Oh Boy Records | Kris Kristofferson

Notes from Kris About the Songs

THIRD WORLD WARRIOR
1. The Eagle and the Bear: For some years there I started every show with "The Eagle and the Bear." Just in case anyone was confused about where I was coming from. When Nelson Mandela toured the US after his release from prison I got to sing it at his celebration at the collesium in LA.

2. Third World Warrior: was in response to US responsibility for attrocities against the poor in Central America. "See how we honor the struggle for Freedom. They needed vision, we gave 'em war."

3. Aguila Del Norte: was about how the American Eagle was perceived by the people we were terrorizing - attacking schools, health facilities, and agricultural co-ops in Nicaragua.

4. The Hero: is one of my favorite songs. I sing it in concert today. You may not be able to be as rich or as powerful or as happy as you'd like, but you can be as good as you want to be.

5. I sing Don't Let the Bastards Get You Down at every show today. Sadly, it's more relevant than ever.

6. Love of Money: is still the problem.

7. The Third World War is what's going on now. "Where the young men's brave new visions threaten old men's selfish dreams."

8. Jesse Jackson: has the courage and the vision to solve worls problems with dialogue and mutual respect. Face to face. We need that bad.

9. Mal Sacate: An old Mexican man who worked for me had fallen and skinned his knees and was being doctored by a young woman from El Salvador who said, "El mal sacate ni el fuego lo quema." The old man laughed and said, "She says, 'the bad weed - even the fire doesn't burn.' In Mexico we say, ' Cosa mala nunca muerde.' A bad thing never dies." The next day the woman got the news that another of her relatives had been killed by the Death Squads. I wrote the song for her.

10. I sang Sandinista at the anniversary of the Nicaraguan Revolution. I had sung it on television when I arrived in Managua and Presidant Daniel Ortega asked me to sing it after Oliver Tambo, of the African National Congress, spoke at the celebration. It's in honor of the spirit of the people who overthrew the oppressive US-supported Somoza dictatorship.

REPOSSESSED
1. Mean Old Man: was inspired by a nature program entitled, "Animal Imposters." In my case I figured what you see is what you get. I love it because Carl Perkins played and sang with me on it.

2. Shipwrecked in the Eighties: is what I open every show with these days. It centers me, and is as relevant today as it was twenty years ago. Maybe more.

3. They Killed Him: was inspired by the film Ghandi. You can't help wondering what a different world we might live in if visionaries like Mahatma Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., John and Robert Kennedy, Answar Sadat, Yitzhak Rabin, and Jesus Christ had not been killed for seeking peace.

4. What About Me: asks disturbing questions of those of us who purport to believe in Freedom.

5. El Gavilan: is a road warrior's love song.

6. El Coyote: is romantic autobiography.

7. Anthem 84: is a love song from a soldier to an old girlfriend. I find reason to sing it today.

8. The message of The Heart is something my dad taught me, maybe the most valuable thing I've learned in my life.

9. This Old Road: is one of those rare things that gets better with age. Donnie Fritts, who worked the road with me for the better part of three decades, told me the other day, he hadn't realized what a great song it was. Me too. It's a killer.

10. Love Is the Way: could have been written yesterday. Or tomorow. From "deep in the heart of the infinite darkness a tiny blue marble is spinning through space, born in the splendor of God's holy vision and sliding away like a tear down his face." Through "life is the question, life is the answer, and God is the reason, and love is the way." Sad, but hopeful.