The Pilgrim
Kris Kristofferson
This is one of a handful of songs I learned from the Kris Kristofferson songbook, which I bought when I was living and working in Lynn in 1974. I was desparately lonely and I got a lot of comfort from my guitar.
See him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans,
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.
Chorus
He's a poet (He's a picker), 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.
He has tasted good and evil in your bedrooms and your bars
And he's traded in tomorrow for today,
Running from his devils, Lord, and reaching for the stars
And losing everything he 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 coming down.
Chorus
My Father
After my mother left my father, leaving my younger siblings with him in Aloah Street, he pretty much fell apart for a while. He was driving taxis and drinking way too much. I was a new Mum and my sister Micki was living with a friend’s family. I didn’t go back to the Aloah Street house very much, if at all, but things were pretty bad. That part is not my story to tell.
Before long, the house was given up, and Dad moved on. He regained his optimism and continued to try to make something of himself. He had a couple of relationships – Angie and Barbara come to mind – but no one was ever going to claim his heart the way my mother did. After a couple of years, he started a tertiary course, at Swinburne Tech, I think. I think he lasted almost two years and he enjoyed it, but he didn’t have the discipline to succeed.
Walter
This picture says it all. The lines in his face, the scruffy hair and beard, the cigarette, the thin face and arms, all speak of the lifestyle, and the smile is his good nature and optimism which could never be completely suppressed.
And he was all of those things The Pilgrim is in this song.
