He wrote “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” for his Highwaymen brother Waylon Jennings before he released it himself in 1971. A year earlier, Johnny Cash turned his “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” a No. 1 hit in 1970. Several years later, Kris Kristofferson also penned “Something They Can’t Take Away” for Roy Orbison‘s Regeneration album. And so on.
Throughout his career, Kris Kristofferson’s collaborations spanned his Highwaymen brethren and songs written for country artists Ray Price, Bobby Bare, Dottie West, and Jerry Lee Lewis, among many others.
However weighty Kristofferson’s collaborations, there was also another je ne sais quoi in the lyrics he wrote for his love interests. Here’s a look at songs Kristofferson wrote for three special women in his life during the late ’60s through 1970s.
[RELATED: 5 Songs You Didn’t Know Kris Kristofferson Wrote for Other Artists, First]
“Me and Bobby McGee,” Janis Joplin (1968)
Written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster
Kristofferson briefly dated Janis Joplin before her death in October 1970. Before he recorded “Me and Bobby McGee” on his 1970 debut, Kristofferson, the song was released by the late honky tonk singer Roger Miller (1936-1992) in 1968. Miller’s version peaked at No. 12 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart and got a bigger boost when it hit No. 1 on the Hot 100 three years later with the release of Janis Joplin’s posthumous version.
The “Bobby” in the song was initially written by Kristofferson as a woman. Joplin switched it to a man in her version and it was released as a single from her second and final album, Pearl, in 1971.
“Me and Bobby McGee” follows a pair of lovers who are traveling together and eventually drift apart.
Freedom’s just another word for nothin’ left to lose
Nothin’ ain’t worth nothin’ but it’s free
Feelin’ good was easy Lord when Bobby sang the blues
Feelin’ good was good enough for me
Good enough for me, Bobby McGee
“I’ve Got to Have You,” Carly Simon (1971)
Written by Kris Kristofferson
Carly Simon started dating Kristofferson in 1972. The two first met while she was working on her fourth studio album, Hotcakes, and remained together until 1973, just before Kristofferson’s marriage to Rita Coolidge.
Before Kristofferson released “I’ve Got to Have You,” on his 1974 album with then-wife Rita Coolidge, Breakaway, it was first released by Carly Simon as the closing acoustic ballad on her second album, Anticipation in 1971. Her title track hit No. 3 on the Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S., while “I’ve Got to Have You” was released as a single in Australia, where it reached the Top 10 on the charts in 1972.
Wakin’ in the morning to the tenderness
Of holding you asleep in my arms
Dreaming while my hair was blowing
Softer than a whisper on my cheek
I don’t know the feeling so I don’t know if it’s love
But it’s enough… It’s enough
I can’t help it… I’ve got to have you
It’s all over… I’ve got to have you
“A Song I’d Like to Sing,” Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson (1973)
Written by Kris Kristofferson
Rita Coolidge first covered Kristofferson’s “The Lady’s Not For Sale,” which she also used as the title of her 1972 album. By the time she started working on her next release, she and Kristofferson were already a couple—and eventually married weeks before the release of Full Moon.
The album was the first of three collaborative releases by the couple and featured a rerecording of Kristofferson’s “From the Bottle to the Bottom,” along with two songs he co-wrote with Coolidge, including the country ballad “It’s All Over (All Over Again)” and “I’m Down (But I Keep Falling).” Kristofferson also penned the closing reggae-bent “A Song I’d Like to Sing.”
There’s a song I’d like to sing
Do you know the song I mean
It don’t know the way it sounds the same
But it’s always good to sing
Anyone can say the words
Anyone can sing the tune
If you take a little time
I can teach this song to you
And we can get to know each other
Like a sister and brother
Like a father and a mother
Like a woman and a man
And we can sing along together
Just enjoy in tune it’s over
You don’t need to last forever
[RELATED: The Not-So-Subtle Political Commentary Behind Kris Kristofferson’s 1990 Single “Don’t Let the Bastards (Get You Down)”]
Coolidge and Kristofferson released their second collaborative album, Breakaway in 1974 and their third, Natural Act, in 1978, a year before their divorce. In between their duet releases, Coolidge’s solo albums featured more covers of Kristofferson’s songs, including “The Burden of Freedom,” “Late Again,” and “Who’s to Bless and Who’s to Blame.”
“Kris is a wonderful man,” said Coolidge in 2019. “He is an extraordinary songwriter. He’s been a close friend of mine and the father of my daughter, so I have nothing but glowing things to say about Kris. Our marriage was volatile. It’s all in the book [‘Delta Lady: A Memoir’].”
Despite their marital issues in the end, sparked by Kristofferson’s alcohlism and infidelity, Coolidge added, “I love him dearly. When Kris and I broke up, I think that was the biggest heartbreak for our fans, more than the marriage counterpart—no more Kris and Rita records. I loved being in Nashville and recording. I’m not a country singer, but being married to one, the music that we made was country and we got two Grammy awards for Country Duo of the Year. It certainly worked. However, it was difficult to be in the studio with Kris. There were wonderful times, too. It was completely reflective of our marriage and our life.”
Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images
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