r/OutlawCountry • u/JacobTanks • 19d ago
R.I.P Kris
Kristoffer Kristofferson had such influence on me that can happen only once in a lifetime with only one particular hero in your life - the one that strucks you like the lightning and paralyzes your heartbeat to set it to a brand new direction that changes your life forever, and saves it.
I wrote songs long before I first discovered Kris’s music, since I was 12 or 14, but I never thought of myself primarily as a songwriter, I never saw myself as a poet, I never wrote the kind of songs that I believed in myself, until one day when I discovered Waylon Jennings’s cover of “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, which lyrics made me skip a heartbeat because of how relatable they were to my alcoholic life and lonesome Sunday Blues. When I did my research I found out that the man who wrote this song was that unknown, bearded blonde from The Highwaymen that sang the part about the sailor. “Oh God”, said I, the last person from the country supergroup of my heroes I happened to discover turned out to be the one who influenced my life the most like nobody else.
So I started writing like Kris, I started the journey through his whole discography to find the wonder that refueled the hunger in my soul that drove some of the most sincere, poetic lyrics out of the corners of my own poetic heart. And it saved me - for if I wasn’t able to write I believe I would die.
As an actor Kris was a separate icon - despite not having any specific acting training before his debuts in “Cisco Pike” and “The Last Movie” he was such a natural figure on screen and never, even in his early roles looked “phony” or “off key” unlike some professional actors that fumble like this. He influenced my acting in movies and theater as much as he did in my songwriting and performing.
Him standing up for the oppressed in Palestine, Nicaragua, Vietnam and other countries that were done injustice despite the backlash has been such an example to me that a Man should stand for what he believes is right despite ANYTHING, And I carry that energy with me from then.
I adored Kris, I loved him, still do. So much I always imagined myself as Kris and tried to imitate him in life, and dreamed of meeting my hero one day to tell him how much his art means for me. It never happened, never will happen, for on this day 2 years ago my heart skipped a beat one more time when I saw a black and white picture sharing tragic news to me and many other people who were touched profoundly by Kris’s words and music.
You are loved and missed Kris, thank you for saving my life and showing me what should I do with it. Thank you for being with me in the coldest and warmest moments of my life. Thank you for being such a friend, a mentor, a teacher.
A prophet and a pusher
A pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he’s stoned.
A walking contradiction
Party truth and party fiction
Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home… 🕊️🌹🕯️❤️🩹
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u/JustThatDemonLife 17d ago
The idealism of To Beat the Devil is sorely needed in this sell your soul world.
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u/Plasmidmaven 17d ago
He was the best looking of the singer - songwriters of that era. I miss the 70s where you could be a star by talent alone, even if you looked sketch. Todd Rundgren and his soul bearing songs would never make it now
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u/Wind2Energy 16d ago
On the set of A Star Is Born, he yelled at Barbara Streisand “When I want more shit outta you, I’ll squeeze your head.”
That’s good enough for me.
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u/Winter_Rooster_78 19d ago
Damn RIP