchhikers and their dirty red bandanas in the 60s. This image culminated in 1992.
The part on the self-recorded VHS video of the Dylan tribute, when the man in his mid-fifties whispered “Don’t let the bastards get you down” to Sinead O’Connor, who was half his age, as the audience cruelly booed her, I showed to everyone who ever sat in front of that TV. That was Texas as I understood it. Manly, tender, poetic, left-wing. No one blended politics and country, highway and Hollywood like he did. Dylan was also political, but a womanizer? Townes Van Zandt was also a drinking philosopher, but political? Johnny Cash and Willie Nelson were also country, but a Golden Globe as Best Actor in A Musical (for A Star Is Born)?
I saw him live twice in Munich, outstandingly with the Highwaymen, one bitter evening was in some hall outside on the old airport grounds in Riem, where he couldn’t hit a note. He was more of a songwriter than a singer. Many of his own records were, well, mediocre. But even his later work contains sparkling gems such as “A Moment Of Forever”, one of the most beautiful love songs I know. Musically, he came closest to me in dirty southern soul and sing-along numbers like “Don’t Cuss The Fiddle” and “The Pilgrim / Chapter 33”.
The latter song also contains the lines with which he dedicated a much-quoted self-portrait to himself and many of his colleagues:
He’s a poet, he’s a picker
He’s a prophet, he’s a pusher
He’s a pilgrim and a preacher
And a problem when he’s stoned
He’s a walkin’ contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction
In the intro, he lists a whole host of friends whom he has made immortal: From Chris Gantry to Funky Donnie Fritts to Ramblin Jack Elliott. There are many songwriters. It’s only when someone who’s on a roll trusts an unknown at the right time and unpretentiously opens the door against all odds that something great can emerge. Kristofferson supported many other artists. He discovered John Prine, dedicated a song to him and financed Billy Joe Shaver’s first album. “If You Don’t Like Hank Williams (You Can Kiss My Ass)” – that was the attitude with which he paved the way for the later Outlaws.
As for his own discography: As is almost always the case, it’s best to steer clear of all albums with “Demos”, “Sessions” or “Live” in the title. If you have to choose one album, go for the debut or a Best of from the seventies. If you can manage three, add Third World Warrior and A Moment Of Forever. Streaming insider tip: The Bottom Line Archive Series, a sensational recording of an intimate, moderated sit-down with Lou Reed.
The tribute albums: Willie Nelson Sings Kristofferson – the indispensable classic. The Life And Songs of Kris Kristofferson – a rather boring concert recording, but with a star cast (Alison Krauss, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris…). Nothing Left To Lose – a tribute to indie bands of the time (Calexico, Souled American, The Handsome Family…), which brought something new to the songs, depending on your taste, because or even if it was sometimes very experimental. The golden mean would be Don’t Let The Bastards Get You Down (Chuck Prophet, Kelly Hogan, Chip Taylor…). The Düsseldorf rockabilly band Rocket To Stardom (2013), who were allowed to accompany Kristofferson live on tour as a reward, managed a particularly cool tribute. There are also countless folkies who have recorded tribute albums, with Dutchman Dick van Altena being a particularly tasteful example.
What remains? For those who experienced Kristofferson as a contemporary, his radiant personality, his rebellious charisma and his memorable appearance will remain a central element of his memory. In professional circles, people will write about his original achievement of pushing through explicit lyrics about sex, drugs and the hippie lifestyle in Nashville in the late sixties. And as long as people are sitting around campfires, someone will start singing: “Take the ribbon from your hair…”, “Busted flat in Baton Rouge…”
At his last public performance with Rosanne Cash, the 87-year-old was already very fragile on stage, his gaze, his voice coming from far, far away from the songwriter’s heaven. Kris Kristofferson died on September 28, 2024 in Hawaii.
Another personal PS:
DJ Borderlord – I’ve played records as a DJ under this name countless times, from the Blaues Haus in Tüßling to the Literaturhaus in Frankfurt. Some of my books were self-published by “The Borderlord Books”. “Border Lord” – was the title track of Kris Kristofferson’s third album:
When you’re headin’ for the border, lord
You’re bound to cross the line
Good lookin’ women every time you stumble
Waitin’ there to catch you when you fall
That always made a lot of sense to me and still does. RIP, Kris Kristofferson!
(This article appeared in shorter German versions in the renowned magazines Folker.world and Textor.online.)
A Haven For Songs 