The Writer....

Kris Kristofferson said
"And you still can hear me singin' to the people who don't listen,
To the things that I am sayin', prayin' someone's gonna hear.
And I guess I'll die explaining how the things that they complain about,
Are things they could be changin', hopin' someone's gonna care.

I was born a lonely singer, and I'm bound to die the same,
But I've got to feed the hunger in my soul.
And if I never have a nickle, I won't ever die ashamed.,
'Cos I don't believe that no-one wants to know."

The writer who bares his soul for all the world takes a risk with his ego putting it all on the line. He is a hero.
And he does it knowing the world may never hear him anyway, so he is in fact bearing his soul to himself, and this takes a courage few of us have,and we lie to ourselves rather than endure the pain that honesty brings along with joys.

The writer who just makes product and inane output inadvertently exposes his soul anyway, for those with discerning eyes and ears he is seen as just a mercenary, certainly no one to admire, certainly no hero.

Since the eighties much of his writing has been overtly radical. A while ago at JB HiFi I picked up a bargain CD, Kris Kristofferson The Country Collection. The songs were written during the era when the U.S. was up to their dirty tricks in El Salvador, Chile, Nicaragua, and the rest of Central and South America.
None of these songs were hits, but at least Kris tried to make us aware, and these are amongst the strongest and best songs he has written.
He carried on his political expression with the Highwaymen and ever since.
He was amongst the first to put his hand up as a Vietnam veteran to criticise the U.S. in what was at the time its imminent attack on Iraq. It takes guts as a performer in the U.S. to take a stance on social conscience issues, as the Bush government is more than ready to use its own power and the fanatical fundamentalist Christian right to crucify the careers of its opponents.
Kris is three months shy of turning seventy. I saw him at the Palais last August, this old man standing there singing, just him and his guitar. And still singing and saying what needs to be said, complete with some alarming statistics about poverty, U.S. nuclear weapons, et al.

I have just listened to Kris's new album, This Old Road, due to be released this coming Tuesday, 7th March 2006.
He even sings a 12 bar blues, and a real rock"n"roller, and acknowledges that he is approaching the end of his days with contentment, grace, and good humour, still with a lot of truth to share:
"Lord help me to shoulder the burden of freedom
And give me the courage to be what I can
And when I am wounded by those who condemn me
Lord help me forgive them, they don't understand"
and I certainly intend to buy it, and I hope that Kris isn't singing to "to the people who don't listen 'Cos I don't believe that no-one wants to know"