Kristofferson

I picked up a Kris Kristofferson album on vinyl this afternoon and while I was listening to it and looking over the cover I ran across a poem by Johnny Cash on the back. As you read it, you can tell Cash’s respect and admiration for Kristofferson, and rightfully so. His song writing is arguably some of the best in country music… so if you’ve caught the Johnny Cash bug or the Waylon Jennings bug I’d push you to check out some Kristofferson. It’ll change your life.

“Kristofferson” by Johnny Cash

Kris was goin’ for a poet
A songwriter he would be
One of those dreamy people
Some people hate to see

Kris, he took slices of life
And salted it down into rhyme
He picked his own days and his ways
He arranged his own meter and time

Kris, he went out a sowing
Wild oats high and low, up and down
Now he’s bringing it into harvest
And the thresher hums sweet with the sound

(Poems don’t come from machines
Machines can’t set life into rhyme
And you can’t manufacture soul
Nor “gauge” and “chop” soulful lines)

Kris, he was goin’ for lonesome
Taking himself over the road
But he’s got a receipt for the toll
And he’s come to get paid for the load

But Kris, he was goin’ for hungry
A helicopter pilot he made
His rhymes were in time with that chopper
And his words were as slick as the blades

(But poems and songs though they’re pretty
Can slip right over the head
And tunes from the hungry be pleasant
They’re worth what they bring you in bread)

So Kris, he was goin’ to sell ‘em
His ragged Levis cried “don’t fail”
But to most song-singers that got ‘em
They were just one more piece of mail

Kris,he went for an oil rigger
And down in the gulf on the rig
His melodies still were bubbling
Still going for striking it big

But like the oil that covers the water
His songs covered everyone’s floor
Form five years of sending his demos
And leaving them at every door

Kris, he was making a movie
Upon the screen his face would be
And while on a horse in Peru
His songs went on network TV

Someone had finally noticed
And singers of soul sang along
Now we’ve got to dig in our closets
For that lost Kristofferson song.

P.S.
Kris,he was goin’ for a singer
And up to the top would he go
When Kris was goin’ for a Grammy
(Next year I’ll say)
“Hell I heard that song five years ago.”