3 Poetic Kris Kristofferson Lyrics Every Fan Must Know

Kris Kristofferson’s plain-spoken poetry drew hundreds of artists, including Janis Joplin, Johnny Cash, and the Grateful Dead, to record his songs. His writing echoes John Keats, Bob Dylan, and the Beat poets, with raw tales about deserted souls looking for the light, desire, love, freedom. Though Kristofferson, a Rhodes Scholar, also found a second career in film, he said he owed all his success to being a writer.

It’s hard to pick only three Kristofferson lyrics, but this brief list highlights a few iconic lines every fan must know.

“Sunday Morning Coming Down”

In Nick Cave’s “Frogs”, the Australian songwriter reaches a point of unhinged exultation when he sings about spotting Kris Kristofferson walking by, kicking a can in a shirt he hasn’t washed in years. Cave nods to “Sunday Morning Coming Down”, a hit for Johnny Cash. But I’d recommend listening to the song in Kristofferson’s voice to get a sense of why the cliché about how pain fuels great art persists.

I’d smoked my brain the night before,
On cigarettes and songs that I’d been pickin’.
But I lit my first and watched a small kid,
Cussin’ at a can that he was kickin’.

“To Beat The Devil”

Kristofferson, the troubadour, finds comfort in the shadows of an empty tavern. Well, it’s empty except for the devil, who offers Kristofferson a song. He sings about lonely singers, and the nameless ghosts whose voices now scatter in the wind. Kristofferson accepts a beer from the devil and takes his song. It’s a destiny tune, and Kristofferson ignores the devil’s nihilism, instead keeping hope that someone, somewhere, will listen.

I was born a lonely singer and I’m bound to die the same,
But I’ve gotta feed the hunger in my soul.
And if I never have a nickel, I won’t ever die ashamed,
’Cause I don’t believe that no one wants to know.

“Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)”

This isn’t a love song, it’s a redemption hymn. Kristofferson opens with a metaphor about the sun burning the morning gold above the mountains. His partner traces his face with her fingers, trading his dark past for a kind of hopeful future. You don’t think of an outlaw having much use for tomorrow. Survival is the name of the game, and if tomorrow comes, then you’re a lucky one. But here, Kristofferson experiences a real-life dream that doesn’t have to end.

I have seen the morning burning golden on the mountain in the skies,
Aching with the feeling of the freedom of an eagle when she flies.
Turning on the world, the way she smiled upon my soul as I lay dying,
Healing as the colors in the sunshine and the shadows of her eyes.

Photo by Al Clayton/Getty Images