Choosing to open every concert with a song that came from one of the darkest, most depressing times in a person’s life is certainly, shall we say, an interesting artistic choice. But it certainly seems to pay off for Kris Kristofferson, who once blamed his decision to do so on “superstition.”
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Then again, we can’t blame him. As far as lyrical first impressions go, it’s hard to find one more stunning than, “Well, you fight like the devil to just keep your head above water / Chained to whatever you got that you can’t throw away / And you’re shooting through space on that river of life that you’re riding / And it’s swirling and sucking you deeper on down everyday.”
It’s a depressing first verse, sure. But it’s so universally relatable that it makes the listener stop what they’re doing and connect to the song. Just like its title suggests, “Shipwrecked In The Eighties” is the musical equivalent of getting doused in icy cold water.
The Real-Life Heartache Behind “Shipwrecked In The Eighties”
“Shipwrecked In The Eighties” wasn’t a bad way to describe Kris Kristofferson during that particular decade. As the singer-songwriter himself put it in a 2007 interview with CMT, “It started out from a personal place where I was. I had just come out of [the film] Heaven’s Gate, the biggest bomb of all time. My manager died, my agent died, and the company I was recording for, Monument, went under. My marriage was over, and my little girl was gone. I felt pretty shipwrecked.”
As good song ideas are wont to do, the concept for “Shipwrecked In The Eighties” came about after a chance encounter helped glue together the various feelings and experiences Kristofferson was juggling at the time. So much had been going wrong for so long that it could have manifested in countless different types of songs. But when Kristofferson ran into a Vietnam veteran on a sunny Malibu beach, he knew where to start.
How a Veteran Helped Inspire Kris Kristofferson
In Kristofferson: The Wild American, Kris Kristofferson recalled meeting a Vietnam War veteran on a beach in Malibu. “He came up to tell me how much my music had meant to him at a tough time in his life. He gave me this old bible that was all underlined; he was pretty wasted looking, head obviously been standing too close to the flame for a while. But it seemed to me symbolic of many people who were kind of adrift after their experience in Vietnam.”
Kristofferson realized that he wasn’t the only one who felt like they were lost at sea. He told CMT that the veteran he met in California “was a picture of disillusionment.” That’s where Kristofferson came up with the line, “Like an old Holy Bible you’ve clung to for so many seasons.”
Despite the song’s dark origins (or maybe because of them), Kristofferson started putting “Shipwrecked In The Eighties” front and center during his live performances. He began starting his concerts with the track, perhaps as a reassuring message for his most dedicated fans who are sitting in their seats at the downbeat. Whatever the reason, he told CMT, “I’m so superstitious that I have opened every show with that song for as long as I can remember now. Still do.”
Photo by Mark Junge/Getty Images
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