On the night of January 30, 2020, Kris Kristofferson walked onto the stage of the Stardust Theater aboard the Norwegian Pearl, with Merle Haggard’s old band, The Strangers, playing behind him. He sang twenty songs that night, and the last one was “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends,” a tender love song he had written decades earlier. Nobody in the room knew it at the time, but it would be the final song of the final full concert of his career.
A Song From Before He Was Famous
Kristofferson wrote “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends” during his early Nashville years, when he was still pitching songs to anyone who would listen. Bobby Bare released the first recording in 1971 as a single from his album Where Have All the Seasons Gone, and it climbed to No. 8 on the country chart.
The song is a quiet plea between two lovers. They sense that this night together may be their last, and the singer asks only to enjoy the moment without hearing what comes next. It is one of Kristofferson’s simplest songs, and one of his most quietly devastating.
In 2010, the song’s title was also given to a collection of Kristofferson’s previously unreleased demos from the late 1960s and early 1970s, recorded before most of the world knew his name.
Ronnie Milsap’s Grammy-Winning Hit
The song’s biggest chart success came three years after Bare’s version. Ronnie Milsap released his recording in July 1974 as a single from his album Pure Love. It reached No. 1 on the Billboard country chart, stayed there for two weeks, and became Milsap’s second chart-topper.
It also earned Milsap the Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance at the 17th Annual Grammy Awards in 1975, the first of his six Grammys.
The Duet With Rita Coolidge
Kristofferson recorded the song himself in 1978 as a duet with Rita Coolidge, his wife at the time, for Natural Act, the last of their three duet albums together. Many fans have since connected the song to their relationship, but there is no confirmed account that he wrote it about her. The song had already been recorded by Bobby Bare years before that duet.
Kristofferson returned to the song again later in life, recording it with Mark Knopfler for his 1999 album The Austin Sessions.
Singing Through the Fog of Memory Loss
By his late seventies, Kristofferson was struggling with serious memory loss. For years, doctors told him it was Alzheimer’s disease or dementia caused by the boxing, football and rugby of his youth. In 2016, a doctor tested him for Lyme disease and the result came back positive. His wife, Lisa, believed he was bitten by a tick while filming the movie Disappearances in Vermont.
After he stopped taking medication for Alzheimer’s and depression and was treated for Lyme disease, his family saw a dramatic improvement. Lisa summed it up in one line to Rolling Stone:
“All of a sudden, he was back.”
He never stopped performing. In a 2015 interview with Las Vegas Magazine, he joked about his age and his memory, and added:
“I think the songs are about the last thing to go.”
The Last Night on the Outlaw Country Cruise
The show on January 30, 2020, was part of the fifth annual Outlaw Country Cruise. Kristofferson, then 83, worked through his classics, including “Me and Bobby McGee,” “Help Me Make It Through the Night,” “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “For the Good Times,” along with later songs such as “Feeling Mortal.”
Near the close of the set, a group of artists he had influenced, including Steve Earle, Jim Lauderdale, Lucinda Williams and Shooter Jennings, joined him onstage for a sing-along of “Why Me.” Then Kristofferson closed the night alone with “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends.”
A Retirement Without an Announcement
Kristofferson was scheduled to play the Luck Reunion at Willie Nelson’s ranch in Texas in March 2020, but the pandemic shut everything down. He never returned to touring.
His retirement only became public in January 2021, almost in passing, inside a press release about his son John taking over the family’s business affairs. His longtime manager, Tamara Saviano, explained why there had been no farewell tour or big statement:
“It was just sort of a slow changing of the guard thing.”
He did make a few more guest appearances. His final public performance came in April 2023 at Willie Nelson’s 90th birthday concerts at the Hollywood Bowl, where he sang “Loving Her Was Easier (Than Anything I’ll Ever Do Again)” with Rosanne Cash. Kris Kristofferson passed away peacefully at home on September 28, 2024, at the age of 88.
Why the Song Still Matters
Kristofferson wrote “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends” as a young man about a love affair that might not last. Half a century later, sung by an 83-year-old legend who did not know he was playing his last full show, the same words took on a much larger meaning. He never got a formal goodbye tour, but in a way this song served as one.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What was the last song Kris Kristofferson performed at his final full concert?
He closed his final full concert, on January 30, 2020, aboard the Outlaw Country Cruise, with “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends.”
Who first recorded “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends”?
Bobby Bare recorded it first, in 1971, and his version reached No. 8 on the country chart. Ronnie Milsap’s 1974 version went to No. 1.
Did Ronnie Milsap win a Grammy for “Please Don’t Tell Me How the Story Ends”?
Yes. It won him the 1975 Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance.
Did Kris Kristofferson write the song about Rita Coolidge?
There is no confirmed account of that. The two recorded it as a duet in 1978, but Bobby Bare had already released the song in 1971.
Sources
- Rolling Stone, “Kris Kristofferson Says He’s Retired. Watch His Final Concert” (2021)
- American Songwriter, “Watch: Kris Kristofferson’s Final Full Concert Aboard a Ship in 2020”
- American Songwriter, “On This Day in 1974, Ronnie Milsap Was at No. 1 With a Grammy-Winning Song”
- Saving Country Music, “Kris Kristofferson’s Final Performance”
- Grammy.com, Best Male Country Vocal Performance, 17th Annual Grammy Awards (1975)
- Rolling Stone, “Kris Kristofferson: An Outlaw at 80” (2016)
- Las Vegas Magazine, Q&A with Kris Kristofferson (2015)
- NPR, “First Listen: Kris Kristofferson, Please Don’t Tell Me How The Story Ends” (2010)