September 9, 2022 —– Chart #160
Hello Music Friends,
Hello Music friends! It’s back to 1972 my friends and a song written and recorded by one of the Outlaws or more specially The Highwaymen. Today’s Chart of the Week is Help Me Make It Through The Night by Kris Kristofferson. The song was hade a hit when recorded and released by Sammi Smith in 1970, but I am focusing this blog post on Kristofferson.
Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are “Me and Bobby McGee”, “For the Good Times”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”, all of which were hits for other artists.
In 1985, Kristofferson joined fellow country artists Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash in the country music supergroup The Highwaymen, which was a key creative force in the outlaw country music movement that eschewed the traditional Nashville country music machine in favor of independent songwriting and producing.
As an actor, he is known for his roles in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973), Blume in Love (1973), Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), A Star Is Born (1976) (which earned him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor), Convoy (1978), Heaven’s Gate (1980), Lone Star (1996), Stagecoach (1986), and the Blade film trilogy (1998–2004).
In 2004, Kristofferson was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Here he is performing the song as a duet with his soon to be wife Rita Coolidge. This video will draw you in. The recording is 1972, the two were married in 1973 and divorced in 1980.
Kristofferson has led a very interesting life, which probably comes as no surprise to you music fans. A few fun facts for you:
- He briefly dated Janis Joplin before her death in October 1970
- He was a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Army
- In 1958 Kristofferson won a Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University
- First job in Nashville was sweeping floors at Columbia Studios
- Flew helicopters for an oil company in South Louisiana to make ends meet
- Wrote Help Me Make It Through The Night sitting on an offshore oil platform
- In 1979 he sang the song with Miss Piggy on The Muppet Show
Sammi Smith, the original release of this song: https://youtu.be/jLQAAxcBTQs
Here’s Norah Jones performing live, the jazzy version she recorded with Willie Nelson: https://youtu.be/ocReUIHoI4s
And for laughs, here’s a funny parody by Ray Stevens: https://youtu.be/5vYh6nh9yaI
Willie: https://youtu.be/LwYS66Gbhwk
Old songs like bring back memories for me. I’ll bet some of you are in the same boat. Have a great musical week!
Keep rockin my friends,
Stan Bradshaw