Kris Kristofferson talks about Elvis

'I was an Elvis fan growing up. Elvis was a force of nature. He was the first white guy who could sing black songs and sing them right. I think it just blew everybody away. It's like Ray Charles (laughing) being the first pop artist to sing hank Williams. It's a particular kind of soul. Nobody would have dared to sing a Little Richard song like Elvis had and try to get the spirit of Little Richard in there. (laughs) But Elvis could and he did on Rip It Up and Tutti Fruiti. The frst time I heard Elvis' music was when I was in college. I was driving across California and I stopped at some truck stop and I heard this thing on the radio and I said, 'Who's that?' And the waitress said, 'Oh God, that's Elvis', like I was the stupidest thing goin' (laughs).

But it was his first record and I haven't been the same since then.

It's one of the highlights for me to have had Elvis cut my songs. When I was first dreaming of becoming a songwriter I never would have dreamed that Elvis would sing one of my songs but three of them and with so much soul. I feel a lot of gratitude for that. Elvis recorded the following Kristofferson songs; 'Help Me Make It Through The Night', 'For The Good Times' and 'Why Me Lord' (Live).

The above text is an edited transciption for the FTD book 'Writing For The King' (sold out) by Ken Sharp.

Kristofferson's story is fairly well known: he had a dream-along with the necessary talent and ambition-to become a songwriter. After turning down a teaching position at West Point, the Rhodes Scholar hoped to get his foot in the door of the music business by taking a job as a janitor at Columbia Records. It wasn't long after arriving in Nashville that he was receiving armloads of acclaim and being hailed as one of America's clearest and most important voices, having penned such classics as Me and Bobby McGee, Sunday Morning Coming Down, For the Good Times, and many others. Below; Listen to Kris Kristofferson interviewed by John Nutting on ABC 'Radio Australia' briefly talking about Elvis, not knowing Elvis recorded Why Me Lord.

Kris Kristofferson talks (briefly) about Elvis Recording his songs (00:54)

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