Kris Kristofferson - Essential Kris Kristofferson
List Price:
Our Price: $10.53
You Save: $3.37 (24%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Buy Used: from $9.93 (click here)
Category: Music CD
See more new music releases
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Music CD Cover
Artist: Kris KristoffersonEdition: Music CD
Format: Original recording remastered
CD Release Date: 2004-03-02
Music Label: Sony
Soundtracks:
Music CD 1
- Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down
- To Beat the Devil
- Just the Other Side of Nowhere
- Me and Bobby McGee
- The Best of All Possible Worlds
- Casey's Last Ride
- Help Me Make It Throught the Night
- Darby's Castle
- Jody and the Kid
- Loving Her Was Easier (That Anything I'll Ever Do Again)
- For the Good Times
- Come Sundown
- From the Bottle to the Bottom
- Billy Dee
- Breakdown (A Long Way from Home)
- The Silver Tongued Devil and I
- The Taker
- The Pilgrim: Chapter 33 [Live]
- Border Lord
- The Sabre and the Rose
- Broken Freedom Song
- Jesus Was a Capricorn (Owed to John Prine)
- Shandy (The Perfect Disguise)
- Sugar Man
- The Last Time
- Nobody Wins
- I'd Rather Be Sorry
- Highwayman
- Don't Cuss the Fiddle
- The Bigger the Fool, The Harder the Fall
- Stranger
- If You Don't Like Hank Williams
- Here Comes That Rainbow Again
- Once More With Feeling
- How Do You Feel About Foolin' Around
- Why Me
- Please Don't Tell Me How the Story Ends
Free Music Notes for Essential Kris Kristofferson
Free Music Review: Johnny Cash's favorite song (that he didn't write)
Hit: 5 Stars
Did you ever 'discover' a song that you can't hear without weeping? That touches your heart with the simplest of words? Well . . . buried on Disc 2 (track 15) of this splendid retrospective of Kris Kristofferson's career, is the song Johnny Cash considered the very best (of those he didn't write himself).
Here in Canada "Mr. Diana Krall" (Elvis Costello) hosts a show which recently featured a stage-full of songwriter/performers. Bracketing Mr. Costello were Kris Kristofferson and (Ravi Shankar's little girl) Norah Jones, John ("no longer Cougar") Mellencamp and Johnny Cash's daughter Roseanne.
The highlight for me (for Elvis Costello too - it brought a tear to his eye which he tried to wipe away unobtrusively during the subsequent applause from the Toronto studio audience) was Kris Kristofferson's solo performance of one of his own songs.
[Just as an aside I'm partial to Kris Kristofferson having seen him perform in a coffee house in my hometown of Ottawa Canada 45 years ago (before any of his big hits like Me & Bobby McGee) - I remember his claim to fame then was as a "Rhodes Scholar" - wonder if he remembers performing at Le Hibou (The Owl) in Ottawa; Sonny Terry & Brownie McGee had performed the week before.]
Accompanied only by himself on his new signature model "Southern Jumbo" (J-45) Gibson (the simplest of chords, strummed with his thumb) Kris provided a vivid reminder of the power of the English language. He'd introduced this song to this audience (and to me - I'd not heard it before) saying,
"I read in his (Johnny Cash's) autobiography that this might be his favorite song."
[Then, looking heavenwards, his speaking voice choked with apparent humility at that thought ]
"And so I sing it for him."
-----
The scene, is a small roadside café, the waitress is sweeping the floor;
Two truck drivers, drinking their coffee, and two Okie kids by the door
"How much are them candies?" they asked her.
"How much have you got?" she replied
"We've only a penny, between us."
"Them's `2-for-a-penny' she lied.
[THE BRIDGE, KRIS BLOWING A 2-NOTE CHORD ON HARMONICA]
And the daylight grew heavy with thunder, with the smell of the rain on the wind.
Ain't that just like a human?
Here comes that rainbow again!
[KEY CHANGE]
One truck driver called to the waitress, after the kids went outside,
"Them candies ain't two for a penny!"
"So? What's that to you?" she replied.
In silence they finished their coffee - got up, and nodded Goodbye;
She called out "Hey! You left too much money!"
"So? What's that to you?" they replied.
And the daylight was heavy with thunder, with the smell of the rain on the wind.
Ain't that just like a human?
Here comes that rainbow again."
---------
After a standing ovation from the studio audience, and during applause that seemed to last more than a minute -- and after surreptitiously brushing away with his left hand a tear from his right cheek (and the camera switched to Kristofferson, clearly moved that this simple song -- "Johnny Cash's all-time favorite" --- still had such a powerful effect), the show's host regained his composure and stopped the proceedings right there to ask a question:
ELVIS: "I just have to say something . . . before we move on . . . that song . . . is just SO beautiful! And pure! Can you remember the moment when you wrote it?
KRIS: "Yeah. It was inspired by a scene out of THE GRAPES OF WRATH. And . . . it was always the one that choked me up. And it (the words) just came out - all together."
ELVIS: "That's the thing I hear! And it's something you share with Rose (Roseanne Cash, seated next to Elvis) - and Rose's father! It's the work of a writer. Have you ever thought of writing a book?"
KRIS: `Well yes . . . "
[POLITE LAUGHTER]
"When I get old!"
[AUDIENCE BREAKS UP WITH LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE]
Yes . . . disarmingly simple words . . . set to the simplest of tunes -- an almost generic country melody (like Tom T. Hall used to employ for instance, on his "Ballad of 50 dollars") -- producing 'high art,' evoking such emotion that the great Johnny Cash would proclaim it his all-time favorite song!
A cause for joy, that there is a Disc 2 of this delightful collection, including the lesser-known but wonderful early songs by (arguably) America's greatest living singer/songwriter!
Mark Blackburn
Winnipeg Manitoba Canada
Country Music CDs
Music Genres
Top music charts in Country Music CDs
Johnie Lewis - Alabama Slide GuitarRelease date: 1998-01-20; Music CD
Best price: $6.97
Price in other shops:
Lightnin Hopkins - Texas BluesRelease date: 1993-11-30; Music CD
Best price: $11.45
Price in other shops:
Lewis - LegendsRelease date: 1986-11-01; Music CD
Price in other shops:
![Hotel California [Vinyl] Image](/images/Hotel-California-Vinyl-B0000001D6-X.jpg)
Eagles - Hotel California [Vinyl]Release date: 1997-12-05; Music CD
Best price: $229.99
Ccr - Bayou CountryRelease date: 1993-06-18; Music CD
Best price: $84.99
Taj Mahal - Senor BluesRelease date: 1997-06-17; Music CD
Best price: $8.99
Price in other shops:
Fonte VivaMusic CD
Blackland Farmer-Complete StarBear Family (GE; Published: 2008-02; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $74.98
Taken By Surpriseby Red Hot Burritos
Published: 1992; Music CD
Best price: $19.99
Christmas Joy: Solo Piano for the Holidaysby Deborah Offenhauser
Pba Music Pub; Published: 2005-11-30; Audio CD; Book
Best price: $23.99
Top Rated Albums
David Allan Coe - Essential David Allan CoeRelease date: 2004-08-31; Music CD
Best price: $4.66
Price in other shops:
Johnny Cash - American Recordings (Reis)Release date: 2007-11-13; Music CD
Best price: $5.53
Price in other shops:
Kris Kristofferson - Closer To The BoneRelease date: 2009-09-29; Music CD
Best price: $11.30
Price in other shops:
Elvis Presley - Essential Elvis PresleyRCA; Release date: 2007-01-02; Music CD
Best price: $10.45
Price in other shops:
Waylon Jennings - Ultimate Waylon JenningsRelease date: 2004-03-23; Music CD
Best price: $5.37
Price in other shops:
Kris Kristofferson - This Old RoadBaker & Taylor; Release date: 2006-03-07; Music CD
Best price: $9.99
Price in other shops:
Waylon Jennings - The Essential Waylon JenningsRelease date: 2007-07-24; Music CD
Best price: $10.45
Price in other shops:
Wanted! The OutlawsJENNINGS/NELSON/COLTER/GLASER; Release date: 1996-04-30; Music CD
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops:
Willie Nelson - Essential Willie NelsonRelease date: 2003-04-01; Music CD
Best price: $11.05
Price in other shops:
The Essential HighwaymenRelease date: 2010-10-25; Music CD
Best price: $11.75
Price in other shops: