One of Kris Kristofferson’s signature songs.
Sadly, the country music icon recently passed away at the age of 88 years old. He passed away peacefully in his home in Maui, Hawaii, on Saturday, September 28th.
Of course, he will be greatly missed, and his contributions to not only the country genre, the music world in general, cannot be overstated. Though, there’s hope in knowing that he’s in a much better place now, and that story starts over 50 years ago with his own personal story of salvation.
In 1973, the brilliant songwriter was topping the country charts with his gospel classic, “Why Me.” It was originally released in 1973 on Kris’ Jesus Was A Capricorn album, and ultimately became his biggest hit as a solo artist, peaking at #1 on the Billboard U.S. Hot Country Singles chart that same year.
Kris wrote the song during a low point in his life after attending a church service with some of his friends, where he also heard Larry Gatlin sing “Help Me,” which partially inspired the song, as well.
Kris stumbled into church one morning, planning to just sit through the service and move on with his day, and ended up getting saved and changing his life, he explained:
“I was moved by a song I heard [Larry] singin’ in church, ‘Help Me,’ as a matter of fact. It was at Jimmie Snow’s church. The night before, we had been down in Cookeville with a bunch of people doin’ a benefit for Dottie West High School band or something.
And then Connie [Smith] took me over to church the next day, and I had a profound religious experience during the session. Something that I hadn’t ever had happen to me before. And ‘Why Me’ came out of it.”
He called it a very personal experience:
“Everybody was kneelin’ down, and Jimmie said somethin’ like, ‘If anybody’s lost, please raise their hand.’ And I was kneelin’ there, and I don’t go to church a lot, and the notion of raising my hand was out of the question.
And I thought, I can’t imagine who’s doing this. And all of a sudden, I felt my hand goin’ up. And I was hoping nobody else was looking, ‘cuz everybody had their head over praying. And then he said ‘If anybody is ready to accept Jesus’, somethin’ like this, ‘Come down to the front of the church.’
And I thought that would never happen. And I found myself getting up and walking down with all these people and going down there. And I don’t really know what he said to me, he said something to me like ‘Are you ready to accept Jesus Christ in your life?’ or something, and I said, ‘I don’t know.’
I didn’t know what I was doing there. And he said ‘Kneel down here’, and I can’t even remember what he was saying, but whatever it was, was such a release for me that I found myself weeping in public.
And I felt this forgiveness that I didn’t know I even needed.”
An incredible story that inspired a timeless, classic gospel song still beloved by fans to this day.
And of course, “Why Me” has been covered by legends like Willie Nelson, who included it on his 1979 record Sings Kristofferson, as well as Elvis Presley.
Elvis retitled the track to “Why Me, Lord” and included it on his live album, Elvis Recorded Live On Stage In Memphis, in June of 1974. He also incorporated it into his live show starting in January 1974, and played it at every show all the way until his last tour in 1977.
RIP Kris Kristofferson.
“Why Me”
Willie’s version: