Johnny Cash, som selv fik sig et stort hit med Kris Kristofferson’s sang, introducerede den således på sit The Johnny Cash Show:

“You know, not everyone who has been on ‘the bum’ wanted it that way. The Great Depression of the 30’s set the feet of thousands of people—farmers, city workers—it set ’em to ridin’ the rails. My Daddy was one of those who hopped a freight train a couple of times to go and look for work. He wasn’t a bum. He was a hobo but he wasn’t a bum. I suppose we’ve all….all of us ‘been at one time or another ‘drifter at heart’, and today like yesterday there’s many that are on that road headin’ out. Not searchin’ maybe for work, as much as for self-fulfillment, or understanding of their life…trying to find a *meaning* for their life. And they’re not hoppin’ freights much anymore. Instead they’re thumbin’ cars and diesel trucks along the highways from Maine to Mexico. And many who have drifted…including myself…have found themselves no closer to peace of mind than a dingy backroom, on some lonely Sunday morning, with it comin’ down all around you.”