Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down – Kris Kristofferson
Rest in Peace Kris Kristofferson. I hate to admit that I am not as well-versed in his music as I should be, but I really like what I do know (his first two albums and The Highwaymen). Because of this, I feel that Trigger over at Saving Country Music is much better qualified than I to pay tribute in the longer form, so I give y’all this link:
I’m 95% sure I was introduced to this song through Johnny Cash, who of course took this one to number one on the charts in 1970. Originally written by Kris and recorded and released by Ray Stevens in 1969, Kris, the Oxford graduate, Rhodes Scholar, Army Ranger, helicopter pilot, was actually working as a janitor sweeping the floor at Columbia Records during this time and would watch Cash record. (Kris also apparently watched Dylan record Blonde on Blonde during this time.) Out of fear of losing his foot-in-the-door job, Kris didn’t want to bother The Man in Black and give him any demos directly, so he decided to become friendly with June and would slip his demos into her purse. Every time he did this, she would play her new friend’s tapes for her husband. Every time she did, JC would promptly throw them out the window into the lake below.
Kris knew he had some good, even great songs, and unbeknownst to him, the most recent tape June had delivered for him, featuring “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down,” Cash determined that “It was a good song” and didn’t throw it into the lake. However, Kris had no way of knowing this at the time. What transpired next has become one of the most legendary stories in country music history.
As I mentioned, Kris was an Army vet and helicopter pilot and worked part-time as a flight instructor for the National Guard. After not hearing any feedback on his demos, Kris took matters into his own hands. During a training mission, Kris diverted course and decided to land the copter in Cash’s yard, demo tape at the ready, featuring two of the greatest songs of all time, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” and “Me and Bobby McGee.” Depending on who you ask, what happened next differs considerably.
If you ask Johnny Cash, he’d tell you, “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.’”
If you ask Kristofferson, he’d say “Y’know, John had a very creative imagination.” According to Kris, Johnny wasn’t even home that day, or even in June, but he got his point across. The next week on The Johnny Cash Show, JC would announce, “Here’s a song written by Kris Kristofferson, don’t forget that name.” The rest is history.
For me, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down” is one of the greatest songs ever written. It’s almost the perfect country song. Kris Kristofferson was probably one of the truest representations of a modern renaissance man that any of us will ever see.
Link to song – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8u42A8wxO8Y
Link to live – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Df4FAuOQRQ0
Link to Johnny Cash performance on the JC Show – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPiSYVLFCM8
My Taste in Music 
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