Redtree Times

Edward Hopper -Early Sunday Morning 1926

Freedom’s just another word for nothing left to lose
Nothing don’t mean nothing honey if it ain’t free

Things have been a bit hectic and I failed to mention the death of Kris Kristofferson this week at the age of 88. The line above from his song Me and Bobby McGee, has echoed in my mind since I was a kid. So much so that when a high school English teacher asked our class how we would define freedom, I quoted that line as my answer. He took off his shoe and threw it at me.

The following paragraphs are taken from a post from a few years back, on his 85th birthday.

Kris Kristofferson was many things in his life, as the bio on his website points out:

He was an Oxford scholar, a defensive back, a bartender, a Golden Gloves boxer, a gandy dancer, a forest-fighter, a road crew member, and an Army Ranger who flew helicopters. He was a peacenik, a revolutionary, an actor, a superstar, a Casanova, and a family man. He was almost a teacher at West Point, though he gave that up to become a Nashville songwriting bum.

Definitely one of the more interesting people of our time. And a helluva songwriter.

As I mentioned, Me and Bobby McGee is burned into my brain, especially the version from Janis Joplin. He also dated Janis for a while, which adds to his interest factor. There are plenty of other songs to mention– Help Me Make It Through the Night, Why Me, For the Good Times, etc.–but for me, my mind always goes to either Bobby McGee or to Sunday Morning Coming Down, whose big hit for Johnny Cash remains a favorite of mine.

The feel of Sunday Morning Coming Down is unmistakable and for someone who grew up when the Blue Laws were still in effect and Sundays were, for the most part, shut down affairs, it rings true. The Edward Hopper painting at the top, a favorite among many other Hopper favorites, captures that same feeling for me.

The angle of the sunlight creates an unflinching glare on the storefronts that feels like it is burning off the sins of the night before.  It has that stillness that comes after long Saturday nights spent knowing that the following day was there for recuperating.

And it brings up the memory of the weekly Sunday dinner from that time. Ours was often a roast chicken meal, if we weren’t going to another relative’s home for the meal.

The song opens up floodgates of memory and feeling. Though the world is now 24/7 all systems go-go, this song takes me back to those slow-moving Sundays of my childhood. There were many Sunday mornings and throughout my life that had that same quality of sunlight and stillness. That surge of personal memory makes this song so memorable for me.

Anyway, here’s the late Kris Kristofferson and Johnny Cash performing his Sunday Morning Coming Down. Thanks for the music and good travels to you, Kris.