The Song Kris Kristofferson Wrote for Carly Simon During Their Brief Romance

Carly Simon first met Kris Kristofferson in April of 1971 during her five-night run opening for Yusef / Cat Stevens at the Troubadour in Los Angeles. “As I was walking through the lobby of the Hyatt to check in, I bumped into Kris Kristofferson, who was with T Bone Burnett and Stephen Bruton,” recalled Simon in her 2012 memoir Boys in the Trees, titled after her 1978 album. “Kris introduced himself, and he and I had a small conversation, the kind, I would later discover, that Kris excelled at, one where meaning and implication are packed into the shortest, punchiest exchange.”

Following her shows with Stevens, Simon returned to the Troubadour to support Harry Chapin, Don McLean, and Kristofferson. At the time, Kristofferson had his string of romances, including one with Janis Joplin, who already had a hit with his “Me and Bobby McGee” in ’68, while Simon was romantically linked to Stevens, Milos Forman, and Warren Beatty early on—and eventually Kristofferson when the two became an item.

“Kris tossed out a few Texan bon mots while squinting his sunken, intense, icy blue eyes—eyes like a Samoyed, I remember thinking,” said Simon. “He had the look of a man who had just undressed you, and there would be no more clothes needed for a while. Every signal Kris conveyed said, ‘I’ve got to have you,’ and I felt prematurely possessed.

When Simon was working on her second album Anticipation during the summer of ’71, Kristofferson offered her a song, “I’ve Got to Have,” which she recorded as the closing track.

The song, which was released as a single in Australia, reached the Top 10, while her title track went to No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S.

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[RELATED: 3 Songs Kris Kristofferson Wrote for Some of the Women in His Life]

‘Knowing in a moment I could lose you’

Written entirely by Kristofferson, the lyrics read like an honest love letter to Simon, revolving around self-doubts, hesitancies, and uncertainties in a relationship—I found myself looking into your eyes / Somewhere in their colors, I saw promises / Of things I’d never seen before—and reflecting their short-lived union.

You came smilin’ softly, shyly movin’
Easy as a dream up into my room
And before I realized the danger
I found myself looking into your eyes
Somewhere in their colors, I saw promises
Of things I’d never seen before
It’s all over… I’ve got to have you

Holding onto talking, saying nothing
Knowing in a moment I could lose you
Then without a warning, I remembered that
You trembled at the touch of my hand
Knowing when you came to me that no one else
Would ever feel the same in my arms
It’s all over… I’ve got to have you

Wakin’ in the morning to the tenderness
Of holding you asleep in my arms
Dreaming while my hair was blowing
Softer than a whisper on my cheek
I don’t know the feeling so I don’t know if it’s love
But it’s enough… It’s enough
I can’t help it… I’ve got to have you
It’s all over… I’ve got to have you

After Anticipation, the two worked together again on Simon’s fourth studio album, Hotcakes, and their relations cut off while she was newly married to James Taylor and before Kristofferson’s marriage to Rita Coolidge.

In 1974, Kristofferson released “I’ve Got to Have You,” on his second duet album with then-wife Rita Coolidge, Breakaway.

“Three Days”

On Anticipation, Simon also wrote a song about Kristofferson, ‘Three Days.”

And on the road, you have some good times
But when the show is over you go home
And it hurts me so to leave you behind,
And lordy I feel lonesome,
Lonesome for you I might have known.

You’ll be in L.A. in the morning
And I’ll be in London by sundown
But when I sing, my song is filled with longing
And the memory of your last look
The way you took me by surprise
And the way you turned my head around

“I wrote another song called ‘Three Days,’ about Kris Kristofferson, whom I felt in goofy, fruitless awe of,” said Simon. “I was playing as his opening act sometime that May at the Bitter End in New York, and then again at the Troubadour in L.A. We had a strong physical connection, but I couldn’t be myself.”

Photo: Don Paulsen/Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images