Kris Kristofferson - "Epitaph (Black and Blue)"

1. For ten years I have wrongly believed, in the face of staggering evidence to the contrary, that I enjoy the music of Kris Kristofferson. I own most of his records, bought one at a time, perversely, though in truth I like none of them. Kristofferson's plain country can be cold, his lyrics masterful but his sound dated.

2. It's a misconception that first took shape around 1 a.m. on some late-nineties weeknight during an episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien. Quiet and intelligent, his voice stained by whiskey and cigarettes, Kristofferson spoke of the lyric (not his own) he planned to have inscribed on his tombstone: "Like a bird on the wire / like a drunk in a midnight choir / I have tried / in my way / to be free."

3. If F. Scott Fitzgerald was right that a first-class intellect is one that can hold two contradictory views at once and continue to function, then I'm a genius. If not, I'm an idiot. Although, in my defence, "Epitaph (Black and Blue)" has grown on me over the last decade; it can be wearying to learn to like something, but pleasure is a fine reward.

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