PILGRIM: CHAPTER 33 - chords and comments
Kris Kristofferson has always had a passion for literature (he holds a B.Phil. degree in English literature), and more of his songs are written after reading some novel. This one, from his second album "The Silver Tongued Devil and I" (Monument 1971), is told to be influenced by John Bunyan’s "The Pilgrim’s Progress", where the red thread is that a true Christian must be willing to pay the cost of salvation no matter what. Man is full of sin, but this does not keep him from attaining glory.
I'm not able to decide if this is true or not: I haven't bothered reading that 17th century stuff.
That "#33" is most likely an effort to make it mystic, a common habit with song titles around -70.
The spoken intro to the song goes like this:
“I started writing this song about Chris Gantry, ended up writing about Dennis Hopper and Johnny Cash … Norman Norbert, Funky Donnie Fritts, Billy Swan, Bobby Neuwirth, Jerry Jeff Walker, Paul Siebel … Ramblin’ Jack Elliot had a lot to do with it.” Leave this, or make Your own intro ...
... but the outro line is essential.
G G7
see him wasted on the sidewalk in his jacket and his jeans
C D7 G ... G7
wearin' yesterday's misfortunes like a smile
C G E7
once he had a future full of money love and dreams
Am D D7
which he spent like they was going out of style
G G7
and he keeps right on a-changin' for the better or the worse
C D7 G ... G7
and searchin' for a shrine he's never found
C G E7
never knowin' if believin' is a blessin' or a curse
Am D7 G
or if the going up is worth the coming down
C
he's a poet and he's a picker
G
he's a prophet and he's a pusher
Am D D7 G7
he's a pilgrim and a preacher and a problem when he's stoned
C G E7
he's a walking contradiction partly truth and partly fiction
Am D D7 G
taking every wrong direction on his lonely way back home
G
G7
C
D
D7
E7
Am
