Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down

I first heard Kristofferson as a kid with Why Me on the radio during the seventies. I also remember him on SNL with his then-wife Rita Coolidge. You could tell Kris had been having some fun but it sounded good. Then I found Janis Joplin’s Me and Bobby McGee and I found out that Kris wrote that song…I became a fan. Plus he was one of the Outlaws in country music that I really liked. 

In the sixties, Kris was working as a janitor in Nashville while living in a run-down tenant house. He was also a janitor at Columbia Records at the same time. This might seem normal for a songwriter who was trying to make a mark but the man had something else as well. He was a Rhodes Scholar who studied at Oxford University earning a master’s degree in English language. He also served as a captain in the U.S. Army, where he became a helicopter pilot, in addition to having completed U.S. Army Ranger School. The guy was highly talented and very smart.

He befriended Johnny’s wife, June Carter. June liked Kristofferson, and would often sneak demo tapes of his songs in her purse to bring home to Johnny. At night, she’d play the tapes for him in their bedroom above Old Hickory Lake in Tennessee. Every night Cash would listen and throw them out the bedroom window into the lake below. 

There are many stories about how Johnny got the song…but this is the version that Johnny told. At the time, Kristofferson was also working part-time as a helicopter pilot for the Army Reserve. On a routine flight training mission, Kristofferson veered off his course and headed for Cash’s home. After landing the chopper on Cash’s lawn, he walked up to the home with the demo of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” in hand. Cash said he heard the chopper land and walked out to find Kristofferson walking up to him.

“As I approached, out stepped Kris Kristofferson, with a beer in one hand and a tape in the other,” Cash said. “I stopped, dumbfounded. He grabbed my hand, put the tape in it, grinned and got back into the helicopter and was gone, a bit wobbly, but almost straight up, then out high above the lake where all his songs lay on the bottom. He disappeared through the clouds. I looked at the tape of “Sunday Morning Coming Down” and “Me And Bobby McGee.”

The first version of this song was not by Johnny Cash. Ray Stevens did the first version of the song. Ray’s version peaked at #55 on the Country Charts in 1969. Johnny Cash did the most successful version releasing it in 1970. The song peaked at #1 on the Billboard Country Charts, #1 on the Canada Country Charts, and #30 in Canada on the RPM charts. 

Kris passed away on September 28, 2024. 

Sunday Mornin’ Comin’Down

Well I woke up Sunday morning,
With no way to hold my head, that didn’t hurt
And the beer I had for breakfast,
Wasn’t bad so I had one more, for dessert
Then I fumbled through my closet,
For my clothes and found my cleanest dirty shirt
And I shaved my face and combed my hair,
And stumbled down the stairs to meet the day

I’d smoked my brain the night before on cigarettes and songs
That I’d been pickin’
But I lit my first, and watched a small kid cussin’ at a can
That he was kickin’
Then I crossed the empty street and caught the Sunday smell
Of someone fryin’chickin
And it took me back to somethin’ that I had lost somehow,
Somewhere along the way

[Chorus]
On the Sunday morning sidewalk, wishin’ Lord that I was stoned
Cause there is something in a Sunday, makes a body feel alone
And there is nothing short of die’n, half a lonesome as the sound
On the sleepin’ city sidewalks, Sunday morning coming down

In the park I saw a daddy,
With ‘w(?)’ laughin’ little girl who he was swingin’
And I stopped beside a Sunday school,
And listened to a song that they were singin’
Then I headed back for home and somewhere far away
A lonely bell was ringin’
And it echoed through the canyons like the disappearing dreams
Of yesterday

[Chorus]
On the Sunday morning sidewalk, wishing Lord that I was stoned
Cause there is something in a Sunday, make a body feel alone
And there is nothing short of die’n, half a lonesome as the sound
On the sleepin’ city sidewalks, Sunday morning coming do

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

30 thoughts on “Kris Kristofferson – Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”

  4. My Sunday morning memories of coming down from a wild Saturday night were usually spent on the golf course working as a caddy. My mom would let me sleep till 8am and then she would wake me up and tell me to get my lazy ass out of bed, but it wasn’t so bad, as she always cooked me a nice breakfast.

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  5. A true Renaissance Man. A song that makes my head hurt to listen to. If you’ve never had a hangover, you probably don’t need to if you listen fully. No need for anyone to cover it. His own voice is perfect for the song. I love the helicopter story!

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    1. I’ve never had a real hangover headache…just queasy but that is it. I’ve never experienced the full effect and I pushed it at times. You summed it up… a true Renaissance Man

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      1. Hard not to like John. Took me a while to warm up to Kris. I think Peckinpah helped that. This song is so good. I remember when the world (over here anyway) used to shut down on Sundays. It was a lonely time for some. The tune catches a lot of that vibe. He caught it.

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  10. This is such a great cinematic story song!

    Well I woke up Sunday morning/With no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt/And the beer I had for breakfast wasn’t bad/So I had one more for desert

    These are some of the best song lyrics I can think of. You literally can see the guy before your eyes. And you feel for him.

    Kristofferson may not have been the greatest vocalist, but his voice fit the songs he wrote, and he wrote some damn fine songs!

    Believe it or not, I’ve come to like his recording of “Me And Bobby McGee” as much as Janis Joplin’s killer rendition.

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    1. I totally believe it because of what he puts behind his music
      I remember this from where you covered it and I thought it was about time that I did it because it’s been a year since I did a Kristofferson song .
      You are right… those lyrics are great

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  12. Kris was one of my favorites too, since childhood, Max. I laughed out loud for real when I read, “Cash would listen and throw them out the bedroom window into the lake”! OMG!
    Yes, Me and Bobby McGee was probably my first favorite of Kris’ but before I ever knew he wrote it. Janice sooo made that song her own.
    I love Sunday Mornin’ Coming Down.

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    1. Yea I love Janis…her and Aretha are my two favorite female singers.
      Kris was just a cool dude…the kind of guy that would have been fun to hang out with.

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  13. I have his album, Jesus Was A Capricorn. There is not a better album than that one with him and Rita and those songs. Momo and I played it a few weeks back and were nailed to our loungers as my stereo turntable and speakers gave us that 60s vibe, once again. He was more a song writer than singer, but his rough voice and slightly off-tune vocals grabbed you. Nothing was slick, just rough around the edges and warm. Sort of like he was.

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    1. Yea he was genuine no doubt about it. He was such a talented guy as well…as far as smarts and entertainment…
      I want to listen to more of his and Rita’s music…I’ll make a note of that album.

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      1. My late father knew him. The Light Crust Doughboys were playing a show in Austin Texas back in the late 70s, I think it was at the music theater in downtown. Kris Kristofferson wasn’t on the bill, but was backstage and asked Smokey Montgomery, banjo and leader of the Doughboys if he could play a song with them. He did, and I can’t remember the tune, but they sat around after the show and yuked it up with Kris. My dad thought he was a nice humble guy, even though he had long hair and a beard. Kris was a fellow Texan so that went a long way, and he was a fan of the legendary band.

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      2. That is so good to hear and pretty much what I thought he would be. It’s good to hear that generational thing was crossed and they had a good time. He had such a charisma about him.

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    1. He was so talented…I mean singer, songwriter, actor, helicopter pilot, and the biggie…a Rhodes Scholar…he could have done anything he wanted. His parents were not happy with his choice.

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