I kind of liken him to Neil Young. A voice that has no business being associated with so many great songs. the voice simply isn't that great. But, the voice is what makes the songs.
Oddly and weirdly although i would not call them favorites i do think that in certain ways of looking at the lyrics from the vantage point of memoirs from a man in late stages of life his renditions of First Time I Saw your Face and Bridge over Troubled Water are better and more striking than the smooth pop originals.
I always thought was underrated. My other two are Ring of Fire and Hurt.
As for Sunday Morning Coming Down, that was one of the few of Kristofferson's songs that I thought he did better than any of the covers.
KK was a great but strange songwriter. After being Rhodes Scholar and a helicopter pilot, he wrote a rash of superb songs and then stopped when he went into acting. I always thought he was a better songwriter.
"Well now here she comes to greet me
Dressed to kill and so am I
Hope she asks me if this
Cadillac will fly
And I know that I'll die laughin'
When I show her that it will..."
I could go with any two named but for a 3rd I would add
Let's face it, you can never go wrong with a Best of Album by JC. But he also has a lot of songs which are great which you'd only know if you have the album.
on a recent trip to Nashville, I went to the Johnny Cash museum, it was great. My buddies chose not to go, so I spent 2 hours there solo and absolutely loved it.
You can listen to and watch recordings by decade, going back to his beginnings, as well as songs he did with Elvis, Jerry Lewis and others
if we're limited to covers I like:
Down there by the train - Tom waits cover, but more because I like the Waits song, than the cover is so great, but it's still classic (to me)
Forever Young - Dylan cover (always felt it should be in a TV show or a commercial)
and his version of My Hometown I like better than Bruce Springsteen's.
sure he was great and all, but you've got to be in mood to listen to those.
And that's just fine with me.
I Got Stripes
I Still Miss Someone
Custer ("The General, he don't ride well any more")
One piece at a time
Further on up the road
I kind of liken him to Neil Young. A voice that has no business being associated with so many great songs. the voice simply isn't that great. But, the voice is what makes the songs.
Johnny Yuma
Wandering
Oddly and weirdly although i would not call them favorites i do think that in certain ways of looking at the lyrics from the vantage point of memoirs from a man in late stages of life his renditions of First Time I Saw your Face and Bridge over Troubled Water are better and more striking than the smooth pop originals.
As for Sunday Morning Coming Down, that was one of the few of Kristofferson's songs that I thought he did better than any of the covers.
KK was a great but strange songwriter. After being Rhodes Scholar and a helicopter pilot, he wrote a rash of superb songs and then stopped when he went into acting. I always thought he was a better songwriter.
I dropped down in a burning ring of fire,
I went down down down and the flames a rising
higher
ring of fire
ring of fire
Further On (Up The Road), a Springsteen cover is probably #3 right now. Love the spare acoustic arrangement and Cash's vocal.
Dressed to kill and so am I
Hope she asks me if this
Cadillac will fly
And I know that I'll die laughin'
When I show her that it will..."
Age added something to his voice that mixes perfectly with the apocalyptic theme.
Also Never picked Cotton
Rusty Cage
Let's face it, you can never go wrong with a Best of Album by JC. But he also has a lot of songs which are great which you'd only know if you have the album.
You can listen to and watch recordings by decade, going back to his beginnings, as well as songs he did with Elvis, Jerry Lewis and others
Highly recommend it for any and all fans