Before he wrote songs that made people cry, Kris Kristofferson had already lived three lives.
At Pomona College, he was a football star, Golden Gloves boxer, and poet. A professor saw something in him – told him to apply for the Rhodes Scholarship.
He did. And he won.
At Oxford, Kris studied literature among stone halls and quiet libraries. Somewhere between Yeats and Dylan Thomas, he realized poems could live in music. Songs, he decided, were poetry that people carried in their hearts.
Back home, everyone saw a future professor, maybe even at West Point. He was offered that teaching job – the pinnacle of prestige. But he turned it down. He joined the Army instead, became a helicopter pilot, a captain, and then… walked away from it all.
He packed his duffle bag, moved to Nashville, and started sweeping floors at Columbia Recording Studios. The Rhodes Scholar became a janitor. Between shifts, he wrote songs – scribbling lines on napkins, notebooks, and dreams.
Years passed. Nothing happened. Then one day, Johnny Cash heard “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down.”
And everything changed.
Janis Joplin sang “Me and Bobby McGee.”
Ray Price sang “For the Good Times.”
Sammi Smith sang “Help Me Make It Through the Night.”
Each song carried the same voice – weary, tender, honest. A voice that understood the beauty in being broken.
Soon, the janitor was standing on stage. Then, on film sets. Then, in history.
But Kris Kristofferson’s greatest masterpiece wasn’t a song.
It was the decision to walk away from what was expected – to choose meaning over safety, truth over titles, art over approval.
He could have taught literature at West Point.
Instead, he taught the world how to feel.
8 comments:
His best song was "Nobody Wins"
Like most smart people, he left Brownsville and never came back..
Whites don't usually come to Brownsville from up north, unless they are running from something.
10:23 AM This includes people with professions.
Let this soul rest in peace. He may have had great memories of Brownsville but to him that is all they were. It is like having your rich uncle who never helps you out. He didn't even donate a book to the public library. This is an autobiography that you could write.
Just let him go.
Why honor people who don't acknowledge where they came from? This guy nor the guy from ZZ Top who were from Brownsville ever gave the city recognition or anything in return.
Well we have people who are from this city and are still here and
don't contribute jack shit to this city but are great at taking from the city and giving it to assholes like Elon Musk. Just look at Boca Chica Beach!
Then we have people who became football stars in this city and instead of contributing to this city they become cops, and the lax behavior they exhibited in their high school glory years still happens now.
A lot of people stay in Brownsville because they don't want to work for anything but mooch off of the city that's "given them so much without them giving anything back!
At least when Kristofferson left, he gave the world so many gifts from music to movies to being a solid person. He may not have come back to Brownsville but could you blame him? When you see the world and the world pays you back, why would you stay in Brownsville that give you nothing unless you were related to or sleeping with the givers in town.
Then let the world praise him.
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