The Pilgrim: Chapter 33 (Hang In, Hopper) Lyrics
Wearing yesterday's misfortunes like a smile.
Once he had a future full of money, love, and dreams,
Which he spent like they was going out of style,
And he keeps right on a'changing for the better or the worse,
Searching for a shrine he's never found,
Never knowing if believing is a blessing or a curse,
Or if the going up was worth the coming down.
He's a prophet, he's a pusher,
He's a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he's stoned.
He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
And he's traded in tomorrow for today.
Running from his devils, Lord, and reaching for the stars,
And losing all he's loved along the way.
But if this world keeps right on turning for the better or the worse,
And all he ever gets is older and around,
From the rocking of the cradle to the rolling of the hearse,
The going up was worth the comin' down.
He's a prophet, he's a pusher,
He's a pilgrim and a preacher, and a problem when he's stoned.
He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction,
Taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home.
You're partly right. In one(?) version of this song, Kristofferson starts out by saying, to the background of his guitar, that he "started writing this song about Chris Gantry, ended up writing about ...(?) and Johnny Cash..." then goes on to mention several other country/folk singers of the time such as Ramblin' Jack Elliot. This song is about so much more than anyone in particular. A lot of what you said was right, but I see it as Kristofferson personifying the whole genre of music in this song. I also love the imagery of "wearing yesterday's misfortunes like a smile". It's so resonate to anyone who's been known to hit the booze hard (and often subsequently the sidewalk). This was one of the songs that made me fully appreciate the poet in Kristofferson. I mean, one can dissect this like a poem with its binary opposites, use of repetition, alliteration..... but I won't, I promise. Frankly, I'm a bit disappointed with the lack of enthusiasm for this song. Oh well.
Kris wrote this song about Johnny Cash, his good friend and fellow Highwayman. It talks about Johnny's contradictory stance as being full of the gospel while also being indulgent, doing drugs, and having an obvious dark side to him. I don't think this was meant to be like a diss, because Kris and Johnny were friends and it's not too harsh. But it's definitely about Mr. Cash.
@KickerOfElves Kris has said on a number of occasions that the line "He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction" was written about Cash.
@KickerOfElves Kris has said on a number of occasions that the line "He's a walking contradiction, partly truth and partly fiction" was written about Cash.
Other names Kris mentions are Dennis Hopper, Norman Norbert, Funky Donnie Frit?, Billy ?Swan?, Bobby Newerht, Jerry Jeff Walker, and Paul Seable.
I think Willie Nelson does the definitive version of this song on Willie Sings Kristofferson, a great and under-appreciated album, btw.
Funky Donnie Fritts and Billy Swan have been with Kris from his early days in Nashville. Billy wrote the huge 1960s Clyde McPhatter hit "Lover Please" when he was still in High School and had a huge 2nd hit that he sang himself, "I Can Help", about a dozen years later.
Funky Donnie Fritts and Billy Swan have been with Kris from his early days in Nashville. Billy wrote the huge 1960s Clyde McPhatter hit "Lover Please" when he was still in High School and had a huge 2nd hit that he sang himself, "I Can Help", about a dozen years later.
Donnie and Kris who have been together forever and were drunk when they first cut "Me and Bobbi McGee" to tape after they left a bar {Tally Ho Tavern? Yes, the Tally Ho was a real place.} and went to a studio that one...
Donnie and Kris who have been together forever and were drunk when they first cut "Me and Bobbi McGee" to tape after they left a bar {Tally Ho Tavern? Yes, the Tally Ho was a real place.} and went to a studio that one of them either had the key for or permission to use.’I’m thinking it was Donnie b/c Kris wrote that song on an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico when he was working as a helicopter pilot shuttling people/things back and forth from the mainland. So, by then had given up the janitor job that gave him access to the studio. They sang the song over and over again until past the time the sun came up 'cause they couldn't believe how good the song turned out. You forgot to mention Ramblin Jack Elliot.
The reason “Chapter 33” is incorporated into the name of the song is b/c when it was recorded in 1969, Kris and Dennis Hopper who he ended up mostly writing the song about were both born in 1936 along with several of Kris' friends. So they all turned 33 that year. As I recall the story told, Hopper had just come back from making a movie in Mexico where he seriously fried his brain on heavy drugging/drinking and was never of the same sound mind again. He was writing about Hopper and to an extent Cash who may have had reached bottom by then in real time and a composite of the rest who he either had known or admired - Norman Norbert, Donnie Fritts, Billy Swan, Bobby Neuwirth, Jerry Jeff Walker, "Uncle" Paul Siebel {who I believe was a Marxist, done in by McCarthyism} over the years. He also throws in Ramblin’ Jack Elliot b/c if memory serves correctly, Jack Elliot never grew up and spent most of his life being irresponsible and in many people’s eyes that irresponsibility was equivalent to throwing his life away. That's why the song starts out in narrative “I started writing this song about Chris Gantry, ended up writing about Dennis Hopper and Johnny Cash, ... Norman Norbert, Funky Donnie Fritts, Billy Swan, Bobby Neuwirth, Jerry Jeff Walker, "Uncle" Paul Siebel … Ramblin’ Jack Elliot had a lot to do with it.” The one person Kris doesn’t mention the song being partly about is Kris himself. In the eyes of Kris’ mother he had thrown his life away when he gave up the military, the teaching English job at West Point and the essentially the wife/kids to move to Nashville to become a songwriter. Upon learning of this, Kris’ mom disowned him and according to Johnny cash told him never to let his shadow darken her doorstep again.
This song is about the musician lifestyle. Norman Norbert, Donnie Frits, Billy Swann all played in Kris's 1970s band. Paul Siebel was a Dylanesque singer/songwriter who quit music after his third album, his best known song is "Louise" covered by Bonnie Raitt.