Kris Kristofferson Died Haunted by Loss of Wildman Johnny Cash: 'The Fact He Carried Around My Lyrics Was Big For Me'
Kris Kristofferson died still haunted by a poignant memory of his close friend and co-collaborator, Johnny Cash.
Sept. 30 2024, Published 5:36 p.m. ET
Kris Kristofferson died still haunted by a poignant memory of his close friend and co-collaborator, Johnny Cash.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the singer-songwriter once described feeling "weighed down" by the loss of the country legend, with whom he'd forged a deep bond based in their shared love of music.
Before he became known for classics like Help Me Make It Through the Night and Me and Bobby McGee, Kristofferson – who passed away over the weekend at age 88 – was a janitor at a recording studio. Cash took a chance on the aspiring writer and recorded his song, Sunday Morning Coming Down, in 1970, and the track was a big hit.
Kristofferson worked as a janitor at a recording studio before finding success in country music.
The pair went on to work together for decades, forming the country supergroup The Highwaymen in the mid-1980s along with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. They remained close as both enjoyed prosperous careers, until Cash's death at age 71 in 2003.
In 2004, Kristofferson reflected on the moment Cash pulled him up on stage at the Newport Folk Festival in 1969, telling The Independent: "That performance is forever etched on my memory, because it was the night of the first moon landing.
"After that, John kept a lyric of mine, The Golden Idol, in his wallet. He never recorded it, but just the fact that he was carrying it around was big for me."
Cash and Kristofferson formed country supergroup The Highwaymen in the mid-1980s along with Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings.
Kristofferson went on to describe how the loss of his friend and colleague still "weigh(ed) heavy", and shared: "I did a solo gig in Nashville after Johnny Cash's funeral, and the songs seemed to have taken on a new resonance."
The entertainer's career was shaped not only by his friendships with country giants like Cash, but also by his colorful encounters with other icons. While studying at Oxford University in 1958, Kristofferson said he met Ernest Hemingway at a bullfight in Spain – shortly before the literary titan's death.
He recalled: "(Hemingway) was wasted, and it wasn't that long before he took his own life."
Kris Kristofferson, Billie Jo Spears and Johnny Cash appeared on the talk show 'Wogan' in 1987.
Kristofferson was also deeply attuned to the destructive forces of fame and excess. In the early 1970s, his acting career took off after he worked with Dennis Hopper on The Last Movie. He later described Hopper as "the most self-destructive guy I had ever seen".
He explained Hopper supposedly "got a priest defrocked, because he got him involved in some kind of weird mass for James Dean" and "antagonized the military and all the politicians", adding: "It was crazy."
In a 2008 interview with The Guardian, he added: "All those Hollywood people in the cocaine capital of the world... It was insane.
"That was probably the craziest part of Dennis's life. Mine, too, perhaps."
Kristofferson admitted he 'drank so much' his liver was the 'size of a football'.
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Kristofferson also spoke candidly about his own struggles with alcoholism and drug abuse, confessing he kept a "half-gallon of Jose Cuervo" in his trailer and his "liver was the size of a football" before he quit drinking.
He passed away in Maui, Hawaii, on September 28, and his cause of death has not been disclosed.
In a statement, his family said: "We’re all so blessed for our time with him. Thank you for loving him all these many years, and when you see a rainbow, know he’s smiling down at us all."
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