THE STORY BEHIND THE ONLY SONG KRIS KRISTOFFERSON EVER WROTE FOR ROY ORBISON — AND NEVER RECORDED HIMSELF
Between the 1960s and 1970s, Kris Kristofferson and Roy Orbison moved through the same musical universe. They crossed paths often, shared stages and studios, and carried a deep mutual respect—quiet, sincere, and unforced. Kristofferson would later say of Orbison, “Roy Orbison was one of the genuinely nicest persons I’ve ever known.”
By the mid-1970s, Kristofferson was at the height of his creative powers, thriving both as a songwriter and as an actor. In 1976, he did something rare, and ultimately singular: he wrote a song meant for one voice only—Roy Orbison’s.
That song was “Something They Can’t Take Away.”
Written specifically for Orbison, the track appeared on Regeneration, marking Orbison’s return to Monument Records after more than a decade away from the label where he had first broken through in the early 1960s. The album was produced by Fred Foster, the same producer who had worked extensively with Kristofferson throughout the 1970s—making the collaboration feel both natural and deeply intentional.
“Something They Can’t Take Away” is a quiet, devastating song. A reflection on love that has passed, yet refuses to disappear. Orbison’s unmistakable lilt carries the weight of memory—those moments “in the morning” and “at the close of day” when remembrance arrives softly, “easy as smiling.” It’s a song about emotional permanence: the idea that even loss cannot erase what was once real.
What makes the song truly unique is what Kristofferson didn’t do.
Though he often recorded his own compositions—even those made famous first by other artists—Kristofferson never recorded “Something They Can’t Take Away” himself. He left it untouched, preserved as a Roy Orbison song alone. It was never released as a single and remains the only song Kristofferson ever wrote specifically for Orbison.
Their relationship was not one of constant closeness, but of lasting respect. Kristofferson was present years later at Orbison’s legendary 1987 concert filmed at the Cocoanut Grove in Los Angeles, later released as Roy Orbison & Friends: A Black & White Night. Orbison would pass away just a year later.
Reflecting on him, Kristofferson offered words that feel as timeless as the song he wrote for him:
“With one of the most beautiful voices in the history of recorded music, he could easily have had an opera star’s ego—but he was one of the humblest, kindest, sweetest human beings to grace this planet. This in spite of the enormous tragedies in his life. A brave, beautiful blessing of a man.”
And in that one song Kristofferson never claimed for himself, something remains—
something they truly can’t take away.