Time enough for sadness

Kris Kristofferson scored my childhood.

His songs found its way into key moments of my adult life too.

I’ve written before about my dad’s love of Kris Kristofferson’s music and the orange 8-track tape that took up permanent residence in the vehicles he drove.

We knew every word of the iconic album, “Me and Bobby McGee”. We appreciated both its poetry and multi-generational appeal.

My mom and I bonded over Kris Kristofferson, the actor. I was only 12-years old when A Star is Born came out but, even then, I understood the appeal of his handsome, compelling, heart-breaking character, John Norman Howard.

You can trace the whole history of human love and loss in one poignant duet when you watch a video of Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge singing “Help Me Make It Through the Night”. He bonded with my modern musical heroes too. He and Brandi Carlile shared a mutual admiration.

“Kris believed in me a long time ago when he agreed to act in my tiny little music video about addiction and forgiveness… for free by the way. He never told me why he did it and I never asked,” she wrote in a tribute to him after he passed away .

During one particularly sad stretch of our foster care experiences, I could not get “Please don’t tell me how the story ends” out of my mind. It’s still rolling around up there, a poignant, perfect ballad.

Musicians, especially song writers, never die. They leave this old world , but their music lives forever.

So, I’ve really enjoyed all the tributes to Kris Kristofferson and I’ll listen to his music for the rest of my life.

Please enjoy the utter poignancy of this Rita Coolidge/Kris Kristofferson duet:

And here is a shower singer’s tribute to him:

And here’s another duet, poignant for other reasons, that I just love as well. It’s from Dolly Parton’s 2012 movie, “Joyful Noise”.