"For The Good Times" About Hard Honky Tonk Changes

Helicopter pilot, Rhodes scholar and a B.Phil English literature graduate of Oxford's Merton College, Kris Kristofferson is a native of Brownsville who wrote 1970's “Song of the Year” - “For The Good Times.”

It's the epitome of honky tonk sentiment, all about make-believe love following a string intro, with a lead-in opening line that is composed in a powerful active voice, a declarative and simple construction.

“Don't look so sad; I know it's over...”

What follows reminds one of mariachi changes made mellow with a misty whiskey-tinged logic about making the best of the good times, taking love and happiness as it comes weaving in an out of bouts with the bottle and the second-best romance.

He wrote “Me And Bobby McGee” and “Help Me Make It Through The Night” while waiting around between flight assignments on offshore platforms in Louisiana, where he worked a week on and a week off while he pitched his stuff in Nashville to stars like Johnny Cash, Roger Miller, Faron Young and Ray Price of Dallas, the smoothest voice in country and Willie Nelson's old boss man of many years while he played guitar in his tour band.

It's the smoky literature of Texas neon done right, something to hang on to and something to remember, to look back at and marvel and wonder how does the sun go and where does the time go.