The Story Behind the Only Song Kris Kristofferson Ever Wrote for Roy Orbison and Never Recorded Himself

Between the 1960s and ’70s, Kris Kristofferson and Roy Orbison moved within the same musical circles, crossed paths, and always had a mutual respect for one another. “Roy Orbison was one of the genuinely nicest persons I’ve ever known,” said Kristofferson.

By the mid-1970s, as Kristofferson’s career was thriving as a songwriter and actor, he wrote one song specifically for Orbison, a fellow—and newly returned—Monument Records artist, in 1976.

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“Something They Can’t Take Away”

Produced by Monument founder Fred Foster, who also worked on most of Kristofferson’s albums during the ’70s, Regeneration marked Obison’s return to the label, which he left in 1964 and had his breakout releases more than a decade earlier.

For the album, Kristofferon contributed “Something They Can’t Take Away,” a forlorn tale about the one that never left, carried by Orbison’ lilt through the heartbreaking story.

All too soon we were blown upon
Our separate ways again
And our warm summer dreams
Joined the fallen leaves
That tumbled in the wind with the echoes
And traces of voices and faces
And places that I’ve left behind
But there’s times in the morning
And there’s times at the close of day
When your memory comes easy as smiling
And that’s something they can’t take away

[RELATED: 3 Songs Kris Kristofferson Wrote for Johnny Cash to Record First (1970-1984)]

I may die without ever
Knowing happiness again
Leaving nothing behind but a line
Of lonely footprints in the sand
But I know that wherever I go
I will never trade anything I’ll ever find
For the times in the morning
And the times at the close of day
When your memory comes easy
As smiling and that’s something they can’t take away

Kristofferson would typically record songs he wrote that were recorded by others artist first, but he left “Something You Can’t Take Away” alone as a Roy Orbison song. It was never released as a single and remains the only song Kristofferson ever wrote for Orbison.

Though they weren’t the closest friends, both remained musical contemporaries. Kristofferson was also in the audience at Cocoanut Grove nightclub in Los Angeles for Orbison’s 1987 concert film Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black & White Night, which he filmed a year before his death.

“With one of the most beautiful voices in the history of recorded music, he could easily have had an opera star’s ego, but he was one of the humblest, kindest, sweetest human beings to grace this planet,” Kristofferson said of Orbison. “This in spite of the enormous tragedies in his life. A brave, beautiful blessing of a man.”

Photo: Larry Ellis Collection/Getty Images