CSB - Kris Kristofferson - RIP

Last time kris kristofferson was in NZ, BK caught up with him for a chat post his show. Listen to that chat here. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rugby Field to the Rotary Shed. It's the Country Sport
Breakfast with Brian Kelly on Gold Sport.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
So, Chris, that was a wonderful, wonderful show. Before we
get onto a few other questions, somebody asked me to
ask you about your boots. Apparently those boots have been
around the block.

Speaker 3 (00:26):
Yeah, I think I thought thirty three years i've had him,
But my wife said at Chalander, So I don't know.
I keep getting resold all the time, but they've been
so lucky for me that I can't imagine performing without him.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
So you perform every concert with those But yeah, you
came up the hard way because you were a janitor
at Columbia Records. I believe in Nashville and the likes
of Johnny Cash were passing you by and probably in
the hallways and Bob Dylan.

Speaker 3 (00:59):
But yeah, but but but but I was the only
songwriter in Nashville who was able to be in there
when Bob Dylan was there and Johnny Cash. I was lucky.
There was Jack Clement, who is a songwriter and a
publisher and everything had showed Johnny Cash a letter that

(01:24):
I got from my mother disowning me because I got
out of the army and went to Nashville. And the
first time I ever saw John other than when I
was in their army, and I shook his hand at
the grand old Loppry that he came into the place

(01:46):
where I was a janitor to record, and he said,
it's always nice to get a letter from home in
the c and we were you know, he was good
to me and treated me with respect all the time.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
There's how many songs you've written? We might even ask
you how many. I just want to pick out one.
Me and Bobby McGhee. Story behind that? Is there a story?

Speaker 3 (02:12):
Well, it's it's uh, the truth of it is my
my The guy who who was my publisher and the
record company that I eventually was on my record with,
Fred Fosser, gave me the title. Uh he he uh

(02:40):
called me into his office and said, I got a
song title for you. I thought he said Bob McGhee.
Actually he had gotten the name from from the secretary
for Felice and Boudoalo O'Briant, who were great songwriters. Their
secretary named Bid McKee, but I thought he said McGee. Anyway,

(03:03):
he said, how does that grab me? I says, how
does what grabbed me?

Speaker 1 (03:06):
You know?

Speaker 3 (03:07):
He said it's a song title by McKee is a she,
and I thought, God, I can't. I've never written an
assignment in my life. So I hid from him for
about a month. I was that was when I was
flying a helicopter down to go from Mexico and uh,

(03:30):
but but it came to me and uh uh it
turned out to be a great song.

Speaker 2 (03:37):
If you hadn't have been a songwriter, you could have
been a great rugby player. I believe you played rugby
in California.

Speaker 3 (03:42):
I did, In fact, I Uh, I got to be
on an all star team there.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
What position did you play?

Speaker 3 (03:50):
Uh? They called it standoff the first fly half. Yeah,
the first guy that they throw it to. And and
I actually I had played football in high school and college,
but I was more suited for rugby because I wasn't
big for a football player and I wasn't partarularly fast either,

(04:15):
But I was able to keep, you know, keep running
and keep doing it for an hour, which was which
was I loved rugby, and so I got to play
even on an all star gamers there.

Speaker 2 (04:27):
Well, Chris is great having New Zealand. Thanks for a
great concert.

Speaker 3 (04:30):
Well, Thank you great.

Speaker 4 (04:32):
Brain, an absolute legion, passing away yesterday at the age
of eighty eight. Chris Christophers