It’s still hard to believe that Kris Kristofferson isn’t with us.
Sure, he was 88 years old and no one lives forever, but his larger than life persona and insane life resume kind of made me wonder if he was going to wind up being the first immortal man.
Music was always a part of Kristofferson’s life, though it seems he had to somewhat hide how much he was actually drawn to it as a career. When he decided to forego a military career and turned down a teaching position at West Point to move his wife and sickly child to Nashville, his family was less than pleased and actually disowned him. While he later reconciled with his mother, it’s believed Kris never reconnected with his father before his death in 1971.
We now know that Kristofferson’s move to Nashville paid off handsomely and he’s securely in the country music history books as an integral part of the Outlaw country movement and even non-country fans at least know his name, if not a few of his most popular songs, but did you know that Kris Kristofferson didn’t really have a lot of commercial success as a solo artist?
As a songwriter, of course, he excelled. Janis Joplin’s “Me and Bobby McGee” is maybe the most popular song he wrote (Roger Miller originally cut it in 1968) and who can forget Johnny Cash’s rendition of “Sunday Morning Coming Down,” both of which were number one singles for the covering artist, but how many number one’s did Kristofferson himself have throughout his multi-decade career?
Kris Kristofferson only had one number one single in his career.
Even more surprisingly, it isn’t one of his most recognizable songs. His original rendition of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” never charted. “To Beat the Devil” didn’t either and the same goes for his “Me and Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”.
So what was the one single that topped the charts?
It was “Why Me?”, released as the final track to his 1972 album Jesus Was a Capricorn. His soon to be wife Rita Coolidge and Larry Gatlin sang backing vocals for the song about asking Jesus for help and not understanding why he’s been able to experience such good in his life despite having wasted so much of it.
Lord help me, Jesus
I’ve wasted it so help me, Jesus
I know what I am
But now that I know
That I’ve needed you so help me, Jesus
My soul’s in your hand
Lord help me, Jesus
I’ve wasted it so help me, Jesus
I know what I am
But now that I know
That I’ve needed you so help me, Jesus
My soul’s in your hand
Okay, so he had one number one single, but how did his albums fare?
Better, but not much better…
Kristofferson has one number one album, the same project that featured his only number one single.
Jesus Was A Capricorn was Kris’ fourth album and topped the Billboard Top Country Albums chart for one week in November of 1973. The title track was written to honor John Prine, who Kristofferson helped discover one night in Chicago.
He told Uncut in a 2016 interview:
“I wrote ‘Jesus Was A Capricorn (Owed To John Prine)’ because I was so influenced by John. When I heard his songs I felt like his writing had kicked me into doing it. You take things from all over the place, though you don’t always admit it! … Everybody you admire influences you somehow in your art.”
If we toss in the Highwaymen album, Kris would have 2 to his name, but that feels like it’s own thing and shouldn’t belong in any of the 4 legends catalogue.
We all know that charts and the songs on them don’t prove that something is good or bad, heck that Applebee’s Song had a pretty dang good run on the radio if I remember correctly, but it feels disrespectful that Kris Kristofferson only had 1 number one single and album to his name.
We owe it to the country music world to keep his music in our rotations and pass it down to the next generation. So today, let’s turn up some Kristofferson and raise a toast to the most interesting man in country music history.
