Kris Kristofferson likely inspired countless songwriters, but he drew inspiration from them as well. Leonard Cohen reveals that Kristofferson once told him he wanted the first lines from "Bird on the Wire," released in 1969 on his Songs from a Room album, to be engraved on his tombstone.
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"It was begun in Greece and finished in a motel in Hollywood around 1969," Cohen says of the song, in the liner notes of his 2009 The Best of Leonard Cohen (via American Songwriter). "Some lines were changed in Oregon. I can't seem to get it perfect. Kris Kristofferson informed me that I had stolen part of the melody from another Nashville writer."
"He also said that he's putting the first couple of lines on his tombstone. I'll be hurt if he doesn't," he adds.
The first lines of "Bird on the Wire" say, "Like a bird on the wire / Like a drunk in a midnight choir / I have tried in my way to be free / Like a worm on a hook / Like a knight from some old fashioned book /I have saved all my ribbons for thee."
The Legacy Kris Kristofferson Left Behind
Kristofferson was 88 years old when he passed away on September 28, 2024. Kristofferson is regarded as one of the most influential artists in country music, agreed on by almost everyone, except Kristofferson, who often downplayed his impact on the genre.
"My first impulse is to deny it... of being leader of anything," Kristofferson tells Colin Irwin in a 1978 interview.
"In a sense, I can see some justification for stating it," he adds. "But the thing is, I was a fan of [Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash] before anybody had heard of me."
In fact, it's Cash who Kristofferson says is the greatest artist of all time, likening him to a Biblical character.
"Johnny Cash was a biblical character," Kristofferson says. "He was like some old preacher, one of those dangerous old wild ones. He was like a hero you'd see in a Western, a giant. And he never lost that stature. I don't think we'll see anyone like him again."
