Kris Kristofferson - Hall of the Angels

Rolling Stone Magazine - Kris Kristofferson: An Outlaw at 80 - Neil Strauss   June 6, 2016

Kris and his wife have spoken about Lyme disease, head injuries and aging interfering with his memory…………..

In several of Kristofferson's songs, characters burn brilliantly in the present moment without a past or future, trading in "tomorrow for today" or proclaiming,

"Yesterday is dead and gone
And tomorrow's out of sight."

In an unexpected twist of fate, Kristofferson sometimes finds himself similarly marooned in the present moment due to his memory problems. Except unlike the characters in his songs, who usually find loneliness there, he says he feels remarkably content and well-supported.

Kelly has observed that he "forgets to get nervous," and Kristofferson notes that a couple of years ago, his anxiety just went away. "He hasn't always been happy," Lisa says. "His nickname when he was doing Star Is Born was Kris Pissed-off-erson." These days, one of his favorite things to do is simply mow the grass or weed-whack for hours at his primary home, in Maui.

He recently went to a reunion of the Pomona College football team, where he saw his former coach, who's now 93. And he's still in touch with his childhood nanny Juanita, who's 93 and still calls her former charge mijo (my son).

"She probably saved my life," he says. "Because God knows my mother was an asshole. And my old man was gone most of the time."

He adds that without Juanita, he "probably would have ended up as some serial killer."

"Hall Of Angels"

We stayed at the barroom till closing
I held down a place at his side
And drank to the memory that crushed him
A lady who'd loved him and died

He purely could not find a reason
To get it back up and go on
Then out of the dark came a stranger
Who turned us around with a song

He said: I know the pain that youi're feeling
I had a sweet little girl
And I loved her more than her mother
Or anything else in the world

And sure as I loved her I lost her
Sure as I wanted to die
Then I had a dream or a vision
Of wonder that opened my eyes

I dreamed of a young band of angels
That shone like the stars from above
'Cos each had a bright burning candle
Except for the angel I loved

And I asked why their candles were burning
And why that hers wasn't the same
She said: Oh, Daddy, each time that I try to light it
Your tears just keep drowning the flame

We stared at the stranger in silence
His spirit was truly alive
If life had made his eyes glisten
The diamond was bright in his eye

'Cos everyone who ever loved him
Though fortune had torn them apart
Will live in the Hall of the Angels
As long as the love in his heart

Oh they'll live in the Hall of The Angels
As long as the love in your heart